Trump to host Pakistan's army chief for talks at White House
US President Donald Trump is expected to host Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir for talks at the White House later today, amid rising Israel-Iran tensions. Pakistan has condemned Israeli attacks on Iran, while expressing solidarity with its neighbour. Mr Munir's high-profile trip comes a month after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire, which the US has claimed credit for. Hira Mustafa reports from Islamabad.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
EXPLAINER-What is NATO's new 5% defence spending target?
A view shows the venue of the upcoming NATO summit, in The Hague, Netherlands June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann BRUSSELS - NATO leaders are expected to endorse a big new defence spending target at an alliance summit in The Hague on Wednesday, as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump. Here are some key questions and answers about the new target. WHAT ARE NATO LEADERS EXPECTED TO APPROVE? They are expected to agree that NATO members should spend 5% of their economic output - or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - on core defence and broader defence and security-related investments. That's a hefty increase on the current goal of 2%, which was approved at an alliance summit in Wales in 2014. But the new target will be measured differently. NATO members will be expected to spend 3.5% of their GDP on core defence such as troops and weapons – the items currently covered by the old 2% target. They will also be expected to spend a further 1.5% of GDP on broader defence and security-related investments – such as adapting roads, bridges and ports for use by military vehicles, and on cyber-security and protecting energy pipelines. HOW BIG A LEAP WILL THIS BE FOR NATO COUNTRIES? Very big for a lot of them. Twenty-two of NATO's 32 member countries spent 2% of GDP or more on defence last year. As a whole, alliance members spent 2.61% of NATO GDP on defence last year, according to a NATO estimate. But that number masks big differences in spending among members. Poland, for example, spent more than 4% of its GDP on defence, making it the biggest spender. At the other end of the spectrum, Spain spent less than 1.3%. WHEN ARE NATO COUNTRIES EXPECTED TO HIT THE TARGET? They will be expected to meet the target by 2035. The targets could also be adjusted when they are reviewed in 2029. HOW MUCH MORE CASH ARE WE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT? It's hard to say exactly how much extra cash NATO members would have to spend, not least because it will depend on the size of their economies for years to come. Also, NATO does not currently measure spending on the new broader category of defence and security-related investments – so there is no baseline measurement to go by. But NATO countries spent over $1.3 trillion on core defence in 2024, up from about a trillion a decade earlier in constant 2021 prices. If NATO states had all spent 3.5% of GDP on defence last year, that would have amounted to some $1.75 trillion. So, hitting the new targets could eventually mean spending hundreds of billions of dollars more per year, compared with current spending. WHY ARE NATO COUNTRIES INCREASING SPENDING NOW? Russia's continued war in Ukraine, concerns about a possible future threat from Russia, and U.S. pressure have led many European capitals to boost investment in defence and plan to increase it even further over the coming years. 'Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years,' NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier this month. Europe is also preparing for the possibility that the U.S. under President Donald Trump will decide to withdraw some of its troops and capabilities from Europe. 'America can't be everywhere all the time, nor should we be,' U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier this month. WHAT WILL THE NEW MONEY BE SPENT ON? NATO this month agreed on new capability targets for its members – the types of troops, military units, weapons and equipment that NATO says they should possess to defend themselves and the alliance. Those targets are classified but Rutte said after they were approved that the alliance needed to invest more in areas including "air defence, fighter jets, tanks, drones, personnel, logistics and so much more". IS EVERYONE ON BOARD? Not quite. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says his country can meet its military capability targets by spending just 2.1% of GDP. His government approved the draft summit statement with the new spending target but made clear it does not intend to spend that much. NATO officials say Sanchez does not have an opt-out - Spain's spending will be tracked and if it's not investing enough to meet the military targets, it will need to improve. Some countries that have signed up to the targets may also not meet them, diplomats and analysts expect. But publicly, they have insisted they are committed. WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM? Every NATO country will decide on its own where to find the cash to invest more in defence and how to allocate it. The European Union has moved to try to make it easier for capitals to spend on defence. The EU is allowing members to raise defence spending by 1.5% of GDP each year for four years without any disciplinary steps that would normally kick in once a national deficit is above 3% of GDP. EU ministers last month also approved the creation of a 150-billion-euro arms fund using joint EU borrowing to give loans to European countries for joint defence projects. Some European countries are pushing for EU joint borrowing to fund grants – rather than loans – for defence spending. But they have met resistance from fiscally conservative countries including Germany and The Netherlands. HOW DOES THE NATO TARGET COMPARE TO OTHER COUNTRIES' DEFENCE SPENDING? NATO allies dedicate a much smaller share of their economic output to defence than Russia but, taken together, they spend significantly more cash than Moscow. Russia's military spending rose by 38% in 2024, reaching an estimated $149 billion and 7.1% of GDP, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. China, the world's second-largest military spender, dedicated an estimated 1.7% of GDP to military expenditure last year, according to SIPRI. HOW DOES DEFENCE SPENDING COMPARE TO GOVERNMENT SPENDING IN OTHER AREAS? In NATO countries, defence tends to make up a small portion of national budgets. Military spending accounted for 3.2% of government spending in Italy, 3.6% in France and 8.5% in Poland in 2023, according to SIPRI data. In Russia that year, military expenditure made up nearly 19% of government spending. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Trump warns against rising oil prices following Iran attack
