Media accreditation opens for World Urban Forum in Baku
Media accreditation has opened for the 13th session of the World Urban Forum, the United Nations’ flagship conference on sustainable urban developme...
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius met in Washington on 14 July to discuss increasing NATO defence spending and support for Ukraine.
Hegseth praised Germany’s commitment to defence spending within NATO, viewing it as a sign of European leadership. He expressed hope that U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies would further strengthen this cooperation.
Pistorius emphasised the longstanding and strong partnership between the U.S. and Germany, describing it as a cornerstone of the transatlantic alliance.
He stated that Germany aims to take a leading role among allies by increasing defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Germany has eased constitutional debt limits to meet NATO’s target of raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2029. This move will increase Germany’s defence budget from €95 billion in 2025 to €162 billion by 2029.
During the talks, the German side sought clarification on U.S. arms supplies to Ukraine, the deployment of Patriot missile systems, and the future size of U.S. forces in Europe.
Pistorius also confirmed Germany’s readiness to fund U.S.-made Patriot missile systems destined for Ukraine—a proposal previously put forward by Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Patriot missiles would be sent to Ukraine, with costs to be covered by the European Union.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday (17 January) that concerns over security in Greenland should be addressed within the framework of NATO, describing a ground military intervention as highly unlikely.
Ashley St. Clair, mother of one of Elon Musk’s children, has filed a lawsuit against Musk’s company xAI, alleging that its AI tool Grok generated explicit images of her, including one portraying her as underage.
Egypt and Sudan have welcomed an offer by U.S. President Donald Trump to restart mediation with Ