King Charles III to address Congress on April 28, leaders say
King Charles III speaks on March 27, 2026 in Oxford, England. (Kate Green/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — King Charles III will address a joint meeting of Congress on April 28 as part of his upcoming state visit to the U.S., according to a joint statement issued by Congressional leaders on Tuesday.
The address, the statement said, “celebrates the 250th anniversary of American independence and the enduring special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
The statement was issued by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“This year, the United States will mark the 250th anniversary of its independence. As we celebrate this historic milestone and recommit ourselves to the principles upon which our nation was founded, we also recognize that the American experiment endures in no small part because of the British tradition from which it sprang,” the statement said.
“We believe an address to Congress will provide a unique opportunity to share your vision for the future of our special relationship and reaffirm our alliance at this pivotal time in history,” it added.
Johnson posted about the invitation on X, noting the U.S. and U.K. “share one of the most consequential partnerships in history.”
President Donald Trump said that the state visit will take place from April 27 until April 30.
Preparations for the visit come at a tense moment between the Trump administration and NATO, of which Britain is a member, over the reluctance of allies in the intergovernmental military alliance to join the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. On Wednesday, Trump said in an interview that he is considering pulling the U.S. out of NATO.
In a press conference on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. is fully committed to NATO and that he isn’t going to change his position on the war.
“I have to act in our national interests,” Starmer told reporters. “This is not our war,” he continued, noting “a good deal of pressure on me to change my position in relation to joining the war. I’m not going to change my position on the war.”
In 2023, Congress passed legislation requiring any presidential decision to leave NATO to have two-thirds approval in the Senate or be authorized through an act of Congress.
Greenland residents and political leaders have publicly rejected suggestions by U.S. President Donald Trump that the Arctic island could become part of the United States. Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has emphasized that its future will be decided by its own people, with officials stating that the island is not for sale and does not wish to become American. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The heads of all 27 European Union member states will gather in Brussels on Thursday for what the body is calling an “extraordinary” summit regarding the recent crisis in transatlantic relations prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland.
European leaders “will discuss recent developments in transatlantic relations and their implications for the EU and coordinate on the way forward,” a notice posted to the website of the European Council — the body made up of EU national leaders — said.
The meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. local time, comes after several weeks of tensions between the U.S. and its European allies over the fate of Greenland, a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark which Trump has repeatedly said — across both his first and second terms in office — that he wants to acquire for the U.S.
The issue has dominated this week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Trump addressed the event on Wednesday, swinging between apparent threats against NATO allies over Greenland while also ruling out the use of military force to seize the massive Arctic island.
Trump described Greenland as a “piece of ice” and framed his proposed acquisition of the territory — which he several times incorrectly referred to as Iceland, though the White House denied that he misspoke — as payment for decades of U.S. contributions to NATO and European security.
Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte after his address. Later, Trump wrote on social media that the “framework of a future deal” on Greenland had been reached on Greenland.
The president said he would shelve plans to impose tariffs on eight NATO allies who deployed small numbers of troops to Greenland earlier this month — a threat that prompted fierce criticism from European leaders and raised the prospect of a transatlantic trade war.
Neither Trump nor Rutte immediately revealed the details of the purported deal. Trump told CNN that the U.S. got “everything we wanted,” while Rutte told Fox News that the issue of Greenland’s sovereignty “did not come up” in his meeting with the president.
A NATO spokesperson told ABC News that trilateral talks between the U.S., Greenland and Denmark were ongoing.
Rutte told Reuters on Thursday, “We came to this understanding that collectively as NATO, we have to step up here, including the U.S.”
Rutte said that minerals exploitation in Greenland was not discussed during his talks with Trump on Wednesday, and that specific negotiations relating to Greenland will continue between Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk.
“You can always take Donald Trump at his word,” Rutte said. “He is the leader of the free world, and he is doing what I would love for a leader of the free world to do.”
On Thursday morning, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement that Copenhagen and Nuuk have been coordinating on discussions over Greenland. Denmark was in “close dialogue with NATO” and with Rutte before the latter’s meeting with Trump, she said.
“NATO is fully aware of the position of the Kingdom of Denmark. We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty,” the prime minister said.
“I have been informed that this has not been the case either. And of course, only Denmark and Greenland themselves can make decisions on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland,” Frederiksen said.
A European Council spokesperson told ABC News there had been “no change in the agenda” for Thursday’s meeting in Brussels following Trump’s announcement of a possible deal.
In a statement on the Council’s website, the body’s President Antonio Costa said that the key topics for discussions on Thursday will include “unity around the principles of international law, territorial integrity and national sovereignty” and “unity in full support and solidarity with Denmark and Greenland.”
Also to be discussed, Costa said, are a “shared transatlantic interest in peace and security in the Arctic, notably through NATO” and “concern that further tariffs would undermine relations and are incompatible with the EU-U.S. trade agreement.”
“The EU wants to continue engaging constructively with the United States on all issues of common interest,” the statement said.
Jimmy Lai, Apple Daily founder, arrives at the Court of Final Appeal ahead a bail hearing on February 9, 2021 in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
(HONG KONG) — China critic and media mogul Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong for national security offences, a penalty his son Sebastien called “heartbreaking.”
Lai was found guilty on charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He had pleaded not guilty.
It is the harshest sentence delivered to anyone under the sweeping national security law since Beijing introduced it as part of crackdowns in 2020. Lai’s family has been worried their 78-year-old dad would die in prison, and given his age and this 20-year-penalty, there is now a real chance that will happen.
It was a tense morning at the court in Hong Kong. Where there would once be huge lively crowds gathering in support of Hong Kong’s democracy figures, the mood was subdued and yet at the same time on edge. There was a heavy police presence outside the court, where officers were tightly controlling the media and the supporters who were queueing up outside of the court.
