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At a meeting in Seoul on Monday, leaders from Italy and South Korea agreed to cooperate on the defense industry, marking a new collaboration between two strong allies of Ukraine who are, coincidentally, prohibited by their respective constitutions from directly sending Kyiv all the military help for which it might ask.

At his office in Seoul, President Lee Jae Myung hosted Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the two agreed to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, space and the defense industry, citing concerns about “global challenges.”

It was the first visit by an Italian leader to South Korea in almost two decades, AFP noted.

Lee said the two countries would “further expand the horizons of cooperation into advanced industries such as artificial intelligence, space, and aviation.

“In addition, we will pursue complementary cooperation in the defense industry based on each side’s strengths,” he said. Lee also vowed to “work closely together to contribute to global peace” and “safeguard the universal value of peace, extending our efforts ... to the wider world.”

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The Israeli government has forcibly taken large swathes of Palestinian land in the northwest of the occupied West Bank to pave the way for the establishment of a settlement, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

According to reports, the government seized around 700 dunams of land. Hebrew-language paper Yedioth Aharonoth confirmed the land grab, stating: "A few days ago, 695 dunams were taken to establish a new neighbourhood near the settlement of Karnei Shomron".

The report says that the area is located "in a highly strategic location and cuts off the geographical connection between the Palestinian town of Salfit and the city of Qalqilya".

"The main objective of this move, from the government’s point of view, is to cut off communication between Palestinian towns, turning them into isolated enclaves, and significantly undermining the chances of establishing a Palestinian state," the report continues.

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An extraordinarily violent crackdown by Iranian security forces appears to have succeeded for now in driving protesters from the streets, according to activists and analysts who mahttps://abcnews.go.com/International/bloody-crackdown-appears-quelled-iran-protests-now/story?id=129287014naged to speak with people inside the country despite the information blackout.

Demonstrations began in late December with protesters chanting in Tehran against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency before spreading across Iran and becoming more explicitly anti-government. Authorities have shut down the internet in Iran for more than a week as security forces moved to crush the protests.

The internet blackout in Iran continues to make it very difficult to get a clear picture from the ground, but accounts are emerging from people now able to use phone lines, those few with access to working Starlink satellite terminals and Iranians who have recently left the country.

These people describe an eerie calm over Iran's cities, where heavily armed security forces are deployed on the streets enforcing what many are describing as a de-facto curfew. 

Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian activist based in Washington, D.C., says he has helped send in hundreds of Starlink terminals to citizen journalists and others in Iran to help get around the government blackout.

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Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile on Sunday left at least 15 people dead, scorched thousands of acres of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heat wave.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobio region and the neighboring Ñuble region, around 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital.

The emergency designation allows greater coordination with the military to rein in two dozen wildfires that have so far blazed through 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) and prompted 50,000 people to evacuate, according to Chilean Security Minister Luis Cordero.

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President Donald Trump on Jan. 17 announced tariffs against eight European countries as the latest pressure tactic for the United States to purchase Greenland.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland will have a 10% tariff on all goods sent to the United States effective Feb. 1. The tariff is set to increase to 25% on June 1, Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly said Greenland is vital to American security due its strategic location and large mineral deposits. He hasn't ruled out using force to take the island, which is a semiautonomous part of Denmark. 

European countries recently sent military personnel to Greenland at the request of Danish officials. Top European officials have backed Denmark, warning the Trump administration’s attempts to seize Greenland can upend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the group created for members to jointly defend each other.

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European troops were arriving in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support, as leaders scrambling to respond to President Donald Trump’s threats were thrown another American curveball.

Trump pushed ahead with his aim of “conquering” one European territory, Denmark’s top diplomat saihttps://www.nbcnews.com/world/greenland/european-troops-arrive-greenland-trump-throws-curveball-rcna254166?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-usd after a high-stakes meeting in Washington on Wednesday.

The president then sided with the man who invaded another, casting Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy rather than Russia’s Vladimir Putin as the obstacle to peace, in his latest reversal on the conflict already raging on the continent.

Trump's comments drew new pushback from leaders in Europe, whose alarm over U.S. actions had for weeks been focused farther north.

Small numbers of military personnel from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Sweden were arriving in the Arctic island early Thursday.

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