NATO allies vow to boost defence budgets under Trump pressure as Russian threat looms
NATO leaders have committed to a significant increase in defence spending, targeting 5% of GDP by 2035, driven by pressure from Donald Trump and growing concerns over Russian aggression. This commitment, formalized at a summit in The Hague, aims to deter Russia and ensure continued US involvement in the alliance.
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Faced with what they called the most persistent threat to Euro-Atlantic security , NATO leaders on Wednesday agreed to a dramatic hike in defence spending, committing to invest 5% of GDP annually on military and security-related needs by 2035.The move, aimed squarely at countering Russian aggression, reflects growing alarm within the alliance over Moscow's long-term strategic ambitions and continued war in Ukraine.Leaders also reaffirmed an 'ironclad' commitment to collective defence and formally designated Russia as a 'long-term threat,' AFP reported."Allies commit to invest five percent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence- and security-related spending by 2035," the 32 NATO members said in a joint summit statement.Issued from The Hague, the declaration underscored NATO's unity 'in the face of profound security threats and challenges,' with Russia described as the most urgent and enduring danger to stability across Europe and beyond.NATO also reiterated its 'enduring sovereign commitments' to Ukraine, stating that Kyiv's security was integral to that of the broader alliance.The 5% defence spending target, more than double the existing 2% goal set in 2014, marks a major strategic shift as NATO prepares for what officials have called a "decisive decade" of heightened confrontation with authoritarian regimes.The pledge is also seen as a response to growing pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticised allies for not shouldering their fair share of the defence burden.
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Business Standard
27 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump says US, Iranian officials will talk next week as ceasefire holds
Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week, though US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries AP Dubai The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding on Wednesday while US President Donald Trump asserted that US and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace even as Tehran insisted it will not give up its nuclear programme. Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit that he wasn't particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that US strikes had destroyed its nuclear programme. Earlier in the day, an Iranian official questioned whether the United States could be trusted after its weekend attack. We may sign an agreement, I don't know, Trump said. The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done." Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week, though US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. A sixth round of negotiations between the US and Iran had been scheduled for earlier this month in Oman but was cancelled when Israel attacked Iran. Earlier, Trump said the ceasefire was going very well, and added that Iran was not going to have a bomb and they're not going to enrich. Iran has insisted, however, that it will not give up its nuclear programme. In a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, its parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog that has monitored the programme for years. Ahead of the vote, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticised the IAEA for having refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities that the US carried out on Sunday. For this reason, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran's peaceful nuclear programme will move forward at a faster pace," Qalibaf told lawmakers. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities. Among other things, Iran claims to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the US strikes, and Grossi said his inspectors need to re-assess the country's stockpiles. We need to return, he said. We need to engage. French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country was part of the 2015 deal with Iran that restricted its nuclear programme but began unravelling after Trump pulled the US out in his first term, said he hoped Tehran would come back to the table. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme was peaceful, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, which it has never acknowledged. Questions over effectiveness of the US strikes The Israel Atomic Energy Commission said its assessment was that the US and Israeli strikes have set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years. It did not give evidence to back up its claim. The US strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump said completely and fully obliterated the country's nuclear programme. When asked about a US intelligence report that found Iran's nuclear programme has been set back only a few months, Trump scoffed and said it would at least take years to rebuild. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that the strikes by US B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had caused significant damage. Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure, he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, while refusing to go into detail. He seemed to suggest Iran might not shut out IAEA inspectors for good, noting that the bill before parliament only talks of suspending work with the agency, not ending it. He also insisted Iran has the right to pursue a nuclear energy programme. Iran is determined to preserve that right under any circumstances, he said. Witkoff said on Fox News late on Tuesday that Israel and the US had achieved their objective of the total destruction of the enrichment capacity in Iran, and Iran's prerequisite for talks that Israel end its campaign had been fulfilled. The proof is in the pudding, he said. No one's shooting at each other. It's over. Grossi said he could not speculate on how bad the damage was but that Iran's nuclear capabilities were well known. The technical knowledge is there, and the industrial capacity is there, he said. That no one can deny, so we need to work together with them. Hopes for a long-term peace agreement An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the ceasefire agreement with Iran amounted to quiet for quiet, with no further understandings about Iran's nuclear programme going ahead. Witkoff told Fox News that Trump is now looking to land a comprehensive peace agreement that goes beyond even the ceasefire. We're already talking to each other, not just directly, but also through interlocutors, Witkoff said, adding that the conversations were promising and we're hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement. However, Baghaei, the Iranian spokesman, said Washington had torpedoed diplomacy with its attacks on nuclear sites, and that while Iran in principle was always open to talks, national security was the priority. We have to make sure whether the other parties are really serious when they're talking about diplomacy, or is it again part of their tactics to make more problems for the region and for my country, he said. China and Russia, Iran's strongest allies, welcomed the ceasefire and said they hoped it would hold. Grossi said Iran and the international community should seize the opportunity of the ceasefire for a long-term diplomatic solution. Out of the ... bad things that military conflict brings, there's also now a possibility, an opening, he said. We shouldn't miss that opportunity. A rare video by Mossad In a rare video released by Mossad, Israel's spy agency, chief David Barnea thanked the CIA for being a key partner, and his own agents for work over months and years to achieve what was unimaginable at first. Thanks to accurate intelligence, advanced technologies and operational capabilities beyond imagination, we helped the Air Force strike the Iranian nuclear project, establish aerial superiority in Iranian skies and reduce the missile threat, the agency said in a Facebook post alongside the video. During the war, Israeli airstrikes also targeted Iran's top military leadership and other sites associated with its ruling theocracy. Tehran on Tuesday put the death toll in Iran at 606, with 5,332 people wounded. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group released figures Wednesday suggesting Israeli strikes on Iran had killed at least 1,054 and wounded 4,476. The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, said 417 of those killed were civilians and 318 were security forces. At least 28 people were killed in Israel and more than 1,000 wounded, according to officials. In the past two weeks, Iran has executed six prisoners accused of spying for Israel, including three on Wednesday. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hindustan Times
29 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
8 dead in Kenya protests against police brutality, poor governance
At least eight Kenyans died and more than 80 others were receiving specialized treatment Wednesday, with some sustaining gunshot wounds, during countrywide protests against police brutality and poor governance, human rights groups said. Protesters gather in front of a police cordon backed by a water cannon truck during clashes in downtown Nairobi on June 25, 2025.(AFP) The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported monitoring countrywide demonstrations, leading to over 400 injuries and more than 60 arrests during Wednesday's protests spreading across 23 of 47 counties. The protests were timed to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-tax demonstrations in which 60 people were killed and 20 others remain missing. Parliament and the president's office in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, were barricaded with razor wire, with all access roads blockaded by police. Thousands of protesters clashed with police who hurled tear gas canisters and fired rounds and wielded batons, leaving several people injured. The protests, which spread to major cities including Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nyahururu, morphed into calls for the president to resign over poor governance. During last year's protests, demonstrators stormed Parliament where legislation to increase taxes was passed, burning part of the building as lawmakers fled. Bodies lay in the streets, and medical workers and watchdogs said police had opened fire. The military was deployed. Kenyan youth remain unhappy with the current administration due to corruption, rising cost of living and police brutality, and the recent death of a blogger in custody. The close-range shooting of a civilian during recent protests has exacerbated public anger. President William Ruto on Wednesday urged protesters not to 'destroy' the country. 