Justin Trudeau has said he will step down as Canada’s prime minister after his party finds a new leader, a decision that in effect brings an end to nearly a decade in power.

“Canadians deserve a clear choice in the next election,” Trudeau said, adding that party infighting had made it impossible for him to face off against his political rivals. Trudeau said would stay on as prime minister until a new leader of the ruling Liberal party was chosen through a “robust, nationwide” process.

His resignation throws open the doors to a fierce political battle to be the country’s next leader, with polls showing the Liberals losing badly to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October, regardless of who the leader is.

Trudeau, who used his address to recount his government’s accomplishments over three terms, said parliament would be suspended until 24 March.

His decision to resign also comes at a time when deep anxiety has settled over Canadian politics before Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. Canadian officials increasingly fear US tariffs will devastate the country’s economy and a prorogued parliament is unlikely to ease these fears.

Hours after Trudeau said he would resign, Trump revived his running jibe on social media about persuading Canada to seek US statehood.

“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State. The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat,” the incoming president wrote.

“Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned. If Canada merged with the US, there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”

Trudeau had attempted to placate the incoming US president, both with an array of policy concessions and a visit to Florida, where they posed smiling for a photo. He told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation he had promised Trump Canada would shore up border security.

Days later, however, Trump publicly mocked Trudeau, belittling him as the “governor” of Canada, as if his country were merely a US state.

Reaction from Trudeau’s political rivals to his decision to step down was swift and unforgiving.

“Nothing has changed,” said Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader. “Every Liberal MP and leadership contender supported everything Trudeau did for nine years, and now they want to trick voters by swapping in another Liberal face to keep ripping off Canadians for another four years, just like Justin.”

Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic party, said in a statement that the Liberals “do not deserve another chance, no matter who is the leader”. Singh propped up the Liberal’s minority government for three years under a confidence and supply agreement, but withdrew his support at the end of 2024.

Earlier in the day, Trudeau met the governor general, Mary Simon, and requested the prorogation of parliament until 24 March in order to give the party sufficient time to find a new leader. Lawmakers were due to return in late January and the Conservatives, also known as the Tories, had pledged to bring down the government with a vote of non-confidence, which could have forced an election.

A meeting of the national caucus is expected to take place later in the day in order to plan for the transition to a new leader.

The 53-year-old Trudeau has led the ruling Liberal party since 2013 and became prime minister in November 2015. Until recently, he had told reporters on numerous occasions he expected to lead the Liberals into the next election.

But the recent developments reflect Trudeau’s waning popularity – and that of his governing Liberals. In recent months, the party has after lost both political strongholds in recent byelections and prominent cabinet ministers. Recent polling has the Liberals at 16% support, their worst pre-election standing in more than a century.

For Trudeau, the reversal of fortunes has been in the works for years as the public slowly soured on a leader whose historic surname, good looks and charisma elevated him into a global celebrity, or, as a 2016 Vogue profile put it, the “new young face of Canadian politics”.

At home, however, his reputation has – like those of many incumbents in power over the past year – become increasingly tarnished by high inflation and out-of-control housing prices.

But a leader seemingly attuned to the mood of the country found himself embroiled in series of personal scandals, including a family trip to the Aga Khan’s private island, skipping out on the country’s first national day of truth and reconciliation for a surfing vacation, and revelations that members of his family were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a charity to which his government recently awarded a substantial contract.

In each case, Trudeau’s apparent inability to understand public outrage helps to explain his refusal to step down – and seemingly blinded him to the growing dissatisfaction which threatens to cast a shadow over his political legacy.

Almost two dozen backbench Liberal MPs signed a letter calling on Trudeau to step down late last year over fears of a potentially seismic electoral defeat.

In mid-December Trudeau’s closest political ally, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, stepped down amid a row over the appropriate response to Donald Trump’s looming economic nationalism. Her scathing resignation letter accused Trudeau of “costly political gimmicks” and cast doubt on his understanding of the “gravity of the moment”.

Federal law requires an election be held by October 2025 but with all opposition parties saying publicly they no longer have confidence in the governing Liberals, an election is certain when parliament returns in late March.

The Tories are expected to win a majority government given current polling. But that result could sway substantially depending on the new leaders the Liberals choose.

After nearly a decade in power, Justin Trudeau has said he intends to step down as prime minister.

The 53-year-old politician, who rose to become prime minister in November 2015 on the promise of hope and revitalisation, has been under pressure to quit for months.

He swept into parliament at the helm of surprise majority, promising change, hope and “sunny ways” as he charmed Canadians and much of the world with a brand that sought to embrace feminism, welcome refugees and reset Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples.

Nearly 10 years later, however, Justin Trudeau’s political career has come to a halt, with the 53-year-old on Monday announcing his decision to step down.

