Norway has joined the Type 26 frigates project with Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom in a bid to enhance its naval capabilities and build a formidable naval force for any future conflict.

The Global Combat Ship User Group Charter, overseeing the development, construction and operation of frigates formally welcomed the Royal Norwegian Navy into the team.

The group is building 34 world-class warships for the four states, including Type 26 frigates for Norway and the UK, the River-class frigates for Canada and the Hunter-class frigates for Australia.

The multi-billion-dollar project was initiated in the early 2010s; however, it saw real progress in 2017, gaining momentum after the UK began construction.

Norway was invited to sign the charter around a year ago and now the Kingdom has officially joined the partnership.

Norway wants to procure five Type 26 frigates to enhance its navy’s defensive capabilities in the Atlantic and Europe’s northern flank. The country already operates eight identical warships.

Commodore Stephen Roberts, the Senior Responsible Owner for the UK Type 26 frigate programme, welcomed Norway to the program and said, “Our strategic maritime security partnership with allies is further strengthened by Norway’s inclusion in the wider GCS enterprise alongside our Canadian and Australian partners.”

Captain Alexander Erichsen, Chief Fleet Programme for the Royal Norwegian Navy said that enhanced security cooperation and aligning the designs of frigates will strengthen interoperability and collective security measures across allied navies. 

President Trump on Mondaycalled for comedian Jimmy Kimmel to be fired Monday over jokes the late-night host made days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. 

The president’s call for Kimmel’s firing came after hours after first lady Melania Trump, in a rare statement, called the jokes “hateful and violent rhetoric.” 

On his show on Thursday, Kimmel said he was taking “a page from the Kid Rock alternative half-time show” and created a mock correspondents’ dinner, which has featured comedians in the past but this year was set to feature mentalist Oz Pearlman. In the skit, Kimmel referred to Melania Trump as having a “glow like an expectant widow.”

Mr. Trump called the joke a “call to violence.”

“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

The first lady had said that ABC should “take a stand” against Kimmel.

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” Melania Trump posted on social media. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”

Melania Trump was sitting next to Mr. Trump on Saturday at the correspondents’ dinner when gunshots rang out and they were evacuated from the ballroom. No one was injured and the suspected gunman, Cole Allen, was tackled and taken into custody. He is set to appear in federal court on Monday.

CBS News has reached out to ABC for comment. 

Kimmel was pulled from the air for several nights in September after being criticized by conservatives, including Mr. Trump, for his remarks in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination. Kimmel had said that America “hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”  

Kimmel did not issue a blanket apology for the remarks, but he did say he could see how they were offensive to some. When he returned to the air on Sept. 23, he said it was “not my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” referring to the alleged gunman, who is in custody pending trial. 

US first lady Melania Trump said on Monday it was time for ABC to “take a stand” on Jimmy Kimmel after a monologue the late-night talk show host delivered prior to a shooting near a gathering of journalists and politicians over the weekend.

“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behaviour at the expense of our community?” she said in a post on X.

Kimmel, in a parody of the White House Correspondents Dinner that aired last week before the actual event, said: “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

President Donald Trump and the first lady were rushed out of the dinner on Saturday after a shooting in the lobby of the Washington Hilton. A suspect identified as Cole Allen charged through a checkpoint and fired at Secret Service agents, wounding one, before he was subdued and arrested.

Disney and ABC did not immediately comment.

In September, the head of the Federal Communications Commission pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air. ABC briefly suspended Kimmel’s show that month over comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Hours before the suspension, FCC head Brendan Carr warned that local broadcasters who aired Kimmel could face fines or loss of licenses and said “it’s time for them to step up.” His comments garnered pushback from the entertainment industry and politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who likened his threats to that of an organised crime boss.

In September, Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group briefly took Kimmel’s show off the air on their 70 ABC-affiliated stations, covering nearly a quarter of US households. Carr wants to make it easier for local broadcasters to preempt national programming.