AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EST

Trump arrives for the international forum at Davos on the heels of threatening tariffs on Denmark and seven other allies unless they negotiate a transfer of the semi-autonomous territory — a concession the European leaders indicated they are not willing to make. Trump said the tariffs would start at 10% next month and climb to 25% in June, rates that would be high enough to increase costs and slow growth, potentially hurting Trump’s efforts to tamp down the high cost of living.

The president in a text message that circulated among European officials this week also linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In the message, he told Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”

In the midst of an unusual stretch of testing the United States relations with longtime allies, it seems uncertain what might transpire during Trump's two days in Switzerland.

On Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Davos panel he and Trump planned to deliver a stark message: “Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy,” he said.

In their words: Trump’s threats over Greenland draw warnings and profanities at global forum

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — There were grave warnings from European leaders and expletives from California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday as leaders at the World Economic Forum grappled with the Greenland crisis and heightened concerns over global trade.

The gathering in Davos, Switzerland, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to push for the seizure of Greenland and the imposition of related trade tariffs.

French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing aviator sunglasses because of an eye infection, warned of a “new colonial approach” that would undermine decades of collaboration.

Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister and former central banker, urged countries below the top tier of global power to continue multilateral cooperation with a new, “dense web of connections.”

And in the forum’s entrance hall, Newsom was the most blunt, telling European leaders: “It’s time to get serious and stop being complicit. It’s time to stand tall and firm – have a backbone.”

Trump's Greenland threats spark outrage from EU and test longtime NATO alliance

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's pledge to provoke a sweeping tariff fight with Europe to get his way in taking control of Greenland has left many of America’s closest allies warning of a rupture with Washington capable of shattering the NATO alliance that had once seemed unshakable.

The European Union’s top official on Tuesday called Trump’s planned new tariffs on eight of its countries over Greenland a “mistake” and questioned Trump's trustworthiness. French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU could retaliate by deploying one of its most powerful economic tools, known colloquially as a trade “bazooka.”

The rising tensions concerning Greenland, and threats of a deepening trade war between the U.S. and Europe, caused global investors to shudder Tuesday, as stocks on Wall Street slumped.

Trump prides himself on ratcheting up pressure to try to negotiate through a position of strength. He was leaving Washington Tuesday — the anniversary of his inauguration — for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a venue that offers Trump the chance to defuse tensions as quickly as he stirred them up.

But European leaders — digging in and vowing to defend Denmark and its control over semiautonomous Greenland — may be trying just as hard to meet an extraordinary moment with a show of their fierce resolve.

Another train crashes in Spain, killing at least 1 person

GELIDA, Spain (AP) — Commuter rail service in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region was suspended Wednesday after a Barcelona commuter train crashed the night before, Spanish authorities said.

At least one person died in the Barcelona-area crash, and 37 others were injured as crews worked at night to complete the rescue effort. The train hit a retaining wall that fell onto the tracks, authorities said.

The news late Tuesday of another train crash mere days after Spain’s worst railway disaster since 2013 left many Spaniards in disbelief. Emergency workers were still searching for victims in the wreckage from Sunday’s high-speed crash in southern Spain that killed at least 42 people and injured dozens some 800 kilometers (497 miles) away.

Three days of national mourning were underway, and the cause of that crash was being investigated.

The victim of the Tuesday-night crash was a trainee train driver, regional authorities said. Of the 37 people affected, five were seriously injured. Six others were in less serious condition, emergency services said. Most of the injured had ridden in the first train car.

Top ally of South Korea's Yoon given 23 years in prison for rebellion over martial law crisis

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court ruled Wednesday that the 2024 imposition of martial law by then President Yoon Suk Yeol constituted an act of rebellion as it sentenced his prime minister to 23 years in prison for his involvement.

Ex-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo became the first Yoon administration official convicted of rebellion charges in relation to Yoon’s martial law imposition in December 2024. The verdict is expected to set the stage for upcoming rulings involving Yoon and his other associates, who also face rebellion charges.

Han, who was appointed by Yoon prime minister, the No. 2 post in South Korea, served as one of the three caretaker leaders during moments of the martial law crisis that led to Yoon’s impeachment and eventually his removal from office.

Rebellion is one of the gravest criminal charges in South Korea, with the independent counsel recently demanding the death penalty for Yoon, who was charged with masterminding a rebellion. The Seoul Central District Court is to rule on Yoon’s rebellion charges on Feb. 19.