“Last night over dinner, I told my kids about the decision I’m sharing with you today,” he said, adding that while he was a “fighter” he saw no path forward. “This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.”

Trudeau said he would remain as prime minister until a new leader is chosen. He also made the decisions to request a prorogation of parliament, buying his ailing Liberal party precious months to avoid disaster when an election is called.

In the end, Trudeau’s boyish charisma was not enough to reassure Canadians facing enormous jumps in housing prices, rocketing groceries inflation and the prospect of huge tariffs imposed by the country’s main trading partner, the US.

The decision capped off a stunning, years-long turn of fortune for Trudeau, a former high school teacher and the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s best-known prime ministers. For months he had fended off calls to resign, insisting he would stay on even as a swelling chorus of his own party members urged him to go and after Chrystia Freeland, one of his most powerful and loyal ministers, delivered a scathing blow as she announced her own resignation.

The swirling questions over Trudeau’s resignation sharpened after Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic party (NDP), recently vowed to present a parliamentary motion to topple Trudeau’s government.

The long, drawn-out end was a sharp contrast to his meteoric rise; in 2015, after catapulting his party from third in the polls to a first-place finish, he became the country’s prime minister, making headlines around the world as he ushered in the country’s first gender-balanced cabinet with the pithy line: “Because it’s 2015.”

As media requests for the young leader poured in from around the world, Canadians appeared to embrace his habit of snapping selfies with supporters and revel in his global star power, highlighted during the 2016 G7 summit in Japan, where he was nicknamed “ikemen shusho”, or hunky PM, by local media and swooning fans who lined up for a glimpse of him.

Just shy of a decade on, his popularity had plunged among Canadians. “I think part of it is that he stayed too long,” said Lori Turnbull, a professor of political science at Dalhousie University, pointing to those who opposed his pandemic-era restrictions, and affordability issues that had steadily chipped away at his popularity over the past two years. “He could have read the writing on the wall and walked away, but that is not the way he operates. He has his own vision.”

In his wake, Trudeau leaves a weakened Liberal party, with scant chances of success in the federal election expected by October.

“When he took over the party in 2013, they had 34 seats,” said Turnbull. “And he really built the party up in his own image. And now it’s not clear what would be left of the Liberal party and the Liberal brand without him.” Polls have consistently suggested that, were an election to be held today, the opposition Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, would win a majority.

The political drama has dominated headlines across Canada and beyond, offering a glimpse of a governing party in disarray as Canadians brace themselves for Donald Trump’s return to power. Last month the US president-elect announced plans to slap a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States from Canada, sending the Canadian dollar tumbling as analysts warned that exports to the US had climbed to about 77% of the country’s total exports.

The fast-approaching possibility of an economic crisis comes as affordability already ranks among the top concerns of many across Canada. While most Canadians agreed with the direction the Trudeau-led government had taken when it came to issues such as equality and diversity, many felt that he had failed to deliver when it came to economic issues, said Nik Nanos of Nanos Research. “As the rising cost of living – especially the rising cost of housing – has gripped many Canadians, there’s a sense that the Liberals were flatfooted on this issue,” he said.

This clumsiness also extended to some of Trudeau’s most-vaunted promises, said Nanos, pointing to the prime minister’s pledge to renew the relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples as an example. “Even on things like reconciliation, I think it would be fair to say that for many Indigenous peoples, Justin Trudeau said all the right things about reconciliation. But they don’t feel that there’s actually been a positive change in the day-to-day lives of Indigenous peoples in the last 10 years.”

When Trudeau first entered politics, his critics scrambled to define him, describing his teaching experience and stints working in youth advocacy and as a snowboard instructor as part of a CV that was “too thin” for a political leader. The criticisms seemingly failed to land, as many in the country voted to allow him the chance to write his own story.

Ten years later, everyone in the country had a strong opinion on Trudeau, said Nanos. “There are very few people who are undecided, or ambivalent, about Justin Trudeau.”

He was swift to note, however, that Poilievre, the conservative leader who has a double-digit poll lead over Trudeau, is just as polarising. “We’re in a world where all of the choices are polarising, but people are looking to punish someone,” said Nanos. “And Justin Trudeau, as the incumbent prime minister, is at the top of the list for a significant proportion of the population, because of their worries about paying for groceries, paying for housing and wondering about what’s happening on climate change and stuff like that.”

It’s a fate that has been echoed by embattled incumbents around the world, from Emmanuel Macron in France to Joe Biden in the US.

Trudeau left behind a mixed legacy; one dotted with progressive wins but which also fell short of the ambitious promises that fuelled his rise to power, said Semra Sevi, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto.

As prime minister, he oversaw landmark reforms such as the legalisation of marijuana and programmes aimed at bolstering childcare access and affordability. “However, many of his larger promises – especially around climate change, Indigenous reconciliation, and electoral reform – have been less successful,” Sevi said.

A series of scandals, from images that appeared to show him dressing up in blackface to the WE charity affair, in which Trudeau was accused of an improper financial relationship with the international development charity, further eroded trust in his leadership.

His tenure, however, had managed to transform Canada in some ways, she said, as his “sunny ways” and focus on inclusivity trickled down into government policy. “Trudeau helped make Canada more progressive in terms of gender equality, immigration, and social rights.”

His reassertion of Canada’s liberal identity was often played against Trump’s isolationist tendencies, thrusting Canada into the limelight when, for example, Trudeau headed to an airport to personally welcome Syrian refugees after Trump had signed off on his so-called Muslim ban.

The result – reinforced through stances such as his gender-balanced cabinet, the emphasis on LGBTQ+ rights, and his determination to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees – had helped to position Canada as more inclusive and globally minded, said Sevi.

“Early on, he was seen as a breath of fresh air in Canadian politics, bringing a youthful energy, progressive ideals, and a promise to modernise Canada’s political landscape,” she added.

Nearly 10 years and one drawn-out resignation later, the picture that had emerged was far more nuanced, she said. “His legacy, like his tenure, will likely be seen as a balance of progressive wins, alongside unfulfilled potential.”

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake has struck near one of Tibet’s holiest cities, the China Earthquake Networks Centre has said, damaging buildings around Shigatse and sending people running to the streets in neighbouring Nepal and India.

State media said nine people had died in the quake, which hit at 9.05am on Tuesday with an epicentre depth of 10km (6.2 miles).

“Dingri county and its surrounding areas experienced very strong tremors, and many buildings near the epicentre have collapsed,” state broadcaster CCTV said.

“The reporter learned that nine people have been confirmed dead so far,” adding that as of 10am, “multiple aftershocks” had been recorded.

Crumbled shop fronts could be seen in a video showing the aftermath from the nearby town of Lhatse, with debris spilling out on to the road.

Reuters was able to confirm the location from nearby buildings, windows, road layout, and signage that match satellite and street view imagery. The date could not be verified independently.

Tremors were felt in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu 400km (250 miles) away, where residents ran from their houses.

Tremors were also felt in the northern Indian state of Bihar which borders Nepal. As walls shook, people rushed out of their homes and apartments to open areas.

So far, no reports of any damage or loss to property have been received, officials in India said.

A magnitude 6.8 quake is considered strong and is capable of causing severe damage.

Southwestern parts of China are frequently hit by earthquakes. A huge quake in Sichuan province in 2008 killed almost 70,000 people.

According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, there have been 29 earthquakes with magnitudes of three or higher within 200km of the Shigatse quake in the past five years, all of which were smaller than the one that struck on Tuesday morning.

In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 tremor struck near Kathmandu in neighbouring Nepal, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands in that country’s worst earthquake.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

The US Congress certified Donald Trump’s presidential election victory on Monday in an event heavy with symbolism, four years to the day since he incited a violent mob to disrupt a similar ceremony in an attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The vice-president, Kamala Harris, Trump’s defeated Democratic opponent in November’s election, presided over a joint Senate and House of Representatives session to validate the result. As the certificates confirming Trump’s victory were brought into the House chamber, Harris took her place on the dais alongside the Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

Four tellers – senators Deb Fischer of Nebraskaand Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and representatives Joe Morelle of New York and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin – took turns announcing each state’s electoral college results, pronouncing the certificates to be “regular in form and authentic”. JD Vance, the vice-president-elect, sat in the front row of the House chamber as his and Trump’s victory became official.

When Harris formally announced the final results, Republicans applauded Trump’s victory. Harris remained stoic throughout the session but smiled slightly as Democratic members in the chamber clapped to recognize her 226 electoral votes.

“I do believe very strongly that America’s democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it,” Harris told reporters after the joint session concluded. “Otherwise, it is very fragile, and it will not be able to withstand moments of crisis. And today, America’s democracy stood.”

As expected, Democrats did not challenge the results in any way, given that longstanding convention dictates the certification should be a mere formality in the peaceful transfer of power. However, the proceedings took place amid unprecedented security measures from US Capitol and Washington DC police, fearful of a repeat of the tumultuous events of 6 January 2021, when Trump’s supporters tried to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory amid false allegations that it had been stolen.

In an op-ed published by the Washington Post on Sunday, Biden implored Americans to remember the painful lessons learned in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

“We should be proud that our democracy withstood this assault. And we should be glad we will not see such a shameful attack again this year,” Biden wrote. “But we should not forget. We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it. We cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago.”

To prevent any potential disruption on Monday, the US Capitol police took additional precautions, including the deployment of new equipment and more staff, to ensure a smooth certification process. The inclement weather in Washington, which was blanketed in snow on Monday morning due to Winter Storm Blair, may have further deterred would-be demonstrators.