'We do not have another country to go to when things go wrong. It is our responsibility to keep our country safe,' he said while attending a burial in coastal Kenya as protesters charged towards his Nairobi office. Young Kenyans used social media to plan protests in remembrance of those who died last year. The government spokesperson, Isaac Mwaura, on Monday said there would be no protests, and that Wednesday was a 'normal working day.' But businesses in Nairobi on Wednesday remained closed and police limited the movement of vehicles into the central business district. Hundreds of Kenyans were already on the streets early in the morning, chanting anti-government slogans as police hurled tear gas canisters at some of the crowds. An Associated Press journalist witnessed a demonstrator being injured in the mouth by a round fired by police toward a crowd. Another protester was clobbered on the head by anti-riot police and was taken by medics in an ambulance. Wangechi Kahuria, the executive director for the Independent Medico-Legal Unit, an NGO that tracked killings during protests, said that Kenyans should be 'allowed to mourn and go back home.' Police Inspector General Douglas Kanja on Tuesday said no unauthorized persons would be allowed inside protected zones such as Parliament and the statehouse. A protester, Rose Murugi, said police were part of the problem, adding, "We will say it boldly, we will say it courageously, police brutality must end and Ruto must go.' Another protester, Derrick Mwangi, 25, said 'we are fed up as the youth.' 'People are being abducted, people are being killed," he said. "The police have started using force which is very bad at this rate.' Local media on Wednesday published the names and photos of some of those who died during last year's protests. The headline of a major newspaper, The Standard, read 'A luta Continua," which means 'The struggle continues' in Portuguese. It was the slogan of rebels during Mozambique's struggle for independence from colonial rule. During the protests, the Communication Authority banned the live coverage of demonstrations and switched off some of the free-to-air television signals, drawing condemnation from human rights groups. Political analyst Herman Manyora called the protesters 'heroes' who paid the ultimate price and should be remembered. 'The authorities should work with the demonstrators to ensure a good commemoration,' he said. Manyora, however, warned that the protesters remain unhappy with the authorities because the 'government has been intransigent and has hardened the resolve of the young people to keep fighting.' During last year's protests, President Ruto dissolved the Cabinet that had been accused of incompetence and corruption but kept most of his previous ministers in his new Cabinet despite concerns. A finance bill proposing high taxes that had been passed by Parliament was withdrawn, but later in the year, more taxes were introduced through legislative amendments. President Ruto appointed opposition party members to the Cabinet last year and in March he signed a political pact with his election rival, opposition leader Raila Odinga.
India.com
31 minutes ago
- India.com
Trump in tension over US role in Iran-Israel war, good news for India due to..., Pakistan in trouble because...
Pak PM Sharif, US President Trump and PM Modi- File image New Delhi: In the last few months, the world has seen massive military actions across the world including India's Operation Sindoor against the terror locations of Pakistan, Ukraine attacking critical locations of Russia using its drones, Israel and US attacking the nuclear facilities of Iran and finally Iran's counter-attack on Israel and military bases of the US. After all these global happenings, what are the points that these countries and their leaders should have learned and how does the global dynamics stand. This article talks about all the implications that can be drawn from the recent conflicts, with a special focus on India, China and the US. How Operation Sindoor brought Good news for India Talking about India first, its Operation Sindoor against the terror locations in Pakistan along with its diplomatic stance on the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran-Israel war significantly boosted its global standing, with the focus shifting from nuclear threats to economic and technological power. During the course of conflicts, while US President Donald Trump expressed concern over USA's role, India firmly maintained its independent stance, enhancing its diplomatic and strategic reputation in the world of diplomacy. Getting to China, although Russia has been trying to sort out the differences between India and China, readers should note that China remains India's main long-term concern as the border tensions remain unresolved and China's military support to Pakistan continues. Last but not the least, Pakistan has been clearly unsettled by India's growing military capabilities and its recent Operation Sindoor. Despite Trump's lunch for military chief, Pakistan stands firmly with China Pakistan stood firmly alongside China and Russia against the United States at the Security Council despite Pakistan's military chief Asim Munir's hyped lunch with US President Donald Trump and the flurry of speculation about Islamabad and Washington getting closer. Pakistan's Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad on Sunday told the Council at its emergency meeting on Iran that Islamabad condemns 'the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which come on the heels of a series of brazen attacks by Israel'. (With inputs from agencies)
