Denmark and Greenland vow that the US won't take over Greenland after Trump appoints envoy

The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the U.S. won't take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Donald Trump ‍​announced ​the appointment of a ‌special envoy to Greenland.

Trump's announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the U.S. special envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington's interest in the vast, semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark's foreign minister said in comments to Danish broadcasters that he plans to summon the U.S. ambassador.

”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement, emailed by Frederiksen's office. "We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”

Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting there.

The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland. Denmark is a NATO ally of the United States.

On Sunday, Trump announced Landry's appointment as ‌special envoy, saying that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

Landry wrote in a post on X that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a brief statement that “the appointment confirms the continued American interest in Greenland.”

"However, we insist that everyone — including the U.S. — must show respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he added.

Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands later Monday, Løkke Rasmussen said he will call in the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, for a meeting at the ministry.

Before issuing the joint statement with Frederiksen, Nielsen wrote on Facebook that Denmark had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, but it “does not change anything for us at home.”

Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.

Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO.

Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the EU's executive Commission, told reporters in Brussels Monday that it wasn't for him to comment on U.S. decisions. But he underlined the bloc's position that "preserving the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, its sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders is essential for the European Union.”

FILE - Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks to reporters at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen smile during their meeting at Marienborg in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, on April 27, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach conducted firearms training in an area of New South Wales state outside of Sydney with his father, according to Australian police documents released on Monday.

The documents, made public following Naveed Akram’s video court appearance from a Sydney hospital where he has been treated for an abdominal injury, said the two men recorded footage justifying the meticulously planned attack.

Officers wounded Akram at the scene of the Dec. 14 shooting and killed his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.

The state government confirmed Naveed Akram was transferred Monday from a hospital to a prison. Authorities identified neither facility.

The 24-year-old and his father began their attack by throwing four improvised explosive devices toward a crowd celebrating an annual Jewish event at Bondi Beach, but the devices failed to explode, the documents said.

Police described the devices as three aluminum pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb containing an explosive, gunpowder and steel ball bearings. None detonated, but police described them as “viable” IEDs.

The pair had rented a room in the Sydney suburb of Campsie for three weeks before they left at 2:16 a.m. on the day of the attack. CCTV recorded them carrying what police allege were two shotguns, a rifle, five IEDs and two homemade Islamic State group flags wrapped in blankets.

Police also released images of the gunmen shooting from a footbridge, providing them with an elevated vantage point and the protection of waist-high concrete walls.

The largest IED was found after the gun battle near the footbridge in the trunk of the son’s car, which had been left draped with the flags.

Authorities have charged Akram with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded survivors and one count of committing a terrorist act.

The antisemitic attack at the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration was Australia's worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996.

The New South Wales government introduced draft laws to Parliament on Monday that Premier Chris Minns said would become the toughest in Australia.

The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. That would have excluded Sajid Akram, who was an Indian citizen with a permanent resident visa.

Sajid Akram also legally owned six rifles and shotguns. A new legal limit for recreational shooters would be a maximum of four guns.

Police said a video found on Naveed Akram's phone shows him with his father expressing "their political and religious views and appear to summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack.”

The men are seen in the video “condemning the acts of Zionists” while they also “adhere to a religiously motivated ideology linked to Islamic State,” police said.

Video shot in October shows them “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner” on grassland surrounded by trees, police said.

“There is evidence that the Accused and his father meticulously planned this terrorist attack for many months,” police allege.

An impromptu memorial that grew near the Bondi Pavilion after the massacre, as thousands of mourners brought flowers and heartfelt cards, was removed Monday as the beachfront returned to more normal activity. The Sydney Jewish Museum will preserve part of the memorial.

Victims' funerals continued Monday with French national Dan Elkayam's service held in the nearby suburb of Woollahra, at the heart of Sydney's Jewish life. The 27-year-old moved from Paris to Sydney a year ago.

The health department said 12 people wounded in the attack remained in hospitals on Monday.

Workers gather floral tributes, messages of support and items left as a memorial is dismantled in Sydney, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, a week after an attack on a Jewish festival that left 15 dead. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

People attend a ceremony to mark the National Day of Reflection for victims and survivors, at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, following the Bondi shooting on Dec. 14. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Security officers gather near a gate at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, ahead of a ceremony to mark the National Day of Reflection for victims and survivors from the Bondi shooting on Dec. 14. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)