“We cannot be taken by surprise again,” Tom Manger, chief of the US Capitol police, has said, referring to how police four years ago were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the rampaging mob.

In 2021, members of Congress and senators were forced to seek shelter as rioters ransacked offices and searched for leading congressional members, including the then House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

Harris’s predecessor as vice-president, Mike Pence – charged with the same constitutional role of presiding over the certification – was spirited from the building by security personnel as rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence” after he refused to comply with Trump’s demand that he decline to accept the result and instead throw the election his way.

A re-run of four years ago was highly unlikely on Monday, however. Democrats have accepted Trump’s electoral college and popular vote victory without demur. They had signalled they would not even lodge symbolic challenges to his electors, as some of them did after his 2016 victory, which he gained through the electoral college system while losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.

This time, Trump won both the electoral college, by 312 to 226, as well as the popular vote, by a margin of about 2.5m.

“I think you’re going to have a pretty sort of normal transfer, and I think we will respect the wishes of the American people … in contrast to what happened January 6, 2021,” Morelle told Politico. “I do feel like that’s worth saying over and over again.”

More than 1,500 people have been charged with offences in relation to the 2021 attack, which resulted in five deaths on the day and a further four in the days and months that followed, including police officers who killed themselves. About 1,000 participants have been convicted.

Trump has promised to issue presidential pardons to some of the January 6 attackers beginning in the “first hour” of his second term, which will start later this month, but Manger has warned that such a decision could jeopardize the safety of all US law enforcement officers.

“What message does that send?” Manger told the Washington Post on Sunday. “What message does that send to police officers across this nation, if someone doesn’t think that a conviction for an assault or worse against a police officer is something that should be upheld, given what we ask police officers to do every day?”

While the snow-filled day didn’t result in a meaningful anniversary rally outside the Capitol on Monday, a handful of Trump loyalists instead gathered in the lower levels of a Washington Hyatt Regency down the street to deliver their vision of the future for January 6 participants.

The conference, organized from prison by January 6 defendant Jake Lang, featured several other insurrectionists as well as prominent rightwing figures like Mike Lindell, influencer Isabella Maria Deluca and self-styled “secretary of retribution” Ivan Raiklin.

The event was a far cry from the thousands who stormed the Capitol on that fateful day in 2021, but the setting did not diminish speakers’ intense rhetoric, especially when considering Raiklin’s vision of vengeance. According to Raiklin, a former Green Beret and leader in the movement to overturn the 2020 election results, Trump’s first task should be to declare a sweeping clemency plan that would extend to all insurrectionists.

“Everybody,” Raiklin said on the sidelines of the conference, “even the violent ones that are in [jail]. They’ve already faced their time, OK, because it’s all political. They were overcharged.”

Joe Biden has urged American citizens not to forget the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol – and has repeated his declaration that his presidential predecessor and successor, Donald Trump, threatened democracy by inciting his supporters to carry out the assault.

Speaking on the eve of the fourth anniversary of what was widely viewed as a violent insurrection, the outgoing president warned reporters of the dangers of forgetting the attempt by Trump’s supporters to overturn his defeat to Biden in the 2020 election or downplaying it as trivial now that Trump was about to return to the White House.

“I think it should not be rewritten,” Biden said. “I don’t think it should be forgotten.”

Biden said he was determined to preside over a peaceful handover of power that Trump – insisting, falsely, that the 2020 election was stolen – had denied him when he took office.

“If you notice, I’ve reached out to make sure the smooth transition [happens],” Biden said. “We’ve got to get back to basic, normal transfer of power. I don’t think we should pretend it [January 6] didn’t happen.”

Biden made a point of inviting Trump back to the White House after he defeated Vice-President Kamala Harris in November’s election, telling him “welcome back” in front of television cameras. It was a courtesy Trump did not extend to Biden as his incoming successor after the 2020 race.

But Biden made clear that he believed his previous warning about Trump being “a threat to democracy” still held.

“I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy, and I’m hopeful that we’re beyond it,” he said.

Biden’s remarks also included a testy exchange with journalists at which he appeared to take issue with references to his advanced age of 82.

Ironically, in November, Trump at 78 became the oldest president ever elected.

Footage at a White House event to sign the Social Security Fairness Act into law captured Biden saying: “My being the oldest president, I know more world leaders than any one of you ever met in your whole goddamn life.”

Biden’s preoccupation with the events of four years ago surfaced as the Capitol was due to host a joint session of both houses of Congress to certify Trump’s win. Democrats have indicated that they will refrain from lodging even symbolic challenges against any of Trump’s electors in a pointed display meant to emphasise the importance of a peaceful transfer of power.

It falls to Harris to certify the outcome of the election she lost.

