Climate breakdown drove the annual global temperature above the internationally agreed 1.5C target for the first time last year, supercharging extreme weather and causing “misery to millions of people”.

The average temperature in 2024 was 1.6C above preindustrial levels, data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) shows. That is a jump of 0.1C from 2023, which was also a record hot year and represents levels of heat never experienced by modern humans.

The heating is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and the damage to lives and livelihoods will continue to escalate around the world until coal, oil and gas are replaced. The Paris agreement target of 1.5C is measured over a decade or two, so a single year above that level does not mean the target has been missed, but does show the climate emergency continues to intensify. Every year in the past decade has been one of the 10 hottest, in records that go back to 1850.

The C3S data also shows that a record 44% of the planet was affected by strong to extreme heat stress on 10 July 2024, and that the hottest day in recorded history struck on 22 July.

“There’s now an extremely high likelihood that we will overshoot the long-term average of 1.5C in the Paris agreement limit,” Dr Samantha Burgess, deputy director at C3S, said. “These high global temperatures, coupled with record global atmospheric water vapour levels in 2024, meant unprecedented heatwaves and heavy rainfall events, causing misery for millions of people.”

Dr Friederike Otto, at Imperial College London, said: “This record needs to be a reality check. A year of extreme weather showed just how dangerous life is at 1.5C. The Valencia floods, US hurricanes, the Philippines typhoons and Amazon drought are just four disasters last year that were worsened by climate change. There are many, many more.”

“The world doesn’t need to come up with a magical solution to stop things from getting worse in 2025,” Otto said. “We know exactly what we need to do to transition away from fossil fuels, halt deforestation and make societies more resilient.”

Carbon emissions in 2024 are expected to have set a new record high, meaning there is no sign yet of the transition away from fossil fuels pledged by the world’s nations at the UN climate conference in Dubai in December 2023. The world is on track for a catastrophic 2.7C of global heating by the end of the century.

The next big opportunity for action comes in February when countries have to submit new emissions-cutting pledges to the UN. The likelihood of keeping below the 1.5C limit even over the longer term appears increasingly remote. Fossil-fuel emissions must fall by 45% by 2030 to have a chance of limiting heating to 1.5C. Several other major temperature analyses are expected to be published on Friday and to find similar levels of heat, including the UK Met Office which also found 2024 had passed 1.5C in 2024.

Temperatures were boosted in the first half of 2024 by the natural El Niño climate phenomenon, but remained very high in the second half of the year even when El Niño dissipated. Some scientists fear an unexpected factor has kicked in, causing a worrying acceleration of global heating, although an unusual year-to-year natural variation could also be the reason.

A fall in pollution from shipping and in low-level clouds, both of which reflect sunlight, have contributed some extra heating, but scientists are still searching for a full explanation of the extreme temperatures in 2024.

Warmer air holds more water vapour and the record level recorded by C3S in 2024 is significant as it increases extreme rainfall events and floods. It also combines with high sea surface temperatures, which power big storms, to fuel devastating hurricanes and typhoons. The average person was exposed last year to an additional six weeks of dangerously hot days, intensifying the fatal impact of heatwaves around the world.

The supercharging of extreme weather by the climate crisis was already clear, with heatwaves of previously impossible intensity and frequency now striking around the world, along with fiercer droughts and wildfires.

Prof Joeri Rogelj, at Imperial College London, said: “Every fraction of a degree – whether 1.4C, 1.5C, or 1.6C – brings more harm to people and ecosystems, underscoring the continued need for ambitious emissions cuts. The cost of solar and wind energy is falling rapidly and is now cheaper than fossil fuels in many countries.”

Prof Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University in the US, has responded to new temperature records being set year after year by providing the same statement to the media: “Every year for the rest of your life will be one of the hottest [on] record. This, in turn, means that 2024 will end up being among the coldest years of this century. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

The world’s richest 1% have already used up their fair share of the global carbon budget for 2025, just 10 days into the year.

In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of an individual from this monied elite had already caused, on average, 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to analysis by Oxfam GB. It would take someone from the poorest 50% of humanity three years to create the same amount of pollution.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is created whenever carbon-based fuels such as coal, gas and oil – used for most electricity generation, industrial processes, heating and transport – are burned.

When it accumulates in the atmosphere it has an insulating effect, preventing heat reaching the Earth from the sun from being radiated back into space. The result of the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO₂ has been a breakdown of climatic conditions that have been stable for 10,000 years.

Governments have pledged to limit global heating to 1.5C (2.7F) above preindustrial levels, but the world is far from hitting the targets needed to keep to this level.

Rising temperatures have led to an emerging crisis of extreme weather events, from droughts to hurricanes to heatwaves, leading to increased food insecurity, wildlife habitat loss, disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and a host of other effects.

According to the analysis, the richest 1% – about 77 million people, including all those earning more than $140,000 (£114,000) a year – are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution each year as the poorest half of humanity.

But it is the poorest people who are suffering the most serious effects of climate breakdown, which are worse in tropical regions. They also have the fewest resources to mitigate the disastrous results of sudden climatic change, while the wealthiest 1% live climate-insulated, air-conditioned lives, mostly in the global north.

A joint investigation by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute in 2023 found that emissions from the 1% alone would be enough to cause the heat-related deaths of 1.3 million people over the coming decades.

Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB’s senior climate justice policy adviser, said: “The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments.

“Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet. Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.”

The very richest live lives that are truly profligate in their use of the world’s remaining carbon budget. Previous research on climate inequality by Oxfam found that the two private jets owned by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, spent nearly 25 days in the air over a 12-month period, releasing as much carbon as an Amazon employee in the US would in 207 years.

The three yachts of the Walton family, heirs of the Walmart retail chain, had a combined carbon footprint in one year of 18,000 tonnes – an amount similar to that of 1,714 Walmart shelf-stackers.

To calculate an individual’s fair share of the planet’s remaining carbon budget, Oxfam took an estimate from the UN’s emissions gap report on the level of emissions in 2030 consistent with a 50% chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C, and divided it by 8.5bn, which is the forecast population of the planet by that year.

