Le Journal

Democrat Mikie Sherrill sailed to victory in the November election, beating Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli easily to become New Jersey’s next governor.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mikie Sherrill, the four-term congresswoman and former Navy helicopter pilot who cast her November election in New Jersey as a victory over President Donald Trump’s vision for the country, is set to be inaugurated as the state’s 57th governor on Tuesday. Sherrill, 54, will be just the second woman to lead the state of nearly 9.5 million people and is the first person from a major political party to be elected to a third straight term in more than six decades, succeeding two-term Democrat Phil Murphy. She swept to victory over her Trump-endorsed GOP rival in part by pinning blame for high costs on the president’s tariffs and promising that her first action once in office would be to order a freeze on skyrocketing utility rates. She will be sworn in Newark, the state’s largest city whose voters made up a key component of her winning coalition. It is a departure from previous inaugurations, which have included military artillery salutes along the Delaware River outside the statehouse in Trenton. She is being sworn in as her former congressional colleague Abigail Spanberger comes into office in as Virginia’s governor after a similar double-digit victory over her Republican opponent and as the midterm elections start to come into sharper focus. Democrats are hopeful the president will be a drag on GOP candidates in key races across the country. Sherrill takes over from Murphy, a former Obama administration ambassador and Wall Street finance executive, who delivered on a number of progressive promises over eight years, including raising taxes on income over $1 million, boosting the minimum wage, expanding early childhood education and fully funding the state workers’ pension, which was underfunded for years before he took over. Murphy said Friday in his final news conference that he has been in regular touch with Sherrill about the transition. He summed up his two terms as governor as having lived up to promises he made on the campaign trail. “We were who we said would be,” Murphy said. “We didn’t campaign on my thesis and pull a fast one.” He is also passing along a state budget that has swelled over the years, raising the prospect of potential shortfalls if state revenues dip as well as an unfunded promise to continue a property tax relief program begun in the governor’s second term. Sherrill will have a Democrat-led Legislature to work with, one of more than a dozen where the party controls the legislature and governorship. The first woman to be governor of New Jersey is Christine Todd Whitman, a two-term Republican who went on to serve as George W. Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator. New Jersey’s governorship has often switched back and forth between the parties. The last time the same party prevailed in a third straight gubernatorial election was in 1961. Source

Israel will help Greece develop technology to counter swarms of military drones as the two countries deepen defense cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean, the Greek defense minister said Tuesday. The pledge followed talks in Athens between Defense Minister Nikos Dendias and his counterpart Israel Katz, building on a December defense pact between Greece, Israel and Cyprus. Israel is already assisting Greece in building an air defense shield as part of the expanding cooperation. “We agreed to exchange views and expertise so that we can counter unmanned platforms — specifically swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles and groups of unmanned underwater vehicles,” Dendias said, appearing alongside Katz. Katz called the partnership “an anchor of stability in the Mediterranean.” Drone swarms — typically using small, low-cost craft that operate in coordination — reflect a broader shift in modern warfare, used for reconnaissance, defense and attempts to overwhelm opposing systems. Greece, a high military spender relative to the size of its economy, remains locked in a long-running dispute with fellow NATO member Turkey over maritime boundaries and offshore resources. The December agreement outlined a joint plan for combined exercises, special operations training and regular strategic consultations. It followed talks between the leaders of the three countries aimed at advancing maritime security and energy initiatives. Source

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The European Union’s top official on Tuesday described U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned new tariffs over Greenland as “a mistake especially between long-standing allies” and called into question Trump’s trustworthiness, saying that he had agreed last year not to impose more tariffs on members of the bloc. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was responding to Trump’s announcement that starting February, a 10% import tax will be imposed on goods from eight European nations that have rallied around Denmark in the wake of his stepped up calls for the United States to take over the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. “The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July,” Von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And in politics as in business – a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.” “We consider the people of the United States not just our allies, but our friends. And plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape,” she added. She vowed that the EU’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional.” Trump has insisted the U.S. needs the territory for security reasons against possible threats from China and Russia. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said America’s relations with Europe remain strong and urged trading partners to “take a deep breath” and let tensions driven the new tariff threats over Greenland “play out.” “I think our relations have never been closer,” he said. Trump’s threats spark diplomatic flurry across Europe The American leader’s threats have sparked outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity across Europe, as leaders consider possible countermeasures, including retaliatory tariffs and the first-ever use of the European Union’s anti-coercion instrument. The EU has three major economic tools it could use to pressure Washington: new tariffs, suspension of the U.S.-EU trade deal, and the “trade bazooka” — the unofficial term for the bloc’s Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could sanction individuals or institutions found to be putting undue pressure on the EU. Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He said “I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos, Switzerland.” France’s Macron suggests G-7 meeting in Paris this week Trump also posted a text message from Emmanuel Macron in which the French president suggested a meeting of members of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies in Paris after the Davos gathering. An official close to Macron confirmed the message shared by Trump is genuine. “It shows that the French President, both in public and in private, takes the same views,” the official said. On Greenland, France considers respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states is “non-negotiable,” the official said. Macron’s offer to organize a G7 meeting showed the French presidency wants to make “a constructive moment that contributes to dialogue and cooperation,” the official added. The official spoke anonymously in line with the French presidency customary practices. Later, Trump posted some provocatively doctored images. One showed him planting the U.S. flag next to a sign reading “Greenland, U.S. Territory, Est. 2026.” The other showed Trump in the Oval Office next to a map that showed Greenland and Canada covered with the U.S. Stars and Stripes. In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their stance. “We will not be pressured,” he wrote. In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated that the import taxes would be…

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