Starmer meets Trump at White House for talks on Russia-Ukraine war
In this episode of W News, presented by Leigh-Ann Gerrans, we bring you the latest from Washington as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets US President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war. We'll also cover the latest on controversial social media personalities Andrew and Tristan Tate, who have left Romania for the US.
Guests:
Benji Hyer - Correspondent in Washington
Scott Lucas - Professor of US & International Politics at the Clinton Institute
Sara Firth - Foreign Correspondent
Mitch McCann - Correspondent in New York
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
As Trump Mulls Sanctions, Russia's Military Economy Slows
After three years of doom-defying growth, Russia's heavily militarized economy is slowing, facing a widening budget deficit and weak oil prices, all under the threat of more Western sanctions. Huge spending on guns, tanks, drones, missiles and soldiers for the Ukraine campaign helped ensure Moscow bucked predictions of economic collapse after it launched its offensive in 2022. But as Kyiv's most important backers head Sunday to Canada for the G7, where US President Donald Trump will face pressure to hit Russia with fresh sanctions, the Kremlin's run of economic fortune is showing signs of fatigue. "It is no longer possible to pull the economy along by the military-industrial complex alone," Natalia Zubarevich, an economist at Moscow State University, told AFP. Government spending has jumped 60 percent since before the offensive, with military outlays now at nine percent of GDP, according to President Vladimir Putin. "Almost every other sector is showing zero or even negative growth," said Zubarevich. Russia's economy expanded 1.4 percent on an annualized basis in the first quarter -- down from 4.1 percent in 2024 to its lowest reading in two years. The central bank predicts growth of no more than 1-2 percent this year. Russia's economy "is simply running out of steam", Alexandra Prokopenko, a former central bank advisor and now analyst based outside Russia, wrote in a recent note. Oil reliance Putin, who has reveled in Russia's strong performance, has brushed off concerns. "We do not need such growth," he said at the end of last year, when the slowdown started. Rapid expansion risked creating "imbalances in the economy, that could cause us harm in the long run", he said. Top among those imbalances has been rapid inflation, running at around 10 percent. The Central Bank last week nudged interest rates down from a two-decade-high saying price rises were moderating. But those high borrowing costs -- combined with falling oil prices -- are the main factors behind the slowdown, economist Anton Tabakh told AFP. Russia's Urals blend of crude oil sold for an average of $52 a barrel in May, down from $68 in January -- a big reduction in energy revenues, which make up more than a quarter of government income. Russia this year has raised taxes on businesses and high earners, essentially forcing them to stump up more for the Ukraine offensive. But the new income "only covers the shortfall in oil sales", said Zubarevich. With tighter finances, Russia's parliament was this week forced to amend state spending plans for 2025. It now expects a budget deficit of 1.7 percent of GDP -- three times higher than initially predicted. Trump factor Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging Trump to whack a fresh set of economic sanctions on Moscow as punishment for rejecting ceasefire calls and continuing with its deadly bombardments of Ukrainian cities. "Russia doesn't really care about such human losses. What they do worry about are harsh sanctions," Zelensky said Thursday "That's what really threatens them –- because it could cut off their funding for war and force them to seek peace," he added. Trump's intentions are unclear. He has publicly mulled both hitting Moscow with new sanctions and removing some of the measures already in place. Some US senators, including Republicans, have proposed hitting countries that buy Russian oil with massive tariffs, to try to dent the flow of billions of dollars to Moscow from the likes of China and India. In Moscow, officials flip between blasting sanctions as an "illegal" attack on Russia and brushing them off as an ineffective tool that has backfired on Europe and the United States. Russia has also talked up its ability to continue fighting for years -- whatever the West does -- and has geared its economy to serving the military. Moscow still has the cash to wage its conflict "for a long time", Zubarevich said. "Through 2025 definitely. 2026 will be a bit tougher but they will cut other expenses. This (military) spending will stay."
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
UK is not currently providing support to Israel as Iran retaliates: Reports
Britain is not currently providing military support to Israel to defend against Iran's retaliation to overnight Israeli strikes, two British media outlets reported on Friday. The Times newspaper cited defense sources as saying that Britain was not providing support to Israel on Friday morning. Sky News separately reported that British warplanes were not currently involved in helping to defend Israel's skies, but that this could change as the situation develops. In October 2024, when Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel, Britain said two of its fighter jets and an air-to-air refueling tanker played a part in attempts to prevent further escalation, but that the jets did not engage any targets. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has urged both sides to use restraint and return to diplomacy, and Britain was not involved in Israel's strikes against Iran overnight. Britain's foreign office and Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any potential British involvement in protecting Israel.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan, other nuclear states together spent $100 billion on weapons in 2024 — report
GENEVA: Nuclear-armed states spent more than $100 billion on their atomic arsenals last year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said Friday, lamenting the lack of democratic oversight of such spending. ICAN said Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States together spent nearly $10 billion more than in 2023. The United States spent $56.8 billion in 2024, followed by China at $12.5 billion and Britain at $10.4 billion, ICAN said in its flagship annual report. Geneva-based ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in drafting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect in 2021. Some 69 countries have ratified it to date, four more have directly acceded to the treaty and another 25 have signed it, although none of the nuclear weapons states have come on board. This year's report looked at the costs incurred by the countries that host other states' nuclear weapons. It said such costs are largely unknown to citizens and legislators alike, thereby avoiding democratic scrutiny. Although not officially confirmed, the report said Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkiye were hosting US nuclear weapons, citing experts. Meanwhile Russia claims it has nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, but some experts are unsure, it added. The report said there was 'little public information' about the costs associated with hosting US nuclear weapons in NATO European countries, citing the cost of facility security, nuclear-capable aircraft and preparation to use such weapons. 'Each NATO nuclear-sharing arrangement is governed by secret agreements,' the report said. 'It's an affront to democracy that citizens and lawmakers are not allowed to know that nuclear weapons from other countries are based on their soil or how much of their taxes is being spent on them,' said the report's co-author Alicia Sanders-Zakre. Eight countries openly possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea. Israel is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, although it has never officially acknowledged this. ICAN said the level of nuclear weapons spending in 2024 by these nine nations could have paid the UN budget almost 28 times over. 'The problem of nuclear weapons is one that can be solved, and doing so means understanding the vested interests fiercely defending the option for nine countries to indiscriminately murder civilians,' said ICAN's program coordinator Susi Snyder. The private sector earned at least $42.5 billion from their nuclear weapons contracts in 2024 alone, the report said. There are at least $463 billion in ongoing nuclear weapons contracts, some of which do not expire for decades, and last year, at least $20 billion in new nuclear weapon contracts were awarded, it added. 'Many of the companies that benefited from this largesse invested heavily in lobbying governments, spending $128 million on those efforts in the United States and France, the two countries for which data is available,' ICAN said. Standard nuclear doctrine — developed during the Cold War between superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union — is based on the assumption that such weapons will never have to be used because their impact is so devastating, and because nuclear retaliation would probably bring similar destruction on the original attacker.