In order to align with the pathway to 1.5C, the richest 1% would have to reduce their 2015 level of emissions by 97% by 2030. But according to Oxfam’s analysis, they are likely to reduce emissions by only 5%.

In the UK, Oxfam is calling on Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, to increase taxes on climate-polluting examples of extreme wealth, such as private jets and superyachts.

Liguori said: “As global temperatures continue to climb, the UK must show how it will generate its own share of new, fair funding to meet the escalating climate finance needs and fight inequality. Significantly higher taxes on polluting luxuries like private jets and superyachts is an obvious place for the government to start.”

The world’s richest 1% have already used up their fair share of the global carbon budget for 2025, just 10 days into the year.

In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of an individual from this monied elite had already caused, on average, 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to analysis by Oxfam GB. It would take someone from the poorest 50% of humanity three years to create the same amount of pollution.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is created whenever carbon-based fuels such as coal, gas and oil – used for most electricity generation, industrial processes, heating and transport – are burned.

When it accumulates in the atmosphere it has an insulating effect, preventing heat reaching the Earth from the sun from being radiated back into space. The result of the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO₂ has been a breakdown of climatic conditions that have been stable for 10,000 years.

Governments have pledged to limit global heating to 1.5C (2.7F) above preindustrial levels, but the world is far from hitting the targets needed to keep to this level.

Rising temperatures have led to an emerging crisis of extreme weather events, from droughts to hurricanes to heatwaves, leading to increased food insecurity, wildlife habitat loss, disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and a host of other effects.

According to the analysis, the richest 1% – about 77 million people, including all those earning more than $140,000 (£114,000) a year – are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution each year as the poorest half of humanity.

But it is the poorest people who are suffering the most serious effects of climate breakdown, which are worse in tropical regions. They also have the fewest resources to mitigate the disastrous results of sudden climatic change, while the wealthiest 1% live climate-insulated, air-conditioned lives, mostly in the global north.

A joint investigation by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute in 2023 found that emissions from the 1% alone would be enough to cause the heat-related deaths of 1.3 million people over the coming decades.

Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB’s senior climate justice policy adviser, said: “The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments.

“Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet. Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.”

The very richest live lives that are truly profligate in their use of the world’s remaining carbon budget. Previous research on climate inequality by Oxfam found that the two private jets owned by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, spent nearly 25 days in the air over a 12-month period, releasing as much carbon as an Amazon employee in the US would in 207 years.

The three yachts of the Walton family, heirs of the Walmart retail chain, had a combined carbon footprint in one year of 18,000 tonnes – an amount similar to that of 1,714 Walmart shelf-stackers.

To calculate an individual’s fair share of the planet’s remaining carbon budget, Oxfam took an estimate from the UN’s emissions gap report on the level of emissions in 2030 consistent with a 50% chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C, and divided it by 8.5bn, which is the forecast population of the planet by that year.

In order to align with the pathway to 1.5C, the richest 1% would have to reduce their 2015 level of emissions by 97% by 2030. But according to Oxfam’s analysis, they are likely to reduce emissions by only 5%.

In the UK, Oxfam is calling on Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, to increase taxes on climate-polluting examples of extreme wealth, such as private jets and superyachts.

Liguori said: “As global temperatures continue to climb, the UK must show how it will generate its own share of new, fair funding to meet the escalating climate finance needs and fight inequality. Significantly higher taxes on polluting luxuries like private jets and superyachts is an obvious place for the government to start.”

Jimmy Carter’s six-day farewell to the nation culminated on Thursday morning with a eulogy from Joe Biden on faith and character as the 39th president received a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

During the service, the US president said that he had been the first senator to endorse Carter’s presidential run – highlighting how his predecessor saw challenges “well into the future” and taught him the power of morality.

“Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me, and through his life, taught me, that strength of character is more than title or the power we hold,” Biden said. “It’s the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect, that everyone, and I mean everyone, deserves an even shot.”

The procession for America’s longest-lived president was attended by all five living presidents, including President-elect Donald Trump, all sitting in front row pews and conversing with one another as they settled in. Vice-President Kamala Harris and former vice-president Mike Pence were also in attendance.

Carter’s memorial service also drew world leaders including Canada’s outgoing prime minister, Justin Trudeau; the UN secretary general, António Guterres; and Britain’s Prince Edward. Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister, also attended.

Following the cathedral service, Carter’s body will make a final journey back to Plains, the small Georgia town where his century-long life began and ended, for a burial beside his wife, Rosalynn. An invitation-only funeral at Maranatha Baptist church, where Carter taught Sunday school well into his 90s, will precede his burial alongside Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years.

During his single term in office, Carter’s established key federal agencies and diplomatic initiatives, including the Camp David accords. In later life, Carter eschewed the traditional elder statesman role in favour of hands-on humanitarian work, including through Habitat for Humanity and his campaign to eradicate guinea worm disease. He authored more than 30 books on politics, faith and poetry, helped to negotiate a nuclear standoff with North Korea in 1994, and was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2002.

Praise for Carter’s character and service came from both sides of the aisle. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, on Wednesday described him as having “modeled the virtues of service and citizenship as well as any other American”.

Carter’s remains will return to Plains, his home town, on Thursday, where former Secret Service agents will serve as pallbearers and the National Park Service plans to ring the old farm bell 39 times in tribute.

The former president died at his home on 29 December, aged 100, having spent his final months in hospice care surrounded by family. His passing came just over a year after that of Rosalynn, who died in November 2023 aged 96.

“I miss him,” Biden said on Thursday. “But I take solace in knowing that he and his beloved Rosalynn are reunited again. And to the entire Carter family, thank you. I mean this sincerely for sharing them both with America and the world.”

Ash was falling gently over the Historic Highlands neighborhood of Pasadena, California, on Thursday as residents began to grapple with the toll of the Eaton fire still being fought in the mountains above.

