Officials float idea of compact of free association (Cofa), used by US to keep close ties with Pacific Island nations

US officials are discussing a plan to pull Greenland into America’s sphere of influence using a type of agreement that the United States has used to keep close ties with several Pacific Island nations, according to two US officials and another person familiar with the discussions.

Under the plan being considered, the Trump administration would propose to Greenland’s leaders that the island enter into a so-called compact of free association, or Cofa, with the United States.

• Danish rider holds off Van Aert in bunch sprint to line
• Mikel Landa abandons race after crash late in stage

Denmark’s former world champion Mads Pedersen edged out Wout van Aert in a bunch sprint to win the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia in Tirana, but Mikel Landa was forced to abandon the race after a crash five kilometres from the finish.

Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was positioned perfectly by his teammates for the climax in the Albanian capital and held off Belgium’s Van Aert to become the first rider this year – and the first Dane – to wear the overall leader’s pink jersey. Venezuela’s Orluis Aular (Movistar) was third across the line.

Security minister says US delegation wanted classification for PCC and Comando Vermelho to aid immigration policy

The Brazilian government has rejected a request by the US state department to designate two major criminal gangs as terrorist organizations, according to Mario Sarrubo, Brazil’s national secretary of public security.

Sarrubo said the request was made on Tuesday during a meeting between US and Brazilian officials in Brasília.

• Supporter with spare ticket took the bait over offer
• Around 50,000 supporters vying for just 480 seats

A Norwegian bartered five kilos of semi-dried fish for a ticket to Thursday’s semi-final clash between Bodø/Glimt and Tottenham in the Arctic Circle, as the hosts aim to become the first Norwegian club to reach a European final.

Some 50,000 fans were vying for just 480 remaining tickets to the second leg of Bodø/Glimt’s Europa League semi-final.

Damages awarded after earlier ruling found NSO unlawfully exploited a bug in WhatsApp to spy on users

Meta Platforms won a $168m verdict against the Israeli surveillance firm NSO, the company said on Tuesday, capping a six-year arm-wrestling match between the US’s biggest social-networking platform and the world’s best-known spyware company.

Meta had already won after a December ruling found that NSO had unlawfully exploited a bug in its messaging service WhatsApp to plant spy software on its users’ phones. On Tuesday, a jury in California ruled that NSO owed Meta $444,719 in compensatory damages – and $167.3m in punitive damages, Meta said.

Order to cancel 11 military aid flights – which were quickly reinstated – originated in defense head Pete Hegseth’s office

• US politics live – latest updates

Roughly a week after Donald Trump started his second term as president, the US military issued an order to three freight airlines operating out of Dover air force base in Delaware and a US base in Qatar: stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry that were bound for Ukraine.

In a matter of hours, frantic questions reached Washington from Ukrainians in Kyiv and from officials in Poland, where the shipments were coordinated. Who had ordered the US Transportation Command, known as TransCom, to halt the flights? Was it a permanent pause on all aid? Or just some?

• Polish striker back from hamstring injury for second leg
• Inter have fitness doubts for Champions League tie

The Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has been declared fit to return from a hamstring injury but is set to start on the bench in their Champions League semi-final second leg at Inter on Tuesday, the Barça manager, Hansi Flick, confirmed.

The 36-year-old Polish international, who has scored 40 goals for Barcelona in all competitions this season, had been sidelined for his club’s last four games. After sustaining the injury during Barça’s 4-3 victory against Celta Vigo on 19 April, he missed the Copa del Rey final victory against Real Madrid and the first leg of the semi against Inter.

Lawsuit also filed over administration’s cuts to health and human services that destroy life-saving programs

A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general sued on Monday in an attempt to block Donald Trump’s move to suspend leasing and permitting of new wind projects, saying it threatens to cripple the wind industry and a key source of clean energy.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia argued, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston, that the decision by the Republican president’s administration to indefinitely pause all federal wind-energy approvals was unlawful and must be blocked.

• Male in his late teens arrested over incident, say police
• Violence ‘must never happen again’, says Gasperini

A 26-year-old fan of Serie A side Atalanta was stabbed to death during clashes between Atalanta and Inter supporters in the northern city of Bergamo, Italy’s police said.

The groups of supporters clashed in a pub in Bergamo on Saturday night after one of the Inter supporters chanted provocatively, the head of the carabinieri office in Bergamo, Carmelo Beringheli, said.