The president reinforced his message in an opinion article published in the Washington Post on Monday, writing that “we should be proud” that US democracy withstood the assault of 2021 and that “we should be glad we will not see such a shameful attack again this year”.

But warning against historical amnesia, he added: “But we should not forget. We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it. We cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago.”

He accused Republicans of trying to downplay the significance or mis-portray the nature of the January 6 events.

“An unrelenting effort has been under way to rewrite – even erase – the history of that day,” Biden said. “To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes.”

He noted that attackers stormed the Capitol, smashed windows, kicked down doors and beat law enforcement officers unconscious. A bipartisan congressional report has linked the attack to several deaths, including officer suicides.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon convicted participants as one of his first acts back in office. More than 1,000 people have so far been found guilty of offences related to the attack.

Biden wrote that he would attend Trump’s inauguration, a pointed contrast to Trump’s deliberate snub of his.

A 2022 Act of Congress decreeing that a plaque be displayed at the Capitol in honour of the police officers who responded to the attack has not been enacted, the Associated Press reported, prompting fears among Democrats that the event is being airbrushed from the historical memory.

“It’s been erased,” Peter Welch, a Democratic senator for Vermont, told AP. “Winners write history and Trump won. And his version is that it was a peaceful gathering. Obviously completely untrue.”

Aubrey Plaza has released a statement after the death of her husband, Jeff Baena, who was found at his Los Angeles home on Friday after taking his own life.

“This is an unimaginable tragedy,” the actor and Baena’s family said in a joint statement shared with media on Monday. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”

The 47-year-old writer and director was best known for his work on comedies including co-writing 2004’s I Heart Huckabees, and directing 2014’s Life After Beth and 2017’s The Little Hours, both of which starred Plaza. The two started dating in 2011 and married a decade later in 2021 to celebrate their anniversary.

Plaza, who broke through with her recurring role on the television show Parks and Recreation, won acclaim for her performance in season two of The White Lotus and the film My Old Ass. She also appeared in Baena’s latest film, 2022’s Spin Me Round.

Before her husband’s death, Plaza had been scheduled to present an award at Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony.

During his acceptance speech for best director, The Brutalist director, Brady Corbet, paid tribute to Baena, saying: “Finally, tonight my heart is with Aubrey Plaza and Jeff’s family.”

• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Aubrey Plaza has released a statement after the death of her husband, Jeff Baena, who was found at his Los Angeles home on Friday after taking his own life.

“This is an unimaginable tragedy,” the actor and Baena’s family said in a joint statement shared with media on Monday. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”

The 47-year-old writer and director was best known for his work on comedies including co-writing 2004’s I Heart Huckabees, and directing 2014’s Life After Beth and 2017’s The Little Hours, both of which starred Plaza. The two started dating in 2011 and married a decade later in 2021 to celebrate their anniversary.

Plaza, who broke through with her recurring role on the television show Parks and Recreation, won acclaim for her performance in season two of The White Lotus and the film My Old Ass. She also appeared in Baena’s latest film, 2022’s Spin Me Round.

Before her husband’s death, Plaza had been scheduled to present an award at Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony.

During his acceptance speech for best director, The Brutalist director, Brady Corbet, paid tribute to Baena, saying: “Finally, tonight my heart is with Aubrey Plaza and Jeff’s family.”

• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

The Danish king has shocked some historians by changing the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland and the Faroe Islands – in what has also been seen as a rebuke to Donald Trump.

Less than a year since succeeding his mother, Queen Margrethe, after she stood down on New Year’s Eve 2023, King Frederik has made a clear statement of intent to keep the autonomous Danish territory and former colony within the kingdom of Denmark.

For 500 years, previous Danish royal coats of arms have featured three crowns, the symbol of the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which was led from Denmark between 1397 and 1523. They are also an important symbol of its neighbour Sweden.

But in the updated version, the crowns have been removed and replaced with a more prominent polar bear and ram than previously, to symbolise Greenland and the Faroe Islands respectively.

The move comes at a time of increased tension over Greenland and its relations with Denmark, which continues to control its foreign and security policy.

Incoming US president Trump last month said again that he wants the US to buy Greenland, and the Greenlandic prime minister, Múte Egede, recently accused Denmark of genocide in response to investigations of the forced contraceptive scandal of the 1960s and 70s. In Egede’s own new year’s address he accelerated calls for Greenlandic independence and called for the “shackles of the colonial era” to be removed.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, was expected to visit Greenland on Tuesday, a local government official told Reuters, adding that it was a private visit and that he would be recording material for a podcast and would not meet with any local officials.

Trump Sr later confirmed the trip was taking place in a post on his Truth Social website, without mentioning a date. He added: “Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

The royal household said the coat of arms, which is used on official documents and seals and elements of which date back to the 12th century, “strengthens the prominence of the commonwealth”. The three crowns, it said, had been removed “as it is no longer relevant”.

The changes, it said, were made after a recommendation from a committee that was appointed straight after his accession on 14 January 2024.

Last week, in his first new year speech, the king said: “We are all united and each of us committed for the kingdom of Denmark. From the Danish minority in South Schleswig – which is even situated outside the kingdom – and all the way to Greenland. We belong together.”

Since 1819, the royal arms have been changed three times before now, in 1903, 1948 and 1972. But the latest changes have been met by shock in some quarters.

Ever since the peace treaty of Knäred in 1613, which ended the Kalmar war, Sweden was “forced to accept the Danish king’s rights to use the Swedish symbol of the three crowns, said Dick Harrison, a history professor at the Swedish University of Lund, making its removal from the Danish coat of arms now “a sensation”.

“The symbol survived the huge defeats in the wars against Sweden in the 1640s and the 1650s, the loss of Norway in 1814, the loss of Schleswig to Germany in 1864, the transition to modernity, the loss of Iceland and the German occupation in world war II,” he said. “Thus, from the point of view of history, the fact that King Frederik X has decided to remove the symbol is a sensation.”

But Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen, a historian at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said it sends clear signals about current geopolitics, especially amid Greenlandic calls for independence.

“When the Greenlanders, and in a sense also the Faroese, toy with the idea of achieving full independence, the royal house shows they support the state’s policy, which is to preserve the unity of the realm,” he told Berlingske.

Royal expert Lars Hovbakke Sørensen believes the changes reflect the king’s personal interest in the Arctic, but also send a message to the world.

“It is important to signal from the Danish side that Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Danish realm, and that this is not up for discussion. This is how you mark it,” he told TV2.

The government of Greenland has been contacted for comment.

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has weighed in on a drama unfolding on the country’s beaches, declaring that beachgoers who use portable cabanas to claim a patch of sand are going against the nation’s spirit of equality.

Asked about the practice on morning television on Tuesday, Albanese said it was “not on”.

Australia’s beaches are typically open to all, meaning that unlike in some other countries, the public do not have to fork out to reserve a spot to relax.

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But as the country baked through another sweltering January, with temperatures exceeding 40C (104F) in parts, some wondered if a proud Australian tradition was under threat.

Debate flared online after photos emerged and were then shared in a News Corp story, showing rows of cabanas – a portable shade structure – apparently being used to reserve prime spots at a beach on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Beachgoers were reportedly arriving early in the morning to set up their cabanas, chairs and towels before leaving and returning to the space later in the day.

“One of the great things about Australia, unlike some parts of the world, [where] you go and you’ve got to pay to go to the beach, here, everyone owns the beach,” Albanese said.

“Everyone. And it’s a place where every Australian is equal. And that’s a breach of that principle, really, to think that you can reserve a little spot as just yours.”

In 2020, a proposal to turn part of Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach into a private “Euro beach chic” club – aimed at surgeons, bankers and models – was knocked back by the local council. The mayor of the neighbouring Inner West council called public beach access “a democratic and egalitarian principle that should never be compromised”, and a petition opposing the plan drew thousands of signatures.

In a statement explaining the decision, a spokesperson from Sydney’s Waverley council said at the time “our beaches and parks are public open spaces, for the enjoyment of everyone”.

Christian Barry, a moral philosopher at the Australian National University, said this week’s debate over cabana usage spoke to how Australians viewed the concept of a “fair share of a common resource” – in this case, the beach – or behaviour that suggested an entitlement to “special treatment”.

“I think that what people are objecting to is the idea that people are taking more than their fair share,” Barry said.

“That is a core value – not taking more than your fair share or holding yourself up for special treatment relative to others when it comes to a commonly held resource.

“There are lots of good things about having such [shade] structures: they focus on protection, they allow families to spend longer at the beach than they otherwise would.

“They become unpopular when the use of them starts to impinge on other people’s fair use of that resource.”

Without specific laws or regulations governing cabana-use at the beach, Barry said beachgoers using them should deploy “a bit of common sense” and be prepared to “make a few sacrifices” to avoid causing conflicts.

Rudy Giuliani has been found in contempt of court for failing to provide financial information related to the $148m defamation judgment he owes to two Georgia election workers.

Federal judge Lewis Liman issued the ruling at a hearing on Monday at which the former New York mayor appeared remotely from his Palm Beach condominium, having given in-person testimony for three hours last Friday.

“The defendant has attempted to run the clock by stalling,” Liman said.

Liman ruled after hearing Giuliani testify for a second day at a contempt hearing called after lawyers for the election workers said Giuliani had failed to properly comply with requests to produce evidence over the last few months.

Giuliani later issued a response to the contempt hearing: “It’s tragic to watch as our justice system has been turned into a total mockery, where we have charades instead of actual hearings and trials. Unfortunately, it’s getting worse and worse because so few members of the legal community are willing to speak up or do anything about the weaponization of our justice system, and that needs to change.”

Last Friday, Giuliani testified for about three hours in Liman’s Manhattan courtroom, but the judge permitted him to finish testifying remotely on Monday from his condominium in Palm Beach, Florida.

The hearing concerned a near-$150m judgment won by Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia elections workers whom Giuliani defamed while advancing Trump’s lie that electoral fraud in 2020 cost him victory over Joe Biden.

In court in November last year, Liman said Giuliani had not been complying with orders to surrender assets, while the former mayor and disgraced lawyer for Trump lost his temper and shouted at the judge that he could not pay his bills.

At the start of the hearing, Giuliani had an American flag backdrop, which he said he used for a program he conducts over the internet, but the judge told him to change it to a plain background.

Giuliani conceded during testimony that he sometimes did not turn over everything requested because he believed the requests were overly broad or inappropriate or even a “trap” set by lawyers for the plaintiffs.

He also said he sometimes had trouble turning over information regarding his assets because of numerous criminal and civil court cases requiring him to produce factual information.

Giuliani, 80, said the demands to turn over materials made it “impossible to function in an official way” about 30% to 40% of the time.

Rudy Giuliani has been found in contempt of court for failing to provide financial information related to the $148m defamation judgment he owes to two Georgia election workers.

Federal judge Lewis Liman issued the ruling at a hearing on Monday at which the former New York mayor appeared remotely from his Palm Beach condominium, having given in-person testimony for three hours last Friday.

“The defendant has attempted to run the clock by stalling,” Liman said.

Liman ruled after hearing Giuliani testify for a second day at a contempt hearing called after lawyers for the election workers said Giuliani had failed to properly comply with requests to produce evidence over the last few months.

Giuliani later issued a response to the contempt hearing: “It’s tragic to watch as our justice system has been turned into a total mockery, where we have charades instead of actual hearings and trials. Unfortunately, it’s getting worse and worse because so few members of the legal community are willing to speak up or do anything about the weaponization of our justice system, and that needs to change.”

Last Friday, Giuliani testified for about three hours in Liman’s Manhattan courtroom, but the judge permitted him to finish testifying remotely on Monday from his condominium in Palm Beach, Florida.

The hearing concerned a near-$150m judgment won by Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia elections workers whom Giuliani defamed while advancing Trump’s lie that electoral fraud in 2020 cost him victory over Joe Biden.

In court in November last year, Liman said Giuliani had not been complying with orders to surrender assets, while the former mayor and disgraced lawyer for Trump lost his temper and shouted at the judge that he could not pay his bills.

At the start of the hearing, Giuliani had an American flag backdrop, which he said he used for a program he conducts over the internet, but the judge told him to change it to a plain background.

Giuliani conceded during testimony that he sometimes did not turn over everything requested because he believed the requests were overly broad or inappropriate or even a “trap” set by lawyers for the plaintiffs.

He also said he sometimes had trouble turning over information regarding his assets because of numerous criminal and civil court cases requiring him to produce factual information.

Giuliani, 80, said the demands to turn over materials made it “impossible to function in an official way” about 30% to 40% of the time.

• Ukrainian president, Voldymyr Zelenskyy, said that almost 15,000 Russian soldiers had died after five months of fighting in Kursk. He also said Ukraine’s forces had created a buffer zone in the Kursk region, preventing Russians from “direct[ing]… force to other directions, particularly to the Donetsk region, Sumy, Kharkiv region or Zaporizhzia”.

• Russia said its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had captured the town of Kurakhove, 32 km (20 miles) south of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian logistics hub toward which Russian forces have been advancing for months. The ministry said the capture would allow Russian forces to seize the rest of the Donetsk region “at an accelerated pace”. Though the local military command defending Kurakhove conceded that Russian forces were attacking urban areas, it said “measures to identify and destroy enemy assault groups” were under way.

• US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy has postponed a fact-finding trip to Kyiv and other European capitals until after Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, according to four sources with knowledge of the trip’s planning, Reuters reported. The trip, which would have marked the first time incoming Trump administration officials headed to Kyiv since the November election. It was not immediately clear why the trip was delayed. Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that he could solve the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, but has made little progress to that end.

• French president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Monday that Ukraine needed to have “realistic discussions on territorial issues”, and urged Ukraine to consider territorial concessions. He called on the United States to convince Russia to enter negotiations, adding the “new American president himself knows the United States has no chance of winning anything if Ukraine loses”.

• The United States believes Russia is expanding space cooperation with North Korea in return for military support, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said during a visit to Seoul on Monday. “The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. Now we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology with Pyongyang,” Blinken told a news conference. According to US, Ukrainian and South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops and conventional weapons systems to support Moscow’s war campaign.

• A Scottish man has been killed while serving on the frontline with the Ukrainian army, his family said. Jordan Maclachlan, 26, from Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands, died on Friday while serving as a medic with the Ukrainian army, his family said in a statement to the BBC. “Jordan always believed that he was making a difference and we are all so proud of him helping others,” the statement said. A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson told the broadcaster: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Ukraine and are in contact with the local authorities.”

• Ukraine’s land force commander has admitted “problems” with an army unit trained partly in France, after many of its soldiers reportedly deserted. Commander Mykhailo Drapaty said that officials were aware of problems of staffing, training and command staff. Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation was investigating desertion in the unit and “abuse of power” by a military official. Drapaty said he “will not refute” reports made in December that 1,700 soldiers had fled the brigade without going into combat, and 50 had escaped while training in France.

• Thousands in Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region have been left without heat or gas since New Year’s Day. Transdniestria, which lies near the Ukraine border, had received Russian gas via Ukraine for decades, but the supply was cut off after Ukraine refused to extend a transit deal. The Modolvan government said Russian gas export Gazprom refused to supply contracted gas to Tansdniestra, as Russia deflected blame to Ukraine.

• The patriarch of Russia’s Orthodox Church, celebrating Christmas alongside Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, said the western world despised Russia and its “alternative path of civilised development”. Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrate Christmas on 7 January, according to the Julian calendar.
  Patriarch Kirill, an enthusiastic backer of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, blessed icons and crosses that were to be engraved with the president’s initials and sent to servicemen in the 34-month-old war, Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying.

A tech entrepreneur based in Los Angeles became trapped in a malfunctioning self-driving car for several minutes last month, causing him to nearly miss a flight, he said.

Mike Johns was riding in an autonomous Waymo car on his way to Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix when the vehicle began driving around a parking lot repeatedly, circling eight times as he was on the phone seeking help from the company.

“I got my seat belt on. I can’t get out of the car. Has this been hacked? What’s going on?” he can be heard telling a Waymo representative in a video he posted to LinkedIn three weeks ago. “I feel like I’m in the movies. Is somebody playing a joke on me? And I got a flight to catch.”

Johns initially believed it was a prank, he told the Guardian. “Having a lot of clever friends working in tech … [I thought] maybe it was my friend,” he said. But with the vehicle continuing to loop around an island in the lot, he knew there was a real problem. “This car has a glitch.”

He became dizzy as it continued circling the lot in a moment that he said “felt like a scene in a sci-fi thriller”. The Waymo representative advised him to open his app as she tried to stop the vehicle, but said in the video she didn’t “have an option to control the car”.

The issue was resolved after a few minutes, Waymo said in a statement. He ultimately managed to catch his flight from Arizona to southern California, which he said was fortunately delayed. But he was frustrated about the experience and said he was unable to tell if the representative he spoke with was human or AI.

“It’s just, again, a case of today’s digital world. A half-baked product and nobody meeting the customer, the consumers, in the middle,” Johns, who describes himself as a futurist who is knowledgable about artificial intelligence, told CBS Los Angeles.

The experience was jarring, Johns said. “I was stunned. It just further reminded me of the ghost in the machine. You’ll hear people reference autonomous vehicles or driverless cars – I will call it ‘human-less cars’.” He had used Waymo once before and said his recent experience wouldn’t deter him from using driverless cars in the future, but there were still things to work out.

“As a futurist, I feel like this is where everything is headed so you might as well get there first,” Johns said. “It’s just we have glitches that need stitches.”

Waymo told the Guardian the “looping event” had been addressed by a regularly scheduled software update. Johns was not charged for the trip, the company said.

The company offers autonomous ride services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, and provided more than 4m fully autonomous rides last year, according to Waymo. While the company’s vehicles have performed millions of rides safely, high-profile incidents, including a self-driving Waymo car that killed a dog and a collision that injured a cyclist, have fueled concerns.

For Johns, the experience has provided useful insight for a book he is writing on how artificial intelligence will affect jobs. “I became my own case study,” he said.

A monkey in a pink tutu that slipped out of a Missouri home was captured just before a winter storm slammed the state.

The Jefferson county sheriff’s office described the apprehension of the primate in a Facebook post as “Bananas”.

The spider monkey was spotted on Friday afternoon at the intersection of two highways near the town of Otto, just to the south of the St Louis area. The monkey had been staying at a nearby home when it managed to open a door and get outside.

The sheriff’s office said the small monkey was returned to its caretaker after “careful negotiations and some coaxing”. Photos posted on the sheriff’s department Facebook page show a deputy kneeling on the ground before the tutu-clad monkey approached and grabbed his hands.

The sheriff’s office said it was a great example of how officers “having to be prepared to handle whatever the job throws at them”.

The timing was fortuitous. A winter storm packing snow and ice hit the region on Saturday, closing roads and sending temperatures plunging.