This area was under an evacuation order on Wednesday, and the next day the streets were still littered with fallen branches from Tuesday night’s intense windstorm. The fire broke out early in the evening and spread rapidly amid the powerful gusts, killing at least four people and destroying more than 5,000 structures in the area, which also includes the Altadena and Sierra Madre neighborhoods. As of Thursday afternoon, the blaze had burned 13,690 acres and remained 0% contained.

In Historic Highlands, many of the houses are completely preserved. Others have been reduced to ash and rubble. On a single block, a neighbor told me, five houses were damaged, while the others remain standing.

The intense winds on Tuesday scattered embers from the wildfire raging above the town across a huge swathe of the landscape, sparking fires and destroying homes far beyond the fire line, a resident said. That accounted for the seemingly arbitrary destruction: one house sparked on fire, its neighbor preserved.

“Look at how random it is,” a local resident named Carlos said later. “There’s homes standing right next to each other intact, and other folks have lost everything.”

Across the street, another old house was charred and still smoking, and two neighbors from the block behind said they were worried it might still catch other houses on fire, especially if strong winds picked up again in the evening. Next door, a newly renovated home’s door stood open, a child’s shoe abandoned by the doorstep. Inside, everything was charred.

“You see this stuff on TV, but I’ve never seen anything like this up close,” Alex Neuss, a 36-year-old Pasadena resident, said on Wednesday, after he had returned to his home. “I’m surprised how deep it got into the residential areas.”

Neuss and other Pasadena residents said they had noticed people milling through their neighborhoods on Wednesday and Thursday, some of them taking photographs of destroyed homes, apparently turning the local tragedy into content.

In nearby Altadena, Lake Boulevard runs straight upward into the mountains – and, on Thursday, into heavy clouds of smoke. Small crowds of people gathered on both sides of the street, looking up at the smoking hills and trying to assess the situation.

A group of three friends on the corner said they had been overwhelmed by the number of fires across Los Angeles in the past 24 hours. They lived and worked in different locations across Los Angeles county, including nearby in Pasadena, Koreatown, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and the San Fernando Valley. All of those different locations had been threatened by wildfires on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I’ve seen really bad fires, but this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Harley, 28, who did not give his last name. “My mom has been here 40 years, and it’s the worst she’s ever seen.”

The experience was terrifying, the friends said – and they thought Los Angeles’ elected officials, especially the mayor, Karen Bass, were to blame.

Harley said he was infuriated that California, one of the largest economies in the world, was “so unprepared” for the crisis. “There’s lack of resources, lack of preparation, lack of coordination. It shouldn’t have gotten to this point.

“Why are we still struggling?” he asked.

Matthew, 32, agreed: “There’s no faith in the government at all.”

On the other hand, he added, they did have a lot of faith in the courage of the first responders. And he said, “I have seen a great sense of community – everyone checking in on each other,” which provided some “faith in humanity restored”.

On Los Robles Avenue, near the border of Altadena and Pasadena, many residents were out in their front yards, clearing away debris.

“I lived through the 1994 earthquake, and this feels just as apocalyptic,” said Sherri Solinger, whose house had made it through Tuesday and Wednesday intact.

Solinger called the neighborhood “the best community in Los Angeles”, a racially diverse group of working-class people and artists, who were relying on each other in the midst of disaster.

She said she had evacuated early on Wednesday morning, then come back later in the day to try to protect her and her neighbor’s homes, taking turns hosing down houses with water to protect them from stray sparks and embers.

By Thursday, their focus had shifted to dealing with fallen trees and branches. Her next-door neighbor, Fidel Rodriguez, appeared with a saw in his hand, ready to help Solinger deal with the branches in her yard.

Rodriguez’s home dated from 1911, and he had devoted the past decade to carefully renovating every part of it: new room, new windows, new floors. The prospect of losing all of that work and money was overwhelming, he said. So far, his house had also made it through.

“I feel sorry for everyone,” he said. “I’ll be helping everyone.”

As multiple fires rage around the Los Angeles basin, the 7,500 fire and emergency personnel on the ground are facing unprecedented conditions.

At least five LA residents have been killed, and the death count is expected to rise as responders search burned areas. At least 10,000 structures have been destroyed, and several of the five blazes are still burning out of control.

“This is what our crews train for,” Capt Adam VanGerpen of the Los Angeles fire department told local news. “We’re used to keeping long hours. What’s keeping us going is there’s work to do. There are still homes on fire, there are people being evacuated. We’re just at the beginning stages of this.”

Fire crews are facing dire challenges, hurdles that have intensified the fires and are complicating the response.

Crews were combing through the rubble in Los Angeles with cadaver dogs in search of additional victims from the still burning fire siege that has forced tens of thousands to flee and reduced entire neighborhoods to ash.

Fast-moving wildfires, fanned by hurricane-force winds, have rampaged through communities, forcing nearly 180,000 people to evacuate and leaving at least seven people dead over the past two days.

The Eaton fire near Pasadena has burned over 5,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. To the west, in Pacific Palisades, the largest of the fires burning in the LA area has destroyed over 5,300 structures. Between the Eaton and Palisades fires, more than 10,000 structures have burned.

The Los Angeles county sheriff warned that the death toll is likely to rise as teams search the burned areas, which cover more than 30,000 acres.

Authorities’ work has been hindered by the conditions inside the fire zones, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s department told the Los Angeles Times, but detectives are investigating multiple deaths.

As authorities try to determine the effects of the devastating fires, the blazes continued to burn across Los Angeles. A new brush fire, the Kenneth fire, started on Thursday afternoon in the San Fernando Valley – just a few miles from where fire evacuees were sheltering at a high school – and prompted evacuation orders in the community of Calabasas.

Although the strong winds eased slightly on Thursday, they were expected to strengthen in the evening and into Friday, causing further panic in a city that has been been hit by what officials have described as among the worst disasters in its history.

“We’re facing a historic natural disaster. And I think that can’t be stated strong enough,” Kevin McGowan, the director of emergency management for Los Angeles county, told a press conference.

The fires in southern California began on Tuesday afternoon with intense winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, one of the city’s most desirable addresses and home to a series of A-list movie stars.

