By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - When officials from the United States, Denmark and Greenland met last month in the Arctic island's capital, the session was reassuringly normal, with no discussion of a U.S. military or financial takeover of the Danish territory, multiple people familiar with the talks told Reuters.
Jan 24 (Reuters) - Airlines have been rerouting and cancelling some flights across the Middle East as tensions ramp up between Iran and the United States, with President Donald Trump saying on Thursday the U.S. had an "armada" heading towards Iran.
A senior Iranian official said on Friday Iran will treat any attack "as an all-out war against us", ahead of the arrival of a U.S. military aircraft carrier strike group and other assets in the Middle East in the coming days.
Cut off from the global internet for more than two weeks, online content creator Amir spends his days scanning the few news websites available on Iran's domestic web for signs that connectivity to the world might return.
Amir, 32, has been unable to produce his reviews of video games and movies since January 8, when authorities imposed an unprecedented communications blackout amid mass anti-government protests that authorities acknowledge left more than 3,000 dead.
Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party on Saturday called for the blockade on the Kurdish-majority city of Kobane in northern Syria to be lifted immediately, warning of a "humanitarian tragedy".
The situation in Kobane had escalated from a crisis into a "deadly catastrophe", DEM said after sending a delegation to visit northeastern Syria which over the past week has been targeted by a major Syrian military offensive.
The Kurdish-held city, which is also known as Ain al-Arab, is surrounded by the Turkish border to its north and government forces on all sides.
WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The United States is pushing Bolivia to kick suspected Iranian spies out of the South American country and designate Tehran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist group, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
By Emily Rose and Steve Holland
JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Israel on Saturday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mainly to discuss Gaza, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The U.S. on Thursday announced plans for a "New Gaza" rebuilt from scratch, to include residential towers, data centres and seaside resorts, part of President Donald Trump's push to advance an Israel-Hamas ceasefire shaken by repeated violations.
By Max Hunder
KYIV, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Ukraine's foreign minister accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday of "cynically" ordering a massive missile strike while delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. were in Abu Dhabi for Washington-brokered peace talks.
"This barbaric attack once again proves that Putin's place is not at the board of peace, but at the dock of the special tribunal," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
By Orhan Qereman and Khalil Ashawi
QAMISHLI, Syria, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Syrian troops and Kurdish forces were massed on opposing sides of front lines in northern Syria on Saturday, as the clock ticked down to an evening deadline that would determine whether they resume fighting or lay down their arms.
Neighbouring Turkey, as well as some officials in Syria, said late on Friday that the deadline could be extended.
As a million Syrians fled their country's devastating civil war in 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes headed to Turkey where they would meet a young girl who encapsulated the contradictions of this enormous migration.
In Ismir, they met Isra'a, a then-11-year-old girl whose family had left Aleppo as bombs rained down on the city, and who would become the subject of their documentary "One In A Million," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.
TAIPEI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Poor weather on Saturday forced U.S. climber Alex Honnold to postpone his "free solo" rope and harness-free ascent of the outside of Taiwan's Taipei 101 skyscraper, one of the world's tallest buildings.
The climb, organised by Netflix for live broadcast, has been rescheduled for Sunday morning in Taipei, the streamer said on its X account.
"Safety remains our top priority, and we appreciate your understanding," it added.
The top of Taipei 101 was obscured by cloud on Saturday morning, with intermittent rain showers.