Lai’s wife, Teresa, walked out of the court holding back tears behind her large black glasses after seeing her husband in the dock, expressionless as he received his sentence.
Jimmy Lai is a U.K. citizen, and his son Sebastien said he is hoping, now that the case has worked its way through the Hong Kong judicial system, that China may release his father as a way to appease the U.K. and the U.S., especially ahead of President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit to China in April.
“Even though it was expected, it’s still quite a hard reality to have to deal with,” Sebastien Lai said. “There’s no upside in what China is doing to dad and there are very real consequences if he dies in there. That April visit is key.”
“I’m sure many Americans would want to have done what my father did in standing for freedom and defending his people. And for that heroism he is being tortured and sentenced to life in prison,” he added.
When ABC News interviewed Lai at his home while he was on bail in September 2020, Lai explained why he was willing to risk it all. He said he escaped from China at the age of 12 with just a dollar, “This place gave me everything. My reward is to pay back. It’s my redemption.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Hong Kong should free Lai “on humanitarian grounds” and the UK government has also pledged to “rapidly engage further” with Beijing. Trump said back in December that he asked President Xi Jinping to consider Lai’s release, and the U.S. ambassador to China David Perdue has said Lai’s case is part of “ongoing discussions” with the Chinese side.
The sentence has been widely condemned by human rights groups, with Human Rights Watch calling the length of the sentence “effectively a death sentence.”
Amnesty International said it was “another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear.”
Meanwhile, Beijing and Hong Kong officials welcomed the penalty, with Hong Kong’s leader John Lee saying Lai deserved the 20-year prison sentence for his “evil deeds.”
China’s foreign ministry on Monday called the punishment “legitimate and reasonable.”
Prince Andrew, Duke of York attends the traditional Easter Sunday Mattins Service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on April 20, 2025 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — One month after the arrest of former Prince Andrew, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police is pushing U.S. officials for unredacted material from the Epstein files.
In an interview with ABC News’ chief investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said his office is in communication with the Department of Justice to access the original documents related to ongoing investigations of both Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson.
“Of course, there’s a big body of that evidence … in the United States in all those files and at some stage we’re going to need the unredacted evidence,” Rowley said. “We need the original copy and where did it come from and that’s going to be necessary if we get to the stage of court cases.”
While Department of Justice officials have repeatedly insisted that there is nothing more to investigate stateside about the convicted sex offender and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, officials in the United Kingdom are carrying out unprecedented investigations into both Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Emails released earlier this year by the Department of Justice suggested that both Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson appeared to share sensitive information with Epstein stemming from their roles as the U.K. trade envoy and business secretary, respectively.
In one email released by the Department of Justice and referenced by Rowley, Mandelson appeared to confirm the timing of an impending bailout with Epstein during the European Union’s sovereign debt crisis.
“It looks like it was shared with Epstein so we’re looking at that as to whether that’s a criminal offense and then colleagues in Thames Valley are looking at other documents that Andrew Mountbatten-Winsor potentially shared,” Rowley said.
According to Rowley, his department is also assessing “a whole range of suggested sexual allegations” to determine if any “merit a criminal investigation.”
Suspicion about Mountbatten-Windsor began years ago following the publication of a photograph showing the former prince with his arm around the waist of Virginia Guiffre, who said she was 17 years old at the time of the photograph. Before she died by suicide last year, Guiffre alleged that Epstein trafficked her in 2001 to have sex with the former prince. Mountbatten-Windsor has long denied wrongdoing and told the BBC in 2019 that the allegations are not credible.
When asked about the allegations made by Guiffre, Rowley claimed that the information they received from Guiffre during four recorded interviews could not support an investigation.
“With Virginia Guiffre, we did four of those interviews with her … .and those interviews didn’t give us any evidence or any allegations of sexual offending or trafficking that we could investigate in the UK,” he said. “That’s why that investigation didn’t go forward.”
However, Rowley said he hopes the renewed look at the allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor helps improve the public’s trust that law enforcement is willing to scrutinize anyone regardless of their title or status.
“Those investigations all go wherever the evidence takes them — quite comfortable with investigating sort of famous or powerful people. I think it’s really important for policing to do that, that sense of operating without fear or favor. The law applies equally to everyone, and those cases will go, say, wherever the evidence leads us to,” he said.
Rowley said the investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor comes as the Metropolitan Police is increasingly targeting sexual and domestic violence.
“We’ve developed tactics to be much more proactive and targeting the most dangerous men who pose a threat to women and children just like we do terrorists and organized crime. So, a combination of factors has seen the rates steadily coming down,” he said. “We’re making big progress and most of all — at the center of all this that matters to me and matters to policing — is trust in the police’s building in London.”
Rowley also touted some of the technology used by the Metropolitan Police to lower crime rates such as facial recognition, which he said has allowed officers to identify violent offenders while minimizing intrusion to the broader public.
While he acknowledged that the technology has raised privacy concerns, Rowley argued that the focus on targeting violent offenders using the technology can help improve the public trust — something he says is foundational to the Metropolitan Police’s 200-year history.
“[Policing] should start from the idea of having the consent of people in a democracy and use the minimum force necessary and be focused on the prevention of crime, and those ideas still guide us today,” he said.
Rowley said he hopes being upfront with the public about the work of the Metropolitan Police — from low-level street crimes to allegations against some of the most prominent people in British society — can renew the public’s trust in law enforcement.
“Policing in the UK will operate without fear or favor, that’s the fundamental principle. I think if you don’t have that, you’re never going to have the trust and confidence of the public in policing, so that’s really important to me,” he said.