Aaron Samson, 48, was in Pacific Palisades at the home of his father-in-law, who he was caring for as he recovered from a medical procedure. They had to get a ride out from a neighbor as the pair had no car and couldn’t find other transportation. But after just a half an hour, the flames began closing in on them as they sat in traffic. Police ordered them to flee on foot as the fire raged and the tops of palm trees burned.

They walked for about 15 minutes before someone saw them struggling, stopped and told them to get in his vehicle.

That evening, the Eaton fire ignited to the east in the hillside suburbs of Altadena, tearing through house after house. Thousands evacuated across the city and the flames intensified overnight, with firefighters struggling to control them during what one official described as among the “most devastating and terrifying nights” in the city’s history.

Firefighters said the destruction was unlike any they had seen in their decades-long careers, and officials described the scenes as “apocalyptic”. Robert Luna, the LA county sheriff, said some areas “look like a bomb was dropped on them”. He asked for patience as officials try to determine the death toll.

“Right now, frankly, we don’t know yet,” he said. County officials on Thursday evening said seven people had died in the fires.

Authorities have not publicly identified any of the people who died, but family members have begun coming forward. Victor Shaw, 66, died in the Eaton fire after he stayed to try to protect the home his family had lived in for more than half a century, his loved ones told KTLA. A family friend said they came upon his body the next morning. He was lying on the ground still clutching a garden hose.

The daughter of Anthony Mitchell, an amputee, said the 67-year-old and his son, Justin, who has cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to come for them and did not make it out.

Hajime White said authorities told the family Mitchell was found by the side of his son’s bed in Altadena. The Washington Post reported that the family believes Mitchell was trying to save his son.

“He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what,” White said.

Rodney Nickerson died in his bed in his Altadena home. The 82-year-old had lived through numerous fires and felt that he would be OK waiting it out at home, his daughter, Kimiko Nickerson, told KTLA.

Nickerson bought the home in 1968 with a $5 downpayment and raised his family there, his daughter said.

Sherri Solinger, who lives in the area, said had “lived through the 1994 earthquake, and this feels just as apocalyptic”. She called the neighborhood “the best community in Los Angeles”, where racially diverse, working-class residents were helping to protect each other’s homes.

Neighbors took turns hosing down houses with water to protect them from stray sparks and embers. On Thursday, their focus had shifted to dealing with fallen trees and branches. Her next-door neighbor, Fidel Rodriguez, appeared with a saw in his hand, ready to help Solinger deal with the branches in her yard.

In Pacific Palisades, one firefighter estimated only about one out of every five homes had been spared in the charred canyons left by the sprawling fire. The homes of many high-profile celebrities were incinerated completely, including those of actors Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal and Eugene Levy.

The fires have strained the region’s water resources. As firefighters battled the blazes, they struggled with reduced water pressure and fire hydrants that ran dry in some areas due to the increased demand. But crews would not have been able to stop the unprecedented blazes regardless, officials said.

“Those erratic wind gusts were throwing embers for multiple miles ahead of the fire,” Chad Augustin, the Pasadena fire chief, said.

On Thursday morning, all evacuation orders for the Sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills area had been lifted, and officials expressed cautious optimism that the fire in that area was “under control”, though the danger had not yet abated.

Critical fire weather conditions were expected to continue on Thursday across portions of southern California, the National Weather Service said, with red flag warnings in effect until Friday evening in much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties due to strong offshore winds and low humidity.

“This firestorm is the big one,” the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, told a press conference after cutting short an official trip to Ghana to return to the city.

Of the fires raging in Los Angeles, the Palisades fire on the west side of Los Angeles had consumed the most territory – nearly 20,000 acres and thousands of structures in the hills between Santa Monica and Malibu. Aerial video by KTLA television showed block after block of smouldering homes in Pacific Palisades, the smoky grid occasionally punctuated by the orange blaze of another home still on fire.

Though relatively small, the Sunset fire burned just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame, while to the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, the Eaton fire claimed another 13,690 acres, nearly 5,000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said. Two deaths have been attributed to the Palisades fire.

The Hurst fire in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles had burned 671 acres as of Thursday afternoon and was 10% contained. And the Lidia fire in Acton had burned 348 acres and was 60% contained. A structural fire had also destroyed at least two homes and spread to brush in Studio City before being extinguished by more than 50 firefighters.

The areas in which the fires sparked have a history of fire and are prone to burn. But human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather across the world, causing more frequent and more deadly disasters, from heatwaves to floods to wildfires.

The region has been experiencing warmer than average temperatures in January, in part owing to recent blasts of dry air, including the notorious Santa Ana winds. Southern California has not recorded more than 0.1in (2.5mm) of rain since early May.

Lois Beckett, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has described Donald Trump’s talk of possibly annexing Canada as a tactic designed to distract people from the impact of his proposed tariffs.

Trump, who says he will impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports unless Ottawa boosts border security, said on Tuesday that he was considering using “economic force” to acquire Canada.

“What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who is a very skilful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that conversation,” Trudeau told CNN when asked about Trump’s remarks.

“Oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminium and lumber and concrete and everything the American consumers buy from Canada [are] suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs,” he said.

Trudeau, who this week said there was not “a snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada would become part of the US, reiterated to CNN that Ottawa would impose countermeasures if Trump made good on this threat.

Trudeau recalled that during a bilateral trade dispute in 2018, Canada put tariffs on Heinz ketchup, playing cards, bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, “things that would hurt American workers”.

He added: “But we don’t want to do that because it drives up prices for Canadians and it harms our closest trading partner.”

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has described Donald Trump’s talk of possibly annexing Canada as a tactic designed to distract people from the impact of his proposed tariffs.

Trump, who says he will impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports unless Ottawa boosts border security, said on Tuesday that he was considering using “economic force” to acquire Canada.

“What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who is a very skilful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that conversation,” Trudeau told CNN when asked about Trump’s remarks.

“Oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminium and lumber and concrete and everything the American consumers buy from Canada [are] suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs,” he said.

