Donald Trump has refused to rule out military action or economic coercion as a means to achieve his goal of gaining control of Greenland.

"No, I can't assure you on either of those two," the US president-elect responded when asked at a press conference yesterday whether he would veto the use of both tactics in his bid to acquire Greenland and also the Panama Canal. "But, I can say this, we need them for economic security."

Why does Trump want Greenland?
The autonomous Danish territory "remains of vital interest to the US", said Bloomberg. As large as Alaska and Texas combined, Greenland "sits astride strategic sea lanes like the Northwest Passage and the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap, as well as beneath Arctic flight paths (including those for missiles)".

It is also a "potential trove of resources", containing 7% of the world's fresh water in its ice sheet, undeveloped oil and natural gas resources, and huge deposits of rare earth minerals.

On a wider note, territorial expansionism is key to Trump's bid to "Make America Strong Again", and "world leaders are flocking to the table" because he is "already delivering on his promise", his transition spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.

How would a purchase work?
A direct purchase from Denmark would cost "tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions, of dollars", said Steve Forbes from Forbes. A simpler way to "pull it off and save money" would be for Greenland to hold and win an independence referendum, then apply for US statehood. The first step could soon become a reality after Prime Minister Múte Egede "appeared to hint" at holding a binding plebiscite "in tandem with the island's upcoming parliamentary election in April", said Politico.

But the real question, said Bloomberg, is "why bother owning it at all?" A "mutually beneficial deal that avoids antagonising the local population can be struck with relative ease" and would achieve all of Trump's objectives while sidestepping the thorny issue of nationhood.

Is Greenland interested?
The idea of the US buying Greenland has been "roundly dismissed" by officials in Denmark and the territory in the years since Trump first brought it up, said The Washington Post. Egede responded to Trump's latest calls by saying that the island is "not for sale and will never be for sale".

The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has marked the 10th anniversary of a deadly terror attack on its office with a special edition featuring a cartoon contest inviting entrants to lampoon God.

Editors called on cartoonists to submit their "funniest and meanest" depictions of God, in a "bid to show they had lost none of their provocative defiance" since Islamist attackers shot dead eight of the magazine's employees, as well as a visiting guest, a maintenance worker and two police officers, in 2015, said The Telegraph.

'Tempering satire'
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the slogan "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) became a catchphrase to express solidarity with the publication and support for free speech, but that support has steadily fallen. In a survey in France last year, only 58% of those polled agreed with the statement "Je suis Charlie", down from 71% in 2016.

Over the last decade, there's been a "remarkable shift" away from "unequivocal denunciation of the Charlie murders", said Andrew Hussey on UnHerd. The ambivalence towards the Charlie Hebdo massacre represents a "fundamental change" in how "erstwhile progressives understand their society".

"The killers have won," said Brendan O'Neill in The Spectator. Where they saw "blasphemy", we see "Islamophobia", and "where they believed such unholy utterances should be punished by summary execution", we "prefer to punish them with bans or fines or social ostracism".

'Laughter and courage'
Charlie Hebdo now operates from a secure and secret location, and its editor lives under police protection. Yet the magazine is "still courting controversy" with content that it considers "light-hearted impudence", said Sky News, but which others will maintain are "profoundly offensive".

Charlie Hebdo has become "a symbol" of "freedom of speech in the face of Islamist barbarism", of "laughter in the face of terror" and of "courage", said Tom Slater in Spiked. So on this "awful anniversary", let's all "speak more freely – and fearlessly – than ever before". Charlie Hebdo "lives", and "so long as we all stand up for freedom of speech, no one can kill it".

From Tony Blair to MI5's Eliza Manningham-Buller, the BBC series about London's 7 July bombings has a "cast list of high-level political figures", said Sean O'Neill in The Times. But it's "the people on the ground" who make the documentary "such a sombre and compelling watch".

The team behind "9/11: Inside the President's War Room" have "turned their attention" to the events in the English capital 20 years ago, examining the tragedy through the eyes of the victims, survivors and police, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. There is "little from the politicians"; instead, we hear first-hand from the forensic teams and counter-terror detectives as they "race to identify the four suicide bombers whose attacks claimed 52 lives".

The documentary is a "testament" to the bravery of the police who were first to attend the scenes. Following hours spent "combing the Tube wreckage" in search of survivors, some of the officers slept in nearby carriages to "ensure that the dead were never left alone". By contrast, the "top brass do not cover themselves in glory" – especially when it comes to the subsequent shooting of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes in a case of mistaken identity.

"Many of the details are unimaginably distressing" and it's clear that, two decades on, it's still "agony" for those interviewed to revisit their memories of that day, said Phil Harrison in The Guardian. But the series "doesn't stop on 7 July". As the "meticulous" documentary unfolds, the filmmakers explore the "deeply political" events that followed and the "implications that continue to resonate" to this day.

Could Jenrick yet be the undisputed leader of the Right by the next election?
Camilla Tominey in The Telegraph
The "difficult truth" for Kemi Badenoch is that Robert Jenrick "appears to be having more cut-through with the general public" on grooming gangs than she does as Tory leader, writes Camilla Tominey. While he "remains so vocal" on these issues, Jenrick will "always been seen as a threat" to Badenoch. He "privately admits" that "despite his own future ambitions, now is not the time to rock the boat", but a "second leadership contest cannot be ruled out".

If only I had known to play classical music when we were burgled
Carol Midgley in The Times
Police in London have advised residents to "play some classical music" to "deter crime", writes Carol Midgley. "Brilliant." Rather than my "aggressive and triggering" response to the last burglar who raided my house, "I should have played Pachelbel to defuse matters, while making him a light snack". Perhaps every household "should ditch its security cameras" in favour of "a chamber orchestra in the porch".  It would be a "squeeze” but "what price peace of mind?"

The mistake of yearning for the 'friendly' online world of 20 years ago
Enrique Rey in El Pais
Our culture is "obsessed with retromania", writes Enrique Rey, because it "conveys something" we have lost over the past decade: "a sense of control; the idea that it is possible to enjoy technology in peace again". But "if the internet is unfriendly", that's because we are becoming less friendly too. We cannot keep thinking that "machines are entities with a will of their own". Instead, "we must take responsibility for what happens on the internet".