UK vows to spend 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 to hit NATO goal
London | UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will vow to spend 5 per cent of British economic output on security by 2035, embracing an ambitious NATO target sought by US President Donald Trump without providing a path on how to get there.
After weeks of refusing to be drawn on the matter, the premier was scheduled to make the new commitment on Tuesday at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's summit in The Hague, The Netherlands, according to a statement from his office. There, leaders were due to adopt the alliance's new 5 per cent goal, up from 2 per cent currently, which includes 3.5 per cent to be spent on core defence and 1.5 per cent on related security expenditure.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
7NEWS
30 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
More than 100 Australians evacuated from Tel Aviv on departure flight
Australian Defence Force personnel and diplomatic staff have helped 119 Australians to evacuate Tel Aviv after Israel's airspace reopened. Senior sources say the Australian government continues to move quickly when opportunities to safely move its citizens become available. Israeli commercial airlines have resumed operations for anyone wanting to leave Israel. Travellers with existing tickets for cancelled flights are encouraged to keep speaking with airlines. The government will continue to communicate directly with registered Australians who wish to leave Israel about any further plans for assisted departures. Consular officers remain positioned at the Iran -Azerbaijan border to assist Australians wanting out. It comes as Israel's defence minister ordered the military to strike Tehran in response to what he says were Iranian missiles fired in a violation of the ceasefire announced hours earlier by US President Donald Trump. Iran said it had not violated the ceasefire. The armed forces general staff denied there had been any launch of missiles towards Israel in recent hours, Iran's Nour News reported. The developments on Tuesday raised early doubts about the ceasefire, intended to end 12 days of war. Australians in need of urgent consular assistance should contact DFAT's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas) or 1300 555 135 (within Australia).
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
More Gaza bloodshed after Israel makes truce with Iran
Israeli forces have killed at least 29 Palestinians in Gaza and ordered new evacuations, local medics and residents say, in further bloodshed shortly after Israel and Iran reached a ceasefire to end a 12-day air war. The Israel-Iran deal announced by US President Donald Trump raised hopes among Palestinians of an end to more than 20 months of war in Gaza that has widely demolished the territory and displaced most residents, with malnutrition widespread. "Enough! The whole universe has let us down. (Iran-backed Lebanese group) Hezbollah reached a deal without Gaza, and now Iran has done the same," said Adel Farouk, 62, from Gaza City. "We hope Gaza is next," he told Reuters via a chat app. But deadly violence continued with little respite. Marwan Abu Naser, of the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in central Gaza, said it had received 19 dead and 146 injured from crowds who tried to reach a nearby aid distribution centre of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Abu Naser told Reuters the casualties resulted from gunfire. Israel's military said a gathering overnight was identified next to forces operating in Gaza's central Netzarim Corridor, and it was reviewing reports of casualties. The GHF told Reuters in an e-mail it had not heard of any violent incident near their aid site, which it said was several kilometres south of the Netzarim Corridor. UN aid trucks entering Gaza also use area roads and Palestinians have in the past few days reported killings of people by Israeli fire as they waited at roadsides to grab bags of flour from the trucks. Israel has been channelling much of the aid it lets into Gaza through the GHF, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces. The United Nations rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent the Hamas militants it is fighting from diverting aid deliveries. The Palestinian Islamist group denies doing so. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations' Palestinian aid agency UNRWA, told reporters in Berlin the new mechanism was an "abomination" and "a death trap". Separately, 10 other people were killed by an Israeli air strike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, taking Tuesday's death toll to at least 29, medics said. Palestinians said they wished the Israel-Iran ceasefire announced by Trump had applied to Gaza. Adding to their frustration, the Israeli military dropped leaflets over several areas in north Gaza ordering residents to leave their homes and head towards the south, in what appeared to herald renewed Israeli military strikes against Hamas. Sources close to Hamas told Reuters there had been some new efforts to resume ceasefire talks with Israel. They said Hamas was open to discussing any offers that would "end the war and secure Israel's withdrawal from Gaza". But these echoed longstanding Hamas conditions that Israel has always rejected. Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza under any deal to end the war, while Israel says it can only end if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent air and ground war in Gaza has killed about 56,000 Palestinians, according to its Hamas-run health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than two million and spread a hunger crisis.
SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
Iran denies firing missiles into Israel after ceasefire
Iran denies firing missiles into Israel after ceasefire Published 24 June 2025, 9:02 am Israel and Iran had both agreed to a ceasefire but tonight that deal appears to be in doubt with Israel accusing Iran of firing missiles violating the pact. The ceasefire was brokered by US President Donald Trump along with Qatar. It follows U-S strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities on Sunday and overnight retaliation by Iran on a U-S military base in Qatar.