Trudeau, who this week said there was not “a snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada would become part of the US, reiterated to CNN that Ottawa would impose countermeasures if Trump made good on this threat.

Trudeau recalled that during a bilateral trade dispute in 2018, Canada put tariffs on Heinz ketchup, playing cards, bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, “things that would hurt American workers”.

He added: “But we don’t want to do that because it drives up prices for Canadians and it harms our closest trading partner.”

Allies of Venezuela’s most influential opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said she had been “kidnapped” from the streets of Caracas by regime officials after sneaking out of her hideout to lead a major protest against the authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro.

About three hours after the announcement, Machado supporters said she had been released having been knocked off a motorbike and “taken away by force” while leaving the rally and had been compelled to record a number of videos.

Maduro is set to be sworn in for his third presidential term on Friday, despite widespread suspicions that he stole last year’s election. Hugo Chávez’s heir has produced no proof of his claim to victory while Machado’s movement has published detailed voting tallies offering compelling evidence that its candidate, Edmundo González, actually won.

On Thursday, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of cities across Venezuela to protest against Maduro’s planned swearing-in at the behest of Machado, who went into hiding shortly after the 28 July 2024 vote to avoid capture.

After more than 133 days holed up in a secret location, Machado, 57, reappeared on Thursday afternoon at the heart of a large crowd of protesters in Caracas. Clambering on to a truck, the politician led them in chants of: “We are not afraid.”

After delivering an impassioned speech, Machado left the rally but was “violently intercepted”, her representatives said in a short statement.

“Regime officials opened fire on the motorbikes that were transporting her,” Machado’s representatives added.

Carla Angola, a prominent Venezuelan journalist, wrote on X: “The regime has kidnapped María Corina.”

Another top Venezuelan journalist, Luz Mely Reyes, said that before she was taken Machado had told her team “not to negotiate her freedom”.

Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based analyst for Crisis Group, said that for years Maduro’s administration had held back from detaining Machado, reckoning that, while she was “an irritant”, arresting her could potentially backfire by making her even more popular. Those calculations appeared to have changed on Thursday after her appearance at the protest in Caracas.

“She made them look ridiculous today. They swamped the city with police and military and colectivos [pro-regime motorbike gangs] and she appeared at the rally and just thumbed her nose at them basically. I think that was a step too far,” Gunson said. “She knew that this could happen … she was prepared for it – and they have taken the bait.”

Machado’s detention sparked international condemnation. “The dictatorial regime is responsible for her life,” tweeted Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino.

Colombia’s former president, ​Iván Duque, called the detention “yet another demonstration of the vileness of the cowardly dictator Maduro​”. ​Spain’s foreign ministry voiced “total condemnation and our concern” while Argentina’s presidency condemned “the Chavista regime’s criminal attack”.

​Edmundo González​ wrote on social media: “As president-elect, I demand the liberation of María Corina Machado [who was] kidnapped by Venezuelan security forces. To the security corps ​who kidnapped her, I say: do not play with fire.”

Gunson said the consequences on the ground in Venezuela were unpredictable. “The key thing is what the reaction of the security forces is. So long as the security forces – or at least the high command – remains solidly behind Maduro, he’s probably safe. But this is going to cause more problems for the government.”

Carlos Lizarralde, the author of a book called Venezuela’s Collapse: The Long Story of How Things Fell Apart, said he saw Machado’s reported detention as a sign that Maduro’s regime was confident a huge post-election security crackdown that has seen hundreds of people thrown in jail was having the desired effect.

“Their gameplan has been very clear to me from day one: the gameplan is to take control of the streets [with security forces and police]; create an environment of terror so that people think twice before any kind of action against the government or any kind of protest; neutralize any network that might threaten them; consolidate their power within police departments and the military … and proceed as if nothing were happening. That is what they are doing … and, from Maduro’s point of view, things are going swimmingly,” Lizarralde said, adding: “I think they feel very, very secure and very in control.”

About three hours after news of Machado’s disappearance broke, supporters said she had been freed and would address the country in the coming hours to explain what had happened.

Writing on social media, the US president-elect Donald Trump said: “Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect González are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime…. These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!”

A White House National Security Council spokesperson described González as the “true winner” of the election, saying: “We have and continue to condemn publicly Maduro and his representatives for attempting to intimidate Venezuela‘s democratic opposition.”

Pro-regime media journalists called Machado’s alleged kidnapping an opposition sham and published a video – of mysterious origin – which they claimed showed Machado saying she was safe and well. It was unclear how those journalists had obtained the video or if Machado was speaking under duress.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, in one of her most recent major interviews, Machado said Venezuela was approaching “one of the most important moments in Latin American history”.

“The only thing the regime has left is repression – the only thing it has left is instilling fear in Venezuelans and if Venezuelans can overcome this fear, repression will be pointless,” she added.

The US supreme court on Thursday declined to delay Donald Trump’s upcoming sentencing in his hush-money case.

Trump had asked the US’s highest legal body to call off Friday’s sentencing after New York courts refused to postpone it.

Judge Juan Merchan presided over Trump’s trial and conviction last May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the criminal hush-money scheme designed to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won by beating the Democrats’ Hillary Clinton.

The supreme court’s nine justices on Thursday voted by five to four to deny the president-elect’s last-minute bid to prevent his sentencing, which is scheduled for Friday at 9.30am local time in New York state court in Manhattan.

The chief justice, John Roberts, and fellow conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal-leaning justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, in the court’s majority in denying Trump’s request.

Trump had originally pleaded not guilty in the case, where the court heard that he paid off adult film actor Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election to stop her revealing an alleged affair with him years before, and then tried to disguise the payment.

Merchan has indicated he will not impose jail time, fines or probation, but Trump’s lawyers argued a felony conviction would still have intolerable side-effects, including distracting him as he prepares to take office in just over a week’s time.

The supreme court is dominated by conservative justices, three of which were appointed by Trump during his first term as president. Trump’s emergency motion to the court was submitted to Sotomayor, who hears emergency appeals from New York.