Oil on June 23 began to erase earlier gains, however, as fears began to fade of an immediate disruption of oil supplies in the region. PHOTO: AFP WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump demanded that energy producers keep down oil prices following US military strikes on Iran, which drove prices higher amid fears the attack could provoke a wider conflict in the Middle East. 'EVERYONE, KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN. I'M WATCHING! YOU'RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. DON'T DO IT!' Mr Trump posted on social media on June 23. In a subsequent post, Mr Trump urged the Energy Department to 'DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!! And I mean NOW!!!' Energy Secretary Chris Wright responded in a post on X that 'we're on it.' Iran has warned that Mr Trump's decision to join Israel's military offensive with attacks on its three main nuclear sites would trigger retaliation. Tehran could close the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that carries about a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade. Higher oil prices would squeeze US consumers whose bank accounts have been stretched in recent years by inflation, a development that could inflict political pain on Mr Trump and Republicans. If the strait is shut to shipping, crude could soar past US$130 per barrel, according to a Bloomberg Economics estimate. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier on June 23 that the US is 'actively and closely monitoring this situation in the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian regime would be foolish to make that decision.' Oil on June 23 began to erase earlier gains, however, as fears began to fade of an immediate disruption of oil supplies in the region. Global benchmark Brent initially surged to US$81.40 a barrel, but later dropped to below US$77. Mr Trump's directive for more US drilling cannot, on its own, spur more oil and gas development. US oil executives have shown little appetite in recent years to dramatically boost output, with the price of West Texas Intermediate below the cost of production at some sites. Oil companies generally are plotting investment decisions in the US based on long-term price forecasts – not the temporary spike spurred by the attacks on Iran and the fear of supply disruption in the Mideast. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
Oil falls 1% after hitting 5-month high amid Mideast conflict
HOUSTON :Oil prices fell 1 per cent on Monday after touching a five-month high as markets tried to gauge the impact on transit of oil and gas via the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. airstrikes against Iran at the weekend. Brent crude futures were down 70 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $76.31 a barrel by 10:46 a.m. ET (1446 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 76 cents, or 1 per cent, to $73.09. Earlier in the session, Brent and WTI touched five-month highs of $81.40 and $78.40 respectively, before seesawing between positive and negative territory throughout the European trading session. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites in strikes over the weekend, joining an Israeli assault in an escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself. Israel carried out fresh strikes against Iran on Monday including on capital Tehran and the Iranian nuclear facility at Fordow, which was also a target of the U.S. attack. At least two supertankers made U-turns near the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. military strikes on Iran, ship tracking data shows, as more than a week of violence in the region prompted vessels to speed, pause, or alter their journeys. About a fifth of global oil supply flows through the strait. However, the risk of a complete shutdown is low, analysts have said. "A full blockade would hurt Iran as well, given its dependency on crude exports to Asia - but asymmetric attacks on ships or terminals remain a very real possibility," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index. "There's been no disruption to supply — yet. But the market knows all too well how quickly that could change," Razaqzada said. Iran, which is OPEC's third-largest crude producer, said on Monday that the U.S. attack on its nuclear sites expanded the range of legitimate targets for its armed forces and called Trump a "gambler" for joining Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile, Trump expressed a desire to see oil prices kept down amid fears that ongoing fighting in the Middle East could cause them to spike. On his Truth Social platform, he addressed the U.S. Department of Energy, encouraging "drill, baby, drill" and saying, "I mean now." Investors are still weighing up the extent of the geopolitical risk premium, given the Middle East crisis has yet to crimp supply. HSBC expects Brent prices to spike above $80 a barrel to factor in a higher probability of a Strait of Hormuz closure, but to recede again if the threat of disruption does not materialise, the bank said on Monday. Iraq's state-run Basra Oil Company said international oil majors including BP, TotalEnergies and Eni had evacuated some staff members working in oilfields.