In its televised verdict Wednesday, the Seoul court determined Yoon’s martial law decree amounted to a rebellion, viewing his dispatch of troops and police officers to the National Assembly and election offices as “a riot” or “a self-coup” that was meant to undermine the constitutional order and was serious enough to disrupt stability in South Korea.

'Miracle' 6-year-old girl is the only member of her family to survive Spanish train wreck

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The roar was deafening inside the train car as it hurtled off the tracks, then slid down a steep slope, ripping open its frame. And then, amid the twisted metal of the wreckage, the cries of the injured and the silence of the dead.

Surrounded by bodies after the train accident in southern Spain, one little girl somehow emerged virtually unscathed.

Newspaper La Vanguardia reported that a Civil Guard officer found her barefoot on the tracks after she escaped through a broken window.

Relative Juan Barroso told reporters the 6-year-old is in good health after receiving three stitches in her head at a hospital. The mayor of her family's village said he was finding a measure of solace in the fact this girl was out of harm's way.

“There are many people who are very sad for the victims of this terrible accident, but there were also many who survived, like the miracle of the girl who is safe,” Punta Umbria's Mayor José Carlos Hernández told reporters Tuesday after leading a minute of silence for the victims.

Legal battles over immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota intensify

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As confrontations with federal officers over their massive immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota showed no signs of stopping Wednesday, legal battles over the surge and the local response were also intensifying.

Federal prosecutors served grand jury subpoenas Tuesday to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's office and five other officials in the state as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed or impeded law enforcement during a sweeping immigration operation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, a person familiar with the matter said.

The subpoenas, which seek records, were also sent to the offices of Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, the person said.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The subpoenas came a day after the government urged a judge to reject efforts to stop the immigration enforcement surge that has roiled Minneapolis and St. Paul for weeks.

After Minneapolis, Democrats confront political vulnerabilities to battle Trump on immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats had planned to campaign in the midterm elections on affordability and health care, two issues where Americans are particularly unhappy with President Donald Trump.

But the aggressive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, including the killing of an American mother during a confrontation with federal agents, has scrambled the party's playbook.

Now Democrats are trying to translate visceral outrage into political strategy, even though there's little consensus on how to press forward on issues where the party has recently struggled to earn voters' trust.

Some Democrats want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a proposal that echoes “defund the police” rhetoric from Trump's first term, and impeach administration officials like Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Others have taken a different approach, introducing legislation intended to curb alleged abuses by federal agents. However, those ideas have been criticized by activists as insufficient, and there's mounting pressure to obstruct funding for deportations in an ongoing funding debate.

'West Wing' actor Timothy Busfield released from New Mexico jail pending trial

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Actor Timothy Busfield was released from jail Tuesday night in New Mexico, where he is facing counts of child sexual abuse.

Hours earlier, Busfield's attorneys successfully argued that the actor best known for appearances in “The West Wing,” “Field of Dreams” and “Thirtysomething” wasn't a danger to the community and shouldn't be behind bars while he awaits trial. Prosecutors sought to keep him in jail, outlining what they said was grooming behavior and abuse of power by Busfield over three decades.

State District Court Judge David Murphy said while the crimes Busfield is accused of inherently are dangerous and involve children, prosecutors didn't prove the public wouldn't be safe if he's released.

“There’s no evidence of a pattern of criminal conduct, there are no similar allegations involving children in his past,” Murphy said. “Rather this defendant self-surrendered and submitted himself to this court’s jurisdiction, demonstrating compliance with the court order for his arrest.”

Outside the courthouse, Busfield's wife, actor Melissa Gilbert, thanked Murphy for the ruling. She also thanked friends, relatives, co-workers and strangers who she said have showered their family with love. Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls in the 1970s to ’80s TV series “Little House on the Prairie," sat behind Busfield during the hearing. He was handcuffed and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit.

Israel agrees to join Trump’s Board of Peace as some western European nations say no

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he has agreed to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in a departure from an earlier stance when his office criticized the makeup of the board’s committee tasked with overseeing Gaza.

Norway and Sweden, meanwhile, said they would not be joining the board at this stage, following in the footsteps of France, which has expressed concern the board could seek to replace the United Nations as the mediator in global conflicts.

Chaired by Trump, the board was originally envisaged as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. The Trump administration’s ambitions have since expanded into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting the board will soon broker global conflicts.

Trump headed for the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to provide more details about the board.

Netanyahu's office had previously said the composition of the Gaza executive committee — which includes Turkey, Israel's key regional rival — was not coordinated with the Israeli government and ran "contrary to its policy,” without clarifying its objections.