Opinie Roos Vonk: "Yesilgöz lijkt nog steeds in die vechtmodus te zitten, en dat is nogal een anticlimax tegenover de ‘positieve jojo’s’ Jetten en Bontenbal".

The USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the US’s 11 aircraft carriers, entered Middle Eastern waters this week after an 11-day transit from the South China Sea. Its arrival highlights Donald Trump’s escalating threats to strike Iran for the second time in less than a year. Accompanying the vessel on Monday were three guided-missile destroyers — part of the “beautiful armada” the US president has ordered towards Iran.

The Slovak PM, a Trump ally, told leaders at last week’s EU summit he was concerned about the way the U.S. president spoke to him, European diplomats said.

De drie formerende partijen zijn er uiteindelijk toch nog behoorlijk snel uitgekomen, zegt politiek verslaggever Leendert Beekman. Maar een vergelijking met eerdere formaties gaat mank, want dit is het akkoord van een minderheid. Het akkoord dat er nu ligt, dus nog geschreven in potlood, benadrukt Beekman. Er is nog geen meerderheid voor hun plannen, die moeten ze nog gaan zoeken.

<p>They now have access to your private information and other sensitive U.S. data.</p>

* Mid-level and senior officials uncomfortable with award * Fifa says it still ‘strongly’ supports the peace prize There is a growing sense of embarrassment among mid-level and senior officials within Fifa over the awarding of its peace prize to Donald Trump. The US president was handed the award at the World Cup draw in Washington DC in December with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, telling Trump: “We want to see hope, we want to see unity, we want to see a future. This is what we want to see from a leader and you definitely deserve the first Fifa Peace Prize.” Since then, the US has launched airstrikes across Venezuela and captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them to the US, where he was put in jail. Maduro appeared in court on 5 January, pleading not guilty to drugs, weapons and “narco-terrorism” charges. Trump has also threatened to invade Greenland because he said the US needs the territory “very badly”. Continue reading...