Evening briefing Monday 19th January

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0:37This is the Times Radio evening briefing for Monday the 19th of January. Donald Trump has refused to rule out seizing Greenland by force. The U.S. president told an American television network he would 100 percent follow through on tariff threats if there's no agreement on acquiring the territory. France has called for the use of an anti-coercion measure known as the trade bazooka to block U.S. market access in response. Karen von Hippel is a former State Department official. She told Times Radio it's hard to see if Trump will back down. Both Russia and China are quite happy for the Western alliance to become much more fragile.

1:10It's already frayed. It's painful that everybody has to pander to his whims and his snits or his fits that he throws. But unfortunately, that's a situation that we're in until such time that the Brits and Europeans have enough strength so that they can just say no. It comes, as Donald Trump says, in a letter to Norway, he's no longer obligated to think of peace. It's been suggested the US president's more aggressive stance, maybe because he didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize. Fabrice Pothier, a former director of planning at NATO, told Times Radio the narcissistic moves could bring the end of the alliance.

1:43Right now, NATO, whatever the outcome of this week in Davos, of this trade escalation, NATO is now, I think, really fatally wanted. Because nowadays it has introduced a huge doubt as to where the US stands vis -à-vis the European allies. And I don't think you can recover from that with a nice summit and some defence planning plan because something more fundamental has cracked. In other news, the retired West Midlands Chief Constable, Craig Guildford, has been referred to the police watchdog over the decision to ban Maccabee Tel Aviv fans. It comes as Acting Chief Constable Scott Green has given a full and sincere apology, calling their response to criticism too defensive.

2:22The Independent Office for Police Conduct is looking at potential misconduct by officers or staff. Billions of pounds in university research funding is to be diverted from so-called soft subjects to focus on future technologies. Ministers think pushing UK research and innovation funding to areas like quantum computing and biotech could boost economic growth. Grants to research councils covering areas such as art and humanities will be cut by up to 40 percent. Spain has announced three days of official mourning following last night's high-speed rail crash. At least 39 people were killed as a train derailed, smashing into an oncoming service.

2:58Authorities say human error has been ruled out as the cause of the collision as emergency operations in Córdoba continue. The country's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says it's a painful day. We will get to the truth, we will find the answer and when the origin and cause of this tragedy is known, with absolute transparency and clarity, we'll make it public. And the top Italian fashion designer Valentino has died at the age of 93. His foundation confirmed that Mr Garavani had died surrounded by loved ones in Rome. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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