logo
Canada to announce new security and defence investment plan, Globe and Mail reports

Canada to announce new security and defence investment plan, Globe and Mail reports

Straits Times2 days ago

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada May 28, 2025. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo
Canada to announce new security and defence investment plan, Globe and Mail reports
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will unveil a new security and defence investment plan on Monday that would enable Canada to meet NATO's 2% military spending target this fiscal year, the Globe and Mail reported, citing two senior government sources.
The spending increase, worth billions of dollars, will allow Canada to meet NATO's 2% target in the fiscal year ending next March and exceed it in future years, the report said.
NATO's current defence spending goal of at least 2% of GDP is met by 22 of its 32 members. Canada was near the bottom of the list in 2024, according to estimates published by the alliance.
The plan will include higher pay for members of the Canadian Armed Forces, new aircraft, armed vehicles, ammunition, new drones and more sensors to monitor the sea floor and the Arctic, the Globe and Mail said.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
The Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
The spending announcement would come days before a June 24-25 summit of NATO leaders.
Reuters reported last month that NATO chief Mark Rutte had proposed alliance members should boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP and commit a further 1.5% to broader security-related spending to meet U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for a 5% target. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night
Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night

Straits Times

time31 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night

Riot police members hold their shields while they take position as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Riot police vehicles line up on a road as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Demonstrators gather in front of riot police vehicles as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Riot police members hold their shields while they take position as riots continue in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland for third straight night BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland - Public disorder broke out in Northern Ireland for the third successive night on Wednesday with videos and pictures on social media purportedly showing a fire in a leisure centre in the town of Larne after masked youths smashed the building's windows. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the clips. Hundreds of masked rioters attacked police and set homes and cars on fire 33 kilometres (20 miles) west in Ballymena during the previous two nights in what police condemned as "racist thuggery." Thirty-two officers were injured. Riot police and armoured vans blocked roads in Ballymena on Wednesday evening as a crowd of around 200 people watched on. Two rocks were thrown at a police van and one person kicked the bonnet of a police van, a Reuters witness said. The police vans slowly moved towards the crowd who were warned over a loud speaker to disperse immediately as force was "about to be used against violent individuals." The violence initially erupted after two 14-year-old boys were arrested and appeared in court, accused of a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena, located 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Belfast. The charges were read via a Romanian interpreter to the boys, whose lawyer told the court that they denied the charge, the BBC reported. Police are investigating the damaging of property in Ballymena as racially-motivated hate crimes. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Israel recovers bodies of two hostages from Gaza
Israel recovers bodies of two hostages from Gaza

Straits Times

time31 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Israel recovers bodies of two hostages from Gaza

JERUSALEM - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the bodies of two hostages had been recovered from Gaza by the military and the domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. Netanyahu said in a statement that the body of hostage Yair Yaakov had been retrieved, along with that of another hostage whose identity has not been cleared for publication. The Israeli military said militants from the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad abducted and killed Yaakov during the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. Militants also took Yaakov's partner, Meirav Tal, and two of his children, Or and Yagil, hostage but later released them, the military said. Yaakov was 59 at the time of his death. The military said it notified the family of the second hostage whose body it recovered, adding that it retrieved the bodies in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza. There are 53 hostages still being held in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to be alive. The latest recovery brings to five the number of hostage bodies retrieved by Israeli forces so far this month. Hamas and other militants from Gaza abducted 251 people during the 2023 attack in which about 1,200 people in Israel were killed. Israel's retaliatory war against Hamas in Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Argentina ban on former president Kirchner reshapes political landscape
Argentina ban on former president Kirchner reshapes political landscape

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Argentina ban on former president Kirchner reshapes political landscape

Former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner stands at the balcony of her home after Argentina's Supreme Court upheld her guilty verdict for defrauding the state, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Tomas Cuesta/File Photo BUENOS AIRES - Argentina's supreme court has effectively banned former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from government, a move that poses both a challenge and an opportunity for the opposition Peronist party ahead of crunch midterm elections this year. The court upheld a six-year jail term against Kirchner for graft on Tuesday, barring one of the country's most high-profile politicians from holding public office. In the short-term, the decision may enable libertarian President Javier Milei to cement his power base in the October midterm vote, but over the long run it could help revamp the Peronist movement, which was Argentina's most powerful political bloc for decades before being ousted by outsider Milei in 2023. Kirchner, a two-term president from 2007-2015 and a senator and vice president from 2019-2023, faces the possibility of jail time. She will likely be able to push for house arrest because of her age, 72, and the court will decide within five working days whether to grant that request. But she will not be able to run as a legislative candidate in the midterm elections in the province of Buenos Aires, a Peronist stronghold, as she had planned. Nonetheless, the leftist Kirchner, the president and one of the leaders of the Peronist party, may still be able to pull political strings given her strong popular support, especially if she remains out of jail. "Cristina will continue her political career; that's why she's choosing to stay in Buenos Aires, in her department of San José," a source close to the former president told Reuters. Kirchner did not respond to a Reuters interview request. 'MARTYRED LEADER' Peronists are divided over whether her political ban will help the movement reinvent itself or if she will cast an even longer shadow than before, hurting up-and-comers like Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof who have clashed with her. "This is detrimental to the renewal, because she's now the martyred leader. She's the center of attention," said a source from Kicillof's Buenos Aires provincial government. Kirchner still enjoys significant popular support from close to 30% of the population, polls show, although she is highly divisive - in part due to the corruption cases against her - and would likely struggle to win election. Analysts said that the court ruling could ultimately allow for the party's modernization, at a time some of its leaders, like Kicillof, claim Peronism as a movement is being banished. "For Peronism, it represents the possibility of renewal. Kicillof is playing the victim and, at the same time, becoming independent," said political scientist Andrés Malamud. The ban against Kirchner will take some of the sting out of her bitter rivalry with Milei, but a new more moderate challenger from the Peronist left could hurt the Argentine president if he slips up. "If Milei can keep the economy steady, nothing will happen, but if this doesn't work, it will probably strengthen Kicillof," said analyst Mariel Fornoni from consultancy Management & Fit. The latest polls showed a tie in the important province of Buenos Aires between Milei's La Libertad Avanza and the Peronist opposition for the midterm elections, according to data from the Electoral Observatory. Victory would not give the ruling party a majority in either chamber of Argentina's Congress, but a larger number of legislators would make it easier for the government to approve privatizations of public companies and tax and labor reforms. "Cristina's conviction gives the government a campaign argument it didn't have. Now it won't need to discuss the economic model," said the Buenos Aires government source. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store