In issuing its decision, a brief order from the court late on Thursday gave two reasons, saying: “First, the alleged evidentiary violations at president-elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal.”

It added: “Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the president-elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing.”

Merchan said last week that he was not inclined to sentence Trump to prison and the likelihood is that he will be granted an unconditional discharge. This means the guilty judgment remains on Trump’s record and he will remain a felon, but will avoid punishment in the form of custody, a fine or probation.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said they would have granted Trump’s request.

Trump presses on with a state court appeal to resolve questions of presidential immunity following the supreme court’s highly controversial ruling last July granting former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts – the scope of which is open to legal interpretation.

Trump said in remarks at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after the court’s order: “I read it, and I thought it was a fair decision, actually.”

He then wrote on his social media platform: “For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL.”

Trump’s lawyers have argued throughout that the prosecution was a flawed case motivated by political opposition to the former and future Republican president.

The supreme court acted after New York’s top court earlier on Thursday rejected Trump’s request to halt the sentencing.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued in a filing that Trump was not entitled to the intervention by the supreme court.

Bragg’s office had originally charged Trump in relation to falsely recording as “legal expenses” reimbursements he made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen after Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 for her silence.

The prosecution alleged the falsifications were made to conceal Trump’s violation of New York state election law, which makes it a crime to promote the election of any person to office through unlawful means.

Prosecutors said those unlawful means were the $130,000 paid to Daniels because it was essentially an illegal campaign contribution, done for the benefit of Trump’s election effort and exceeded the legal $2,700 individual contribution cap.

Trump is the only sitting or former US president to be convicted of a crime.

Reuters contributed reporting

Elon Musk has praised the co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, as he repeated his claim that “only the AfD can save Germany” during a controversial live talk on his social media platform X.

The virtual encounter between Musk and Alice Weidel on Thursday took place amid growing criticism over the US billionaire’s vocal support of far-right, anti-establishment parties across Europe, and accusations he is meddling in the campaign for Germany’s 23 February election.

In a conversation that was at times wooden and at times almost flirtatious, Musk heaped praise on the anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin AfD, which is second in the polls with 21.5%, behind only the conservative CDU/CSU. He mispronounced the party leader’s name as “Weedel” throughout the encounter.

The almost 75-minute conversation covered everything from energy policy and education to their joint wish to slash German bureaucracy and prevent illegal immigration. Douglas Adams, Schopenhauer, the meaning of life, whether Adolf Hitler was a socialist or a far-right extremist and how to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict were also mulled over at length.

Musk and Weidel took swipes at “woke” views, and appeared to agree on everything – including the need to end the war in Ukraine, with Musk claiming: “President Trump is going to solve that conflict very quickly.”

Pressed as to “with what measures” this may happen, Musk appeared slightly flustered. “To be clear, this is up to President Trump. He is the commander in chief … I don’t want to speak for him … but it does require strong leadership in the States to get it done.”

Asked by Weidel when he might “be ready to have human expeditions to Mars”, Musk said he expected to send uncrewed space ships to the planet in about two years, and crewed ships in approximately four.

He said his aim was for “Martians” to be able to rescue earthlings “when there’s an emergency … just like America rescued Europe in world war two”.

Weidel wrapped the conversation up after Musk had used Douglas Adams to outline his philosophy of life (“the question is more important than the answer”) and told her of his teenage struggles with Schopenhauer.

Musk has been regularly commenting on German politics since last month, when he endorsed the AfD, which has been classified as rightwing extremist by German intelligence.

He described the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as a “tyrant” for criticising the AfD and said the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, should resign after a deadly car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg in which six people died.

Last week he authored an opinion piece in the Welt am Sonntag, in which he appeared to justify the AfD’s politics, and said it was wrong to label the party as far right.

Weidel and other party leaders appeared emboldened after Trump’s US election victory in November. Musk’s endorsement of the party seems to have buoyed the AfD further, say analysts, and could boost its acceptance among the German electorate.

Before Thursday’s talk on XSpace, the European Commission had said it would take a close look as to whether the discussion possibly violated its Digital Services Act (DSA). A spokesperson for the DSA said there was no objection to the discussion as such, rather its interest lay in the speculation that X was showing partiality towards certain types of subject matter.

A pressure group called LobbyControl, which campaigns for more transparency in European politics, said it was specifically scrutinising whether the discussion breached German campaign finance regulation, suggesting it could be viewed as political advertising.

Heightened tension over the recent perceived interference of Musk in German politics led Germany’s lower chamber of parliament to investigate whether the digital discussion could be deemed illegal.

A spokesperson for Weidel denied the charges, saying the talk did not amount to an illegal party donation, but was taking place as a legitimate expression of free speech, which had not been choreographed.

Germany’s federal network agency said it would be monitoring whether any algorithms on the platform were being manipulated before, during or after the discussion and would pass any relevant information on to the DSA.

Elon Musk has praised the co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, as he repeated his claim that “only the AfD can save Germany” during a controversial live talk on his social media platform X.

The virtual encounter between Musk and Alice Weidel on Thursday took place amid growing criticism over the US billionaire’s vocal support of far-right, anti-establishment parties across Europe, and accusations he is meddling in the campaign for Germany’s 23 February election.

In a conversation that was at times wooden and at times almost flirtatious, Musk heaped praise on the anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin AfD, which is second in the polls with 21.5%, behind only the conservative CDU/CSU. He mispronounced the party leader’s name as “Weedel” throughout the encounter.

The almost 75-minute conversation covered everything from energy policy and education to their joint wish to slash German bureaucracy and prevent illegal immigration. Douglas Adams, Schopenhauer, the meaning of life, whether Adolf Hitler was a socialist or a far-right extremist and how to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict were also mulled over at length.

Musk and Weidel took swipes at “woke” views, and appeared to agree on everything – including the need to end the war in Ukraine, with Musk claiming: “President Trump is going to solve that conflict very quickly.”

Pressed as to “with what measures” this may happen, Musk appeared slightly flustered. “To be clear, this is up to President Trump. He is the commander in chief … I don’t want to speak for him … but it does require strong leadership in the States to get it done.”

