Latest news with #AndrewGray
7NEWS
24-07-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
GRAYA's Kloud penthouse in Palm Beach sells for record $9.1 million
GRAYA 's Kloud penthouse in Palm Beach has smashed records in a $9.1 million plus unconditional deal after only being on the market for 15 days. This sale has set a new suburb record for unit prices in Palm Beach, the previous one being $8.6 million for 7/15 Jefferson Lane. Director Andrew Gray said the team were "very excited" to announce the premium sale. "It once again shows the depth of market in the luxury space and the high-level of interest interstate buyers still have for quality projects on the Gold Coast," he said. Mr Gray went on to emphasise that the level of interest in the penthouse had been "unprecedented" with three offers above asking price made shortly after launch. The sale was managed by Whitefox Gold Coast's Nic Whitehead, with the successful purchaser an interstate buyer looking to holiday in the Beachside project. Named Kloud, the 272-square-metre penthouse occupies two entire floors of the building with a private rooftop. "This penthouse is one-of-a-kind with the full rooftop allocated to the penthouse," said Mr Gray. "The rooftop includes a pool/spa with uninterrupted ocean views, fully operational bar for entertaining guests and a steam room for rest and recovery." The award-winning developer purchased the original site for around $9 million and have since begun constructing the 23-unit building. A building fit for the stars, tennis champion Ash Barty has reportedly purchased a unit within the project. The building is being designed in-house and currently only three units remain available to purchase. "With construction due for completion in November, and residents moving in prior to Christmas, the remaining residences won't last much longer," said Mr Gray. "Any interested parties should get in contact before they miss out." This news comes after the developer secured a rare Brisbane site on James Street, a vibrant retail and hospitality destination in the heart of Brisbane's Fortitude Valley. Graya beat out both local and overseas buyers in a competitive sale to purchase the 943-square-metre site and current home of Bed Bath & Table. "Sites like this are truly once in a lifetime," said co-director Rob Gray. "It's a rare opportunity to contribute to one of Australia's most iconic lifestyle destinations." Plans for the site have yet to be lodged, however a statement from the team said the project will be a landmark mixed-use precinct featuring a "design-led approach with a strong focus on curating an offering that enhances the precinct's lifestyle appeal and long-term commercial value." In another recent win, the developer was recently crowned Australian Property Developer of the year at the Urban Developer awards in Sydney.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EU Commission proposes 'smarter and sharper' 2 trillion euro budget
By Lili Bayer, Andrew Gray and Kate Abnett BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a 2 trillion euro ($2.31 trillion) EU budget for 2028 to 2034, placing a new emphasis on economic competitiveness and defence while aiming to reform the rules around farm and economic development subsidies. "It is a budget that matches Europe's ambition, that confronts Europe's challenges and that strengthens our independence," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. "The budget is larger. It is smarter and it is sharper. It delivers for our citizens and our business, our partners and our future." The Commission said its proposal amounted to 1.26% of the 27-nation European Union's Gross National Income - a measure of the size of the economy - compared to 1.13% for the current seven-year budget. The new budget must be agreed by all member countries and signed off by the European Parliament. The proposal includes a new 451 billion European Competitiveness Fund focused on boosting Europe's defence industry, fostering innovation and supporting the transition of industry across the bloc to clean energy. The proposal allocates 131 billion euros specifically to defence and space - a fivefold increase over the current level, according to the Commission. It sets aside 302 billion euros to support farmers and a minimum of 218 billion euros for Europe's least developed regions, as well as 200 billion euros for global programmes. Most of the funding for the budget comes from the governments of the EU's member countries. But the Commission proposed several ways to raise more funds for the budget directly, including a new tax on companies doing business in Europe that have an annual net turnover exceeding 100 million euros in an EU country. Some EU countries and lawmakers were quick to criticise the proposal. "The EU is important for our prosperity, but the proposed budget is too high," Dutch Finance Minister Eelco Heinen said. The European Parliament said the Commission's proposal was not big enough. "We cannot do more with less. New priorities need adequate new resources - not cuts to existing priorities," said Siegfried Muresan, a centre-right member of the European Parliament and a negotiator for the next EU budget. Budget debates are among the most difficult in EU politics, bringing to the fore political and economic divisions among member countries. Talks over the coming months are likely to underscore political tensions between the push to boost funding for new priorities and safeguarding traditional investments in agriculture and regional development. The size of the budget, whether to link funding to reforms, how to fund EU expenditures and how to repay loans that financed the bloc's COVID pandemic recovery fund are also likely to be focuses of debate. ($1 = 0.8645 euros) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Hindustan Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
All NATO, including US, 'totally committed' to keeping Ukraine in fight, Rutte says
By Andrew Gray All NATO, including US, 'totally committed' to keeping Ukraine in fight, Rutte says BRUSSELS -The whole of NATO, including the United States, is "totally committed" to keeping Ukraine in the fight against Russia's invasion, alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. Speaking at the end of a summit of NATO leaders in The Hague, Rutte also said nobody in NATO was naive about Russia and all alliance members "have more or less the same assessment" of Moscow. U.S. President Donald Trump's more conciliatory stance towards Russia in his efforts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine has prompted questions about U.S. commitments to Kyiv. "The whole of NATO, including the United States, is totally committed to keep Ukraine in the fight, to make sure that if there is a peace deal, that peace deal - or the ceasefire - will be lasting, will be durable," Rutte said. He said the clear direction of travel was that Europeans would be responsible for more of the military aid to Ukraine. But he said the United States would still be "very much involved with intelligence-sharing, with also practical military support" including potentially air defence systems. "I think there will still be a huge, big American involvement," Rutte said. The Trump administration has also told Europeans that they must take over primary responsibility for their own security, rather than relying on the United States through NATO. Rutte said this process would be possible as Europeans had committed to spending more on defence, and it would be "well-organised" to avoid any gaps that Russia could exploit. "I've had these discussions in Washington over the last couple of months," he said. "For years, the U.S. has said 'we have to pivot more towards Asia'. Now that the Europeans are stepping up, that also makes it possible," he said. "You will see that what the U.S. is delivering to NATO in terms of capabilities will gradually come down. But there's also total clarity from the U.S. that they don't want any capability gaps to emerge in Europe," Rutte said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
The Star
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
NATO's Rutte says he has no doubt Trump is committed to mutual defence pact
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte holds a press conference ahead of a NATO summit, in The Hague, Netherlands June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman THE HAGUE (Reuters) -NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Tuesday he had no doubt the United States is committed to the alliance's Article 5 mutual defence clause, after remarks by President Donald Trump cast renewed doubt on his willingness to protect allies. On his way to a NATO summit in The Hague, Trump said there were "numerous" definitions of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which declares that an attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all of them. "I have no doubt that the U.S. is totally committed to NATO, totally committed to Article 5," Rutte told reporters in The Hague. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold;Editing by Andrew Gray/Sudip Kar-GuptaEditing by Andrew Gray/Sudip Kar-Gupta)
Hindustan Times
23-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
What is NATO's new 5% defence spending target?
By Lili Bayer and Andrew Gray What is NATO's new 5% defence spending target? 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 PROVE? They are expected to agree that NATO members should spend 5% of their economic output - or Gross Domestic Product - 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 LE 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. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
