
Lavrov says NATO spending increase won't significantly affect Russia's security
MOSCOW: NATO's decision to increase defense spending will not significantly affect Russia's security, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5 percent of gross domestic product over the next decade, citing what they called the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs
Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Neither side said how many prisoners were released in the latest exchange. The two countries pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers each during their direct meeting in Istanbul on June 2, but no follow-up talks have been scheduled. The return of prisoners of war and the repatriation of war dead have been among the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. 'Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media. He shared images of Ukrainian soldiers draped in blue-and-yellow national flags, smiling and tearfully embracing. 'The vast majority of the defenders released today had been held captive for more than three years,' Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said. 'Many of them were captured during the defense of Mariupol,' it added. The grueling siege of Mariupol at the start of Russia's 2022 offensive is seen one of the most brutal battles of the conflict. Russia said its soldiers had been transferred to Belarus and were receiving 'psychological and medical care.' 'Another group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,' the defense ministry said in a statement. It posted a video showing freed Russian soldiers draped in their national flag, chanting 'Russia, Russia, Russia!'


Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan's National Assembly passes $62 billion budget for next fiscal year
ISLAMABAD: The lower house of Pakistan's parliament passed the federal budget for the next fiscal year on Thursday, which has a total outlay of Rs17.57 trillion [$62 billion] and projects economic growth at 4.2%, state-run media reported. The federal government unveiled the federal budget on June 10, which reflects a 7% decrease in overall spending compared to the current fiscal year. The largest portion of the budget – Rs8.21 trillion ($29 billion), or nearly half of total expenditures – will go toward debt servicing, continuing to strain Pakistan's fiscal space. Another salient feature of the budget is Pakistan's move to increase defense spending by more than 20% in the 2025-26 fiscal year to Rs2.55 trillion ($9.04 billion). Islamabad seeks to bolster military capabilities following Pakistan's worst confrontation with India in nearly three decades in May. 'The National Assembly has passed the federal budget for the next fiscal year, with a total outlay of 17,573 billion rupees, focusing on sustainable and inclusive economic growth,' state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. The House passed the budget with certain amendments, giving effect to the federal government's proposals for the financial year set to begin from July 1. The bill was read out in the National Assembly and approved clause by clause before the session was adjourned until 11 am, Friday. Pakistan remains under a $7 billion IMF loan program approved last year, and the budget reflects an attempt to balance security concerns with ongoing fiscal reform efforts. The government has aimed to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3.9% of the GDP for the next year's budget. While it has projected a growth of 4.2% for the upcoming year, Pakistan's economy grew just 2.6% in 2024/25, falling short of its 3.6% target due to weak agriculture and industrial output. Inflation has been projected for next year's budget at 7.5%. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan's main tax authority, has been tasked with collecting Rs14.1 trillion of the projected Rs19.3 trillion in gross revenue in the budget, marking a 19% year-on-year increase. While announcing the budget on June 10, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb had announced plans to grow IT exports to $25 billion over the next five years and forecast a rise in workers' remittances to $38 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.


Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Germany scraps funding for sea rescues of migrants
'I don't think it's the foreign office's job to finance this kind of sea rescue,' Wadephul said'We need to be active where the need is greatest'BERLIN: Germany is cutting financial support for charities that rescue migrants at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean, saying it will redirect resources to addressing conditions in source countries that spur people to decades, migrants driven by war and poverty have made perilous crossings to reach Europe's southern borders, with thousands estimated to die every year in their bid to reach a continent grown increasingly hostile to migration.'Germany is committed to being humane and will help where people suffer but I don't think it's the foreign office's job to finance this kind of sea rescue,' Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a news conference.'We need to be active where the need is greatest,' he added, mentioning the humanitarian emergency in war-shattered the previous left-leaning government, Germany began paying around 2 million euros ($2.34 million) annually to non-governmental organizations carrying out rescues of migrant-laden boats in trouble at them, it has been a key source of funds: Germany's Sea-Eye, which said rescue charities have saved 175,000 lives since 2015, received around 10 percent of its total income of around 3.2 million euros from the German Friedrich Merz's conservatives won February's national election after a campaign promising to curb irregular migration, which some voters in Europe's largest economy see as being out of though the overall numbers have been falling for several years, many Germans blame migration-related fears for the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the second largest party in experts say that migration levels are mainly driven by economic and humanitarian emergencies in the source countries, with the official cold shoulder in destination countries having had little impact in deterring this, German officials suggest that sea rescues only incentivise people to risk the sometimes deadly crossings.'The (government) support made possible extra missions and very concretely saved lives,' said Gorden Isler, Sea-Eye's chairperson. 'We might now have to stay in harbor despite emergencies.'The opposition Greens, who controlled the foreign office when the subsidies were introduced, criticized the move.'This will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and deepen human suffering,' said joint floor leader Britta Hasselmann.