Man arrested after ‘pepper spray’ incident at Heathrow parking lot, police say
Travelers held at Heathrow where train platforms remained closed. (Jay Davies/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A man was arrested on Sunday after a “group of men” unleashed what may have been pepper spray during an altercation in a parking garage at London’s Heathrow Airport, the police said.
The incident was not being investigated as terrorism, Cmdr. Peter Stevens, of London’s Met Police, said in a statement. Officers were called just after 8 a.m. local time to the parking garage at the airport’s Terminal 3, where there were reports of “multiple people being assaulted,” the department said.
“A number of people were sprayed with what is believed to be a form of pepper spray by a group of men who then left the scene,” the police said.
The man who was detained, who was not immediately identified, remained in custody on suspicion of assault, the police said.
“At this stage, we believe the incident involved a group of people known to each other, with an argument escalating and resulting in a number of people being injured,” Stevens said.
Police said people were transferred by ambulances to local hospitals with injuries that were thought to be non life-threatening. Officials did not say immediately how many people had been injured.
Terminal 3 remained open, although there was “some disruption of traffic” in the area near the parking garage, police said. Stevens in his statement said the department planned to increase the presence of officers throughout the airport, which is among the busiest in Europe, for the remainder of the morning.
“Passengers are advised to allow extra time when travelling to the airport and to check with their airline for any queries,” Heathrow said on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump following their meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on December 28, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump invited Zelensky to his private club to work on the U.S.-proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, as the conflict approaches four years since the sudden full-scale invasion by Russia on February 24, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A top Russian official on Monday issued personal threats against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia claimed that Ukraine launched a drone attack on one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official residences.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov alleged that Ukraine launched a drone attack on Putin’s state residence in Novgorod region on the night of Dec. 29. Lavrov offered no evidence to support the assertion, which Zelenskyy was quick to dismiss as a Russian disinformation effort.
Dmitry Medvedev — the former Russian president and prime minister now serving on the country’s Security Council — posted to X accusing Zelenskyy of “trying to derail the settlement of the conflict,” referring to the ongoing U.S.-sponsored peace talks.
“He wants war. Well, now at least he’ll have to stay in hiding for the rest of his worthless life,” Medvedev wrote.
In separate posts to Telegram, Medvedev — who, during Moscow’s full-scale war on Ukraine, has become known as a particularly hawkish voice within Putin’s security establishment — even appeared to suggest that Zelenskyy should be “exhibited” in St. Petersburg after his “imminent demise.”
Kiril Dmitriev, the Kremlin aide who also serves as the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and has been closely involved in negotiations with U.S. representatives, also questioned the Ukrainian president’s future.
“Who is after Zelenskyy?” Dmitriev said in a post to X.
The Kremlin said U.S. President Donald Trump was informed of the alleged attack during a Monday phone call with Putin. Russian officials also threatened retaliatory strikes in Ukraine.
Yuri Ushakov, a top aide to Putin, told the state-run Tass news agency that Putin and Trump discussed the issue by phone on Monday, with the U.S. leader expressing his surprise and anger.
Zelenskyy rejected the Russian reports of the supposed Ukrainian drone attack as “yet another lie.”
“Now, with their statement that some residence of theirs was attacked, they are simply preparing — I am sure — preparing the ground, in principle, to launch strikes, probably on the capital and, probably, on state buildings,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post to X on Tuesday that “Russia still hasn’t provided any plausible evidence to its accusations of Ukraine’s alleged ‘attack on Putin’s residence.’ And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened.”
It is unclear what the latest developments might mean for the ongoing peace talks.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the alleged Ukrainian attack would prompt a “hardening of the Russian Federation’s negotiating position,” as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency.
“Russia is not withdrawing from the negotiation process,” Peskov added, describing the alleged attack as an effort aimed “at disrupting President Trump’s efforts to promote a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict.”
After talks with Zelenskyy — which were preceded and followed by phone calls between Trump and Putin — at his Mar-a-Lago residence on Sunday, Trump told reporters that the negotiating teams are “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to achieving a peace deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion, which Moscow launched in February 2022.
Lavrov said that Russia does not intend to withdraw from the negotiation process following the alleged attack. But the foreign minister said that the “targets and timing of Russia’s retaliatory strike” had “been determined.”
Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday that Russia launched two missiles and 60 drones into the country overnight into Tuesday morning, of which one missile and 52 drones were shot down or suppressed. One missile and eight drones impacted across five locations, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that four Ukrainian drones were shot down on Tuesday morning over the southern Krasnodar region.
The operational headquarters of the Krasnodar region reported on Telegram that two people sustained shrapnel injuries caused by drones. Drone wreckage fell on a railway station in the region, the headquarters said.
Rosaviatsiya — Russia’s federal air transport agency — reported temporary flight restrictions at Krasnodar airport.
People walk through fresh snow in the city center on January 18, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney added his voice to the condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, warning that the international community is “in the midst of a rupture.”
Several allied leaders have used their speeches at the annual event in the Swiss Alps to push back on Trump’s pressure campaign over Greenland, which has seen Trump and administration officials propose tariffs on NATO allies and even threaten the use of force to seize control of the massive Arctic territory.
Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump first raised the prospect of acquiring the minerals-rich island in his first term. Danish and Greenlandic politicians have repeatedly rebuffed such proposals.
NATO allies have mobilized to bolster Greenlandic security in response to Trump’s assertions that the territory — and the wider Arctic region — are at risk from growing Chinese and Russian regional influence.
On Tuesday, Carney warned that the world has entered a new “era of great power rivalry,” in which “the rules-based order is fading … the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.”
“Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration,” Carney continued.
“But more recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited,” he added.
“On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland’s future,” Carney said. “Canada strongly opposes tariffs over Greenland and calls for focused talks to achieve our shared objectives of security and prosperity in the Arctic.”
Trump is scheduled to speak at Davos on Wednesday afternoon local time. Speaking with reporters before heading to Switzerland, the president showed no sign of softening his approach to the Greenland issue.
“I think that we will work something out where NATO is going to be very happy and we’re — we’re going to be very happy,” Trump said of the upcoming Davos trip during a press briefing. “But we need it for security purposes. We need it for national security and even world security. It’s very important.”
When asked by a reporter how far he was willing to go to secure Greenland, Trump replied, “You’ll find out.”
Other European leaders on Tuesday spoke at Davos and criticized Trump’s threat of tariffs on NATO allies related to Greenland.
The president announced new 10% tariffs on all goods from the eight nations — Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands and Finland — that sent small contingents of troops to Greenland last week. The European nations said the deployments were for a military exercise intended to boost regional security.
Trump said the new tariffs will come into force on Feb. 1 and will increase to 25% on June 1. The president said the measures would remain in place until the U.S. is able to purchase Greenland.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech in Davos that the “proposed additional tariffs are a mistake.” Referring to the trade deal signed by the EU and U.S. in July, von der Leyen added, “In politics as in business, a deal is a deal.”
“Plunging us into a dangerous downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape,” she said. “Our response will be unflinching, united and proportional.”
On Wednesday, von der Leyen said during a press conference at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, “The threat of additional tariffs for security reasons is simply wrong.”
“We are at a crossroads. Europe prefers dialogue and solutions, but we are fully prepared to act, if necessary, with unity, urgency, and determination,” von der Leyen added.
European Council President Antonio Costa said, “Further tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-US agreement.” He added, “We stand ready to defend ourselves, our member states, our citizens, our companies against any form of coercion.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, criticized “competition from the United States of America through trade agreements that undermine our export interests, demand maximum concessions, and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe.”
Such measures, he said, were “combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable — even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty.”
The Greenland military exercises, Macron said, posed no threat and were a step taken to support Denmark. “Cooperating is not about blaming others,” Macron said. “We do prefer respect to bullies.”
On Wednesday, Paris called for new allied drills. “France requests a NATO exercise in Greenland and is ready to contribute,” a source at the Elysee Palace — which houses the presidential office — told ABC News.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, meanwhile, said in a post to Facebook on Tuesday that the autonomous territory must be “prepared for the worst.”
“It is unlikely that we will be arrested by force, but we cannot be indifferent either,” Nielsen wrote. “Our neighbor did not miss this opportunity. It is therefore important that we be prepared for the worst.”
Nielsen said Greenland is in “constant dialogue with the EU and NATO and others,” about the situation.
Steve Witkoff, US special envoy, arrives for a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. US negotiators will join European leaders in Paris on Tuesday in the latest effort to hash out post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Photographer: Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration said Wednesday the Gaza peace plan is moving into the next phase, which it said “begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza.”
“Today, on behalf of President Trump, we are announcing the launch of Phase Two of the President’s 20-Point Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction,” U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said in a statement on X.
The announcement comes as officials and observers question the stability of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which has largely held despite isolated violations.
According to Witkoff, phase two “establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), and begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel.”
Witkoff said the U.S. expects Hamas to “comply fully,” including by immediately returning the final deceased hostage, identified by Israeli officials as Ran Gvili.
“Failure to do so will bring serious consequences,” Witkoff said.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday that the return of Gvili “is a top priority.”
“Hamas is required to meet the terms of the agreement to exert 100% effort for the return of the fallen hostages, down to the very last one, Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel,” the office said in a statement on X.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem called the announcement on the second phase an “important positive development” and said they are “fully prepared to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip” to the NCAG.
Qassem said they demand that the U.S. “compel” Israel to “fulfill the requirements of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement and move towards the second phase.”
The NCAG is a body of an expected 15 Palestinian leaders tasked with the monumental challenge of governing Gaza. The committee would be responsible for Gaza’s day-to-day management, including sanitation, infrastructure and education.
The NCAG will ultimately be run by a “Board of Peace,” which is expected to be made up of 12 as-yet-unannounced leaders. Trump and other European leaders are expected to lead the Board of Peace and oversee this newly formed committee. The announcement is expected in the coming days.
Speaking aboard Air Force One Sunday, Trump said the Board of Peace council would be made up of “the most important leaders of the most important countries,” though he did not name them.
U.S. officials confirmed Nickolay Mladenov, the former United Nations special coordinator for Middle East peace and a former Bulgarian foreign minister, will be appointed as the new senior representative for the Board of Peace and will oversee implementation of the plan. Mladenov is expected to serve as a liaison between the NCAG and the peace council.
American officials have said they hope that establishing the committee will help loosen Hamas’ grip on Gaza.
Witkoff on Wednesday thanked Egypt, Turkey and Qatar “for their indispensable mediation efforts that made all progress to date possible.”
In a joint statement, the three Middle Eastern countries said they “welcome the formation” of the NCAG, saying it is an “important development that will contribute to strengthening efforts aimed at consolidating stability and improving the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.”
The initial phase of the peace plan, which launched in October 2025, saw the release of the remaining living hostages and the return of the remains of 27 deceased hostages in Gaza, as well as the release of more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners that had been held by Israel. The first phase also entailed that the Israel Defense Forces pull back to the so-called “yellow line” in Gaza, intended as the first of three demarcation lines, and saw restrictions on humanitarian aid going into Gaza lifted.
