UK, Australia to deepen AUKUS treaty and economic ties – DW – 07/25/2025
The UK said on Friday it will join Australia in a 50-year commitment to the nuclear-powered submarine pact with the United States. The move reinforces the agreement as Washington signals uncertainty about its long-term role.
The new British-Australian treaty will support both countries' submarine programs for the next 50 years, generating tens of thousands of jobs. British Defense Secretary John Healey said the deal could deliver up to 20 billion pounds (€23 billion, $27 billion) in British exports over the next 25 years.
Healey, who is visiting Australia with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, described the AUKUS as one of Britain's most important defense partnerships.
"This demands a new era of defense, an era in which indivisibility of security in the Indo-Pacifc alongside the security of the Euro-Atlantic, in which the deep relationships like ours with you must be reconfirmed," he added.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the two countries were working to shape collective security in the Indo-Pacific region.
The 2021 AUKUS agreement calls for Australia to acquire at least three Virginia-class submarines from the United States within 15 years and eventually to manufacture submarines of its own.
But in the US, critics question why Washington is prioritizing the sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia rather than strengthening its own naval fleet.
The US, which brokered the trilateral pact in 2021, is currently reviewing its commitment. Washington has urged Australia to boost defense spending amid growing concerns over China's military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region.
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DW
12 hours ago
- DW
What's behind UK foreign policy change on Palestinian state? – DW – 07/31/2025
British PM Keir Starmer has said unless Israel takes significant steps toward peace, the UK will recognize a Palestinian state. He's using the "inalienable right of the Palestinian people" as a diplomatic tool. The new direction for the UK's foreign policy regarding the Middle East came shortly after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with US President Donald Trump in Scotland. Just a day later, on July 29, Starmer interrupted his cabinet ministers' summer break for an emergency meeting, after which the policy turnaround was presented in London. In a statement, Starmer, the leader of the center-left Labour Party, said the UK could recognize Palestine as a state as soon as September unless Israel's government moved toward meeting certain conditions, including a ceasefire, not annexing the occupied West Bank and committing to a long-term peace process. Britain believes "statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people," Starmer said. His government is using the recognition of a Palestinian state as a means of political pressure to push forward the so-called two-state solution. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Until now, the UK has delayed its recognition of a Palestinian state in part because of the country's own historical responsibility. Between 1920 and 1948, Britain was the administrative power in Palestine, which had previously been part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, the British government issued a statement — the Balfour Declaration, named after then-British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour — that said it supported the idea of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The declaration was made without considering the rights of the Arab majority population there and the move went on to spark violence between local Arabs, immigrant Jews and the British administration. Two years after David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, announced the establishment of the State of Israel, Britain recognized the country. But when it came to recognizing Palestine as a state, the UK regularly said that this had to be part of a peace deal. This was also strategic: Britain didn't want to jeopardize its relationships with the US or Israel. But this historical position has come under ever more pressure. The ongoing conflict in Gaza — fighting there began in October 2023 after an attack on Israel by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas, that resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 — has sowed serious internal divisions in the UK. In cities like London, Manchester and Glasgow, protesters regularly take to the streets in huge demonstrations calling for an end to the current conflict and Israeli occupation. These popular protests are supported by many local trade unions as well as left-leaning political organizations, such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Stop the War group (the latter also opposes Europeans fighting in Ukraine). Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has also called for an end to weapons deliveries to Israel. In late July, Corbyn announced he was starting his own political party "to take on the rich and powerful." Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party in 2020 after he said a report into antisemitism inside the party under his leadership had been exaggerated for "political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media." According to a YouGov survey undertaken on 24-25 July, around two-thirds of Labour supporters agree with the UK government's decision to recognize Palestine. Of the general public, the YouGov poll found that 45% think it's a good idea. In the British Parliament, 221 members have signed a letter calling for recognition of Palestine. Among the signatories were many Labour Party members. Ministers in Starmer's cabinet have also pushed in this direction. Starmer appears to have given in to the pressure, at least partially. But he reiterated the UK's support for Israel and demands on Hamas in the government statement on Tuesday. "We have been unequivocal in our condemnation of those evil attacks, and our support for the right of the State of Israel to self-defence. Hamas must immediately release all the hostages, sign up to an immediate ceasefire [...] and commit to disarmament." At the same time though, he was critical of the Israeli government's military offensive and its policies in Gaza. "Now, in Gaza, because of a catastrophic failure of aid, we see starving babies, children too weak to stand, images that will stay with us for a lifetime. The suffering must end," he told journalists. While the United Nations and leading aid agencies have repeatedly warned of the increasing risk of starvation in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted there is no hunger in the enclave. The most recent figures from the health authorities in Gaza indicate that more than 60,000 people have died in Gaza as a result of the Israeli military offensive. Almost half of the dead were women and children. The Gaza health authorities are controlled by Hamas, which administers the enclave. However, the death toll is considered broadly reliable, including by the Israeli military, which has used the numbers in its own briefings. Israel has denied international journalists entry into Gaza since the beginning of Israel's siege, meaning DW has not been able to independently verify the death toll. A number of recent studies however, suggest it may actually be an undercount. Starmer's decision to recognize Palestine may also be a reaction to the fact that France plans to do the same during the UN General Assembly in early September. As French President Emmanuel Macron explained in Paris late last week, France wants to revitalize a peace process there and put international weight behind a two-state solution. Unlike Macron, though, Starmer is only holding out the threat of recognition if Israel fails to move toward a ceasefire. Observers have argued that it's more of a balancing act for the UK, something between taking a moral stand and taking careful account of foreign relations with the US. Trump said he and Starmer had not, in fact, discussed a Palestinian state while in Scotland. Reacting to Starmer's announcement on Tuesday, Trump said, "I'm not going to take a position, I don't mind him taking a position." But later on, during his flight back to the US, Trump told reporters that Starmer was "rewarding Hamas." Israel's Netanyahu has described Starmer's plan as "appeasement towards jihadist terrorists." Currently, 147 out of 193 UN member states recognize Palestine as a state. However, what counts as a state is still disputed with different methods and prerequisites used to identify countries. Even so, several of the conditions usually accepted as necessary for a functioning state are presently not in place for Palestine. That includes a unified government, control over borders and security and clearly defined territory. In the statement announcing his government's change of course, Starmer emphasized that the Hamas group must "accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza" in the view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
DW
12 hours ago
- DW
Will Australia's youth social media ban work? – DW – 07/31/2025
Australia will impose a social media blackout for children under 16 to tackle the growing mental health crisis among young people. But will the ban be effective? When Australia's government decided to implement a world-first national youth social media ban, it was pitched as an antidote to a growing mental health crisis. It followed intense debate about the dangers of social media, much articulated in the book, "The Anxious Generation," by Jonathan Haidt. The American social psychologist argues that smartphone-based childhoods and social media are helping to fuel an epidemic of mental illness among teenagers. As the ban was passed in the Australian Parliament in November 2024, one poll revealed overwhelming support among 77% of Australians. The plan to fine TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, Instagram and now YouTube, 49.5 million Australian dollars (€27.7 million, $32.3 million) for failing to block young people was supported by 87% of those surveyed. Underage social media users and their parents will not be punished for any violations under the law. Social media companies, including Elon Musk's X, were predictably unimpressed with a ban that many concede will also be difficult to police. "It's entirely likely the ban could see young people pushed to darker corners of the internet where no community guidelines, safety tools, or protections exist," said a TikTok spokesperson when the bill was passed. The Australian social media ban partly seeks to protect young people from the cyberbullying, disinformation and illegal content that has riddled social media platforms. But some experts doubt whether prohibition is an antidote to deteriorating youth mental health. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Marilyn Campbell, a professor in the School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education at the Queensland University of Technology who writes on cyberbullying, warns that little research establishes a "causal" connection between social media and psychological health. "We know that there's a high correlation between the rise of new technologies and the increase in young people's poorer mental health," she said. "But we don't even know why yet." One 2023 study sampling social media use in 72 countries found "no evidence suggesting that the global penetration of social media is associated with widespread psychological harm." Campbell noted that though populist psychology works like "The Anxious Generation" merely draw a correlation between rising youth anxiety and depression and social media use, they have been heavily hyped in the media. Building on the popularity of these ideas, the government is now pursuing a "nice, simple solution," she told DW. "You don't have to spend any money on it," she said of the ban. "It's not complicated." Researchers at the University of Queensland note that the limited understanding of how social media impacts young people's mental health means that other influences need to be considered, such as rising "social inequity," "climate anxiety" and "gendered violence." Campbell suggested that instead of focusing on social media, governments need to "reform the mental health system," adding that "many more school counselors and school psychologists" would help. "There are lots of things that they could do but that cost money," she added. The Australian government continues to conflate social media use and the psychological struggles of young people. "We know that social media is doing social harm, and my government and this parliament is prepared to take action to protect young Australians," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday when announcing that YouTube would be added to the list of banned platforms after initially being excluded. But social media can also be positive for young people, said Campbell. Writing for magazine in January, she noted that young people with autism or who are "exploring their sexual and gender identity" can sometimes more easily identify with peers online than in their physical locality. She added that, like the prohibition of alcohol in the US, a ban just forces the problem underground. Youth also need to be prepared to live in a "technologically-saturated world," the professor told DW. "We are not doing them any favors by saying, well, you can't be in this world until you're 16." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The Australian ban will not come into effect until this December. Trials are underway to address the complex task of enforcing the social media blackout. Platforms won't be allowed to compel users to provide government-issued ID or digital identification but must provide "alternative age assurance methods" to confirm the age of social media account holders. One recent study showed that some 80% of people surveyed are concerned about the accuracy of age assurance technologies and potential data privacy breaches. Some 77% of German respondents to a 2024 poll also said they would either "fully" or "somewhat" support an Australia-like social media ban. An even higher percentage, 82%, were "absolutely certain" or "somewhat certain" that social media use is in some way bad for children and teenagers. Several US states are also limiting access to social media, including ensuring greater parental guidance over social media usage. For decades, the US has required tech companies to seek parental consent to access the data of users under 13. Sweden too is looking to ban access to smartphones in schools due to worries about a decline in both mental and physical health. In 2024, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggested that warning labels be added to social media platforms, similar to those on cigarettes and alcohol. This came after a Surgeon General report found some positives with social media use such as "community and connection with others who share identities, abilities and interests," but also "symptoms of depression and anxiety" among adolescents spending 3-plus hours a day on social platforms. Marilyn Campbell reiterated that social media apps should not be banned, but designed to encourage safer interaction with young people. "I think that children need to be educated to live in the digital world," she said.
Local Germany
14 hours ago
- Local Germany
German unemployment ticks upward toward 10 year high
Nearly three million people in Germany were unemployed in July, according to numbers published by the Federal Employment Agency on Thursday. The last time Germany had three million unemployed was more than 10 years ago. And some labour market experts predict that next month Germany will reach that number again. The Federal Employment Agency ( Bundesagentur für Arbeit ) reported 65,000 more people were unemployed this month than last, bringing the total number to 2.979 million. July's unemployment figure was 6.3 percent, representing an increase of .1 percentage points since June. That's a smaller increase than had been expected. But concerns persist about economic conditions in Germany. The city-states of Bremen and Berlin continued to lead unemployment figures, at 11.8 percent and 10.3 percent unemployed respectively. Bavaria had the lowest rate of unemployment at just four percent. Germany's unemployment rate this month was similar to the aggregate number across the Eurozone. Numbers published by Eurostat on Thursday showed that the unemployment rate across the 20 countries that use the Euro was 6.2 percent. However, the unemployment rate across the 27 countries that make up the EU was lower, at 5.9 percent. READ ALSO: How generous is Germany's unemployment benefit system? Advertisement One significant factor in the rise in unemployment in July was likely the start of summer break. The seasonally-adjusted increase in the number of unemployed individuals in Germany was 2,000, according to the Federal Employment Agency. "Unemployment has risen due to the beginning of the summer break. Companies remain very reluctant to report new vacancies, and employment subject to social insurance contributions is barely increasing," said Andrea Nahles, the chair of the Board of the Federal Employment Agency, at a press conference in Nuremberg on Thursday. Still, experts say larger economic factors are also at play. Germany has experienced a general economic contraction over the last two years, and unemployment numbers are projected to continue to rise in the coming months. Though the outlook for next month isn't particularly optimistic, there is some hope for recovery in the future. Projections published by the European Commission predict a general economic stagnation in 2025, followed by growth in 2026, including a declining unemployment rate. READ ALSO: Kitas and Deutschlandticket - What Germany plans to spend money on in 2026 Compared to July 2024, there are now 171,000 more unemployed people in Germany, representing an increase of .3 percentage points. The Federal Employment Agency reported that in July there were 628,000 job vacancies, 75,000 fewer than a year ago. Since last October, 414,000 young people applied through employment agencies for places in training programs, which was 12,000 more than in the previous year. As of July, 140,000 still did not have a place in a training program. The Federal Employment Agency also reported a 7.6 percent increase in underemployment in July compared to the previous month. Advertisement READ ALSO: 'Don't lose hope' - How to navigate Germany's painful job market In July, 991,000 people received unemployment benefits, and 3.877 million people of working age were eligible for citizen's income, or Bürgergeld . Individuals are eligible for citizen's income even if they are employed, if their income is not enough to cover their expenses.