Asked by Weidel when he might “be ready to have human expeditions to Mars”, Musk said he expected to send uncrewed space ships to the planet in about two years, and crewed ships in approximately four.

He said his aim was for “Martians” to be able to rescue earthlings “when there’s an emergency … just like America rescued Europe in world war two”.

Weidel wrapped the conversation up after Musk had used Douglas Adams to outline his philosophy of life (“the question is more important than the answer”) and told her of his teenage struggles with Schopenhauer.

Musk has been regularly commenting on German politics since last month, when he endorsed the AfD, which has been classified as rightwing extremist by German intelligence.

He described the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as a “tyrant” for criticising the AfD and said the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, should resign after a deadly car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg in which six people died.

Last week he authored an opinion piece in the Welt am Sonntag, in which he appeared to justify the AfD’s politics, and said it was wrong to label the party as far right.

Weidel and other party leaders appeared emboldened after Trump’s US election victory in November. Musk’s endorsement of the party seems to have buoyed the AfD further, say analysts, and could boost its acceptance among the German electorate.

Before Thursday’s talk on XSpace, the European Commission had said it would take a close look as to whether the discussion possibly violated its Digital Services Act (DSA). A spokesperson for the DSA said there was no objection to the discussion as such, rather its interest lay in the speculation that X was showing partiality towards certain types of subject matter.

A pressure group called LobbyControl, which campaigns for more transparency in European politics, said it was specifically scrutinising whether the discussion breached German campaign finance regulation, suggesting it could be viewed as political advertising.

Heightened tension over the recent perceived interference of Musk in German politics led Germany’s lower chamber of parliament to investigate whether the digital discussion could be deemed illegal.

A spokesperson for Weidel denied the charges, saying the talk did not amount to an illegal party donation, but was taking place as a legitimate expression of free speech, which had not been choreographed.

Germany’s federal network agency said it would be monitoring whether any algorithms on the platform were being manipulated before, during or after the discussion and would pass any relevant information on to the DSA.

Greenland’s prime minister has called for unity, urging citizens not to panic, after being thrown into a geopolitical battle between the US and Denmark by Donald Trump’s interest in taking control of the territory.

Múte Egede said he understood people may be concerned after the incoming US president declined to rule out using military and economic force to gain control of Greenland, but called on his fellow citizens to “put aside differences and stand together”.

His government released a statement on Wednesday night reiterating Greenland’s right to self-determination, adding that it “looks forward to establishing contact” with the Trump administration.

The statement, issued by the minister for statehood and foreign affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt, said the government recognised Greenland’s “decisive and important role for the US’s national security interests”, which is why, it said, it houses a US military base.

It added: “Greenland looks forward to working with the incoming US administration and other Nato allies to ensure security and stability in the Arctic region.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, Trump refused to rule out using military force to take over Greenland and the Panama canal, and also suggested he intended to use “economic force” to make Canada part of the US, causing controversy around the world.

The US military maintains a permanent presence at the Pituffik airbase in Greenland’s northwest. Greenland is crucial for the US military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.

On Thursday, the US embassy in Copenhagen said that the US had no plans to increase its military presence in Greenland.

Greenland is a former Danish colony and remains part of the kingdom of Denmark, which controls its foreign and security policy.

Before Trump’s intervention, a movement in favour of independence from Denmark had been gathering steam in Greenland. Egede, who is in favour of independence, had used his new year speech to make the case that his island should break free from “the shackles of colonialism” to shape its own future and has said that after the upcoming election there must be “major steps” towards “creating the framework for Greenland as an independent state”.

In order to become an independent state, a 2009 agreement with Denmark dictates that there must be a successful referendum in Greenland.

In order to gain independence from Denmark, the Greenlandic government’s statement said it was “open to increased and constructive cooperation with our closest neighbours.”

The government added: “Greenland looks forward to discussing the possibilities for business cooperation, the development of Greenland’s mineral sector, including critical minerals and other relevant areas with the US.”

Speaking to journalists, Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen admitted that Denmark had “neglected for many years to make the necessary investments in ships and in aircraft that will help monitor our kingdom, and that is what we are now trying to do something about.”

On Thursday morning, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said: “We are very closely watching this rather dramatic development of the situation, which is, thank God, at the level of statements so far.

“We are interested in preserving peace and stability in this zone and are ready to cooperate with any parties for this peace and stability.”

Egede was in Copenhagen on Thursday, after meeting the Danish king on Wednesday. On Thursday he attended an annual new year reception. This week, he is also due to attend a meeting of the foreign, security and defence policy contact committee between Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

“I understand if citizens are concerned, it is important that we stand together and that we put all internal disagreements aside and continue our work together,” he told the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq.

“We must also remember that we have international cooperative relations and agreements that we must rely on and further develop, also to a large extent with the United States. We are allies and that is our starting point.”

Elections are due to be held in Greenland in the coming months, by 6 April at the latest. In light of this and the wider international context, Egede called for unity, saying: “Even though we would like to show differences between the parties, I would like to appeal that we stand together for our country and our future and not panic because of the situation that has arisen.”

At a new year’s reception in Copenhagen on Thursday, he said Greenland was entering “a new era … and a new year in which Greenland has been at the centre of the world”.

Egede added: “The Greenlandic people are one people, regardless of where they live. As a people, we must be united in the time we are in. We must be ready for a new future that we are on our way to.”

In Denmark, the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said on Wednesday night that she had met Egede earlier in the day and had spoken on the phone with several European leaders. “You can be sure that we, as a government, are doing everything we can to safeguard Denmark’s – and the Commonwealth’s – interests,” she wrote on Instagram. The US, she added, was Denmark’s closest ally.

Late on Thursday, she said she had asked for a meeting with Trump, but did not expect one to happen ahead of his inauguration.

The growing importance of the North Atlantic in what she described as “an increasingly turbulent world” meant more cooperation between allies was needed, including Nato, she said.

Frederiksen has reportedly summoned party leaders to a meeting on Thursday night to discuss the situation.

Her foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, has said he believes Denmark should wait until Trump is in office to act on his comments about Greenland.

• Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the latest in a series of meetings with Kyiv’s western allies in Germany had resulted in pledges of an additional $2bn in military assistance to help it fight the war against Russia. Zelenskyy, speaking to My-Ukraina television channel after Thursday’s meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) in Ramstein, gave few details of the assistance, but said that 34 countries had pledged support in different aspects of the 34-month-old war. “We had a very good meeting, a very good result. There was $2bn in additional packages of support to Ukraine,” he said in a video posted on the television channel’s Telegram account. The aid covered air defence, information technology, demining, naval forces, air forces and artillery.

• Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s western allies “not to drop the ball” and to continue to provide long-term military support to his embattled country, once Donald Trump returns to the White House. Speaking at the summit in Germany, Zelenskyy acknowledged that Trump’s imminent second presidency was likely to bring dramatic changes. “It’s clear that a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now,” he said.

• Speaking in Ramstein, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said the UDCG was best kept under US leadership but would adapt if Washington changed its involvement. “And if those in the United States now decide not to maintain this format any longer, then we will have to make our own decisions,” said Pistorius.

• Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni dismissed speculation Trump would stop supporting Ukraine and try to force it to accept unfavourable terms to end the war. “Trump has the ability to balance diplomacy and deterrence and I predict that this will be the case this time too,” she said. At a meeting with Zelenskyy, she reiterated the “all round support that Italy ensures and will continue to provide to the legitimate defence of Ukraine”. Separately, French president, Emmanuel Macron met with British prime minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, in a meeting in which they both reaffirmed their commitment to support Ukraine.

• Zelenskyy backed the deployment of western troops to Ukraine as one of the “best instruments” to “force Russia to peace”. “Our goal is to find as many instruments as possible to force Russia into peace,” Zelenskyy said. He endorsed the possibility of Nato countries sending troops to Ukraine, though he did not specify whether he meant combat troops or peacekeepers.

• The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) issued a new alert on Thursday warning non-European carriers not to fly within western Russia airspace due to the risk of being unintentionally targeted by its air defence systems. EASA said the crash last month in Kazakhstan of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, after Russian air defences fired against Ukrainian drones, demonstrated the high risk at play. At least 38 people died in the crash.

• Slovakia is weighing retaliation against Ukraine including withholding aid if a solution is not found to Kyiv’s decision to shut off Russian gas, prime minister Robert Fico said on Thursday after talks with EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen. Ukraine cut off the transit route after an agreement signed in 2019 expired in the early hours of 1 January. Fico has threatened to cut emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine as Russia attacks its power grid, or reduce aid for Ukrainian refugees.

• Russia has launched more than 51,000 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine since the start of its full-blown invasion nearly three years ago, the Ukrainian air force said on Thursday. Guided, or glide, bombs are highly destructive and very hard to intercept. The air-launched weapons are conventional, often Soviet-era ordnance that have been fitted with wings and satellite-aided navigation to extend their range and precision.

• Russian forces have established a bridgehead on the Ukrainian-held side of a frontline river in the east of the country, a local official said Thursday. The Oskil river is the de-facto frontline in parts of the eastern Kharkiv region, with Ukrainian troops entrenched mainly on the western bank and Russian forces moving to capture the eastern side. Kremlin forces have been launching audacious attempts to cross, and local Ukrainian official Andrii Besedin told state television on Thursday they had managed to cross and establish positions.

A Melbourne couple’s marriage has been annulled after the bride told a court she had thought their wedding was nothing more than a social media stunt to boost his Instagram following.

In an October family court judgment published on Thursday, a judge annulled the December 2023 marriage after finding the bride “believed she was acting in a social media event”, rather than in a legally binding wedding ceremony.

The bride, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had told the court that she met the groom on a dating app in September 2023 and met the following day at a church.

At the time, she was in her mid 20s and he was in his late 30s.

For the next three months, they remained in contact, before she said the groom invited her to a “white party” in Sydney in December, the court heard. She said after arriving at the venue she was “shocked” to learn the man had “organised a wedding”.

The bride said she became uncomfortable and wanted to leave, but the groom told her “it was a simple prank”.

“When I got there, and I didn’t see anybody in white, I asked him, ‘What’s happening?’” she told the court.

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“He told me that he’s organising a prank wedding for his social media. To be precise, Instagram, because he wants to boost his content and wants to start monetising his Instagram page.”

In court, footage of the ceremony was played, showing the couple exchanging vows and rings.

While the bride appeared to “enthusiastically” participate in the ceremony, she told the court it was “all an act”.

“We had to act to make it look real,” she said.

She said she only discovered the “sham” wedding was legal after he asked her to add his name to her application for permanent residency and told her he had “organised the marriage to help him”.

She said she was “furious” she had been “lied [to] from the beginning”.

The bride said she would not get married without her parent’s permission and presence, nor without a bridal gown or a reception party.

But the groom – who has 17,000 followers on Instagram but denied he was a social media influencer – disputed her version of events.

He testified that immediately after they met, he had told her he was bisexual, and that she was “cool with it” and moved into his home.

The groom told the court he had proposed to her a day before the wedding.

The bride did not include the proposal in her affidavit, but did not deny it in court.

However, he could not explain why the wedding had to occur so soon after the proposal or why they were married in Sydney instead of Melbourne.

The court also heard he had signed a notice intention to marriage on 20 November, weeks before the proposal.

He said the wedding was intended to be “intimate” before an “official” wedding ceremony in their home country at a later date and they “both agreed to these circumstances”.

However, the judge said the assertion was “so bereft of detail as to be near meaningless”.

He also rejected the groom’s claim they had moved in together, finding instead the couple had maintained separate residences.

The judge said it “beggars belief” the bride would marry the groom “less than two days” after accepting his proposal.

“The applicant did not have a single family member or friend present at the alleged wedding ceremony. She was religious,” he wrote.

“Precisely why she would participate in a civil marriage and not in a church marriage ceremony went unexplored. It made no sense to me that she would.”