Rubio says US and Europe'belong together' despite tensions Marco Rubio has assured European leaders the US does not plan to abandon the transatlantic alliance, saying its destiny will always be intertwined with the continent's. The US secretary of state told the Munich Security Conference: We do not seek to separate, but to revitalise an old friendship and renew the greatest civilisation in human history. He criticised European immigration, trade and climate policies, but the overall tenor of the closely-watched speech was markedly different to Vice-President JD Vance's at the same event last year, during which he scolded continental leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was very much reassured by Rubio's remarks. Rubio, the Trump administration's most senior diplomat, said it was neither our goal nor our wish to end the transatlantic partnership, adding: For us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.

World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, have been gathering in Munich for Europe's biggest security and defence conference. The burning question on everyone's minds: is America still an ally of Europe? The keynote speech that everyone was waiting for was from Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State. Would he repeat the attacks made on Europe last year by the US Vice President JD Vance? Or would he be conciliatory?

The rules-based world order no longer exists, the German Chancellor has warned at a major security summit. Opening the annual Munich Security Conference, Friedrich Merz told other world leaders that our freedom is not guaranteed in an era of big power politics, and that Europeans must be ready to make sacrifice. He also admitted that a deep divide has opened between Europe and the United States. The conference is taking place on the backdrop of US President Donald Trump threatening Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland by pledging to annex the Arctic territory and his tariffs on imports from European nations. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was listening to Merz and will deliver his own speech on Saturday, earlier spoke of a new era in geopolitics.

How much is US support for Israel costing Trump? What is a Palestinian without olives? Why are Gaza's homes collapsing in winter? 'The end of the world as we know it': Is the rules-based order finished? Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the quiet part out loud at the World Economic Forum: what many call the global rules-based order was either collapsing or had collapsed already.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani called Saturday for closer defense cooperation among like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific region in order to strengthen the global rules-based order and -- in an implicit criticism of China -- act as a counter to countries seeking to erode the status quo. The Japanese defense chief used a speech before scores of his counterparts and military brass in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's leading security conference, to push for closer cooperation and coordination, "while ensuring openness, inclusiveness and transparency, with an aim of restoring a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region, strengthening accountability and promoting the international public good." Nakatani said the need to unite on defense cooperation was clear, pointing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- a violation of the U.N. charter -- and Beijing's moves in the disputed South China Sea, including its decision to openly ignore a 2016 international arbitral tribunal ruling that dismissed the country's claim to most of the strategic waterway.

Over the last four years at the United Nations, the international community has witnessed an alarming trend of closer collaboration between Russia and China that poses a significant threat to the "rules-based order" the United States helped design back in 1945. This increased and renewed level of cooperation presents an unprecedented dilemma for the United States and like-minded partners: how to maintain the existing order, warts and all, when two permanent members of the UN Security Council are now working feverishly to subvert it. To many UN observers, China and Russia have now come to the shared conclusion that the UN has become a tool Washington and its allies regularly use to destabilize their regimes and diminish their global influence. Consequently, the United Nations has become a critical battleground in the current era of "Great Power" competition. During my two-plus years as the U.S. ambassador responsible for UN Security Council matters, I have seen first-hand at the UN how these two authoritarian powers repeatedly and energetically spread falsehoods alleging: U.S. Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament Robert Wood attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, April 19, 2018.

After more than a year of Israeli bombing, tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths, and a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the world was largely united in saying "enough is enough". United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 12667 in December was clear in its demand: An immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Countries as diverse as Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Colombia echoed that call. And yet, bucking that consensus were nine "no" votes – chief among them, as is typical when it comes to resolutions calling for Israel to adhere to international law or human rights, was the United States. The US has provided unwavering support to Israel throughout its war on Gaza, even as Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its prime minister has an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant to his name.

Freshly returned to the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump signaled Monday that his administration would not focus on maintaining the rules-based global order or cultivating the American network of alliances. Instead, he vowed that the United States would be a dominating force that would take whatever steps necessary to advance American interests -- including flexing its economic muscle and, if necessary, employing its military strength. "We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer," Trump said in a speech that mainly focused on domestic issues following his swearing-in. "During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first."

An estimated 350bn in Russian government assets have been frozen in Western accounts since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. These are not idle funds. In 2023, Belgium-based financial services company Euroclear, whose settling and clearance role mean that it holds 197 billion euros ( 214bn) in such assets, reported that they produced at least 3 billion euros ( 3.26bn) from interest. Given that the sanctions on the Kremlin remain firmly in place and Putin has shown no willingness to negotiate on his demand to annex one-quarter of Ukraine's territory or to cease his attacks, how these assets can be harnessed to push for an end to the war or help Ukraine resist has become a key question for Kyiv's Western allies. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron publicly opened the doors to the idea last December by stating: "Instead of just freezing that money, let's take that money, [and] spend it on rebuilding Ukraine."

Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby tells'The Story' that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea present'unique' sets of threats to the U.S. John Kirby said China, Russia, Iran and North Korea present "unique" threats and challenges to U.S. national security when asked about the "new axis of evil" Monday on FOX News. The- coordinator of strategic communications at the National Security Council reacted to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., referring to these nations as such on "The Story." Kirby said China is a power "very much on the rise" and can challenge the "rules-based order." JOHN KIRBY: I think the president would certainly characterize multiple countries, nation-states, here who present unique and pernicious threats and challenges to our national security. Certainly, North Korea is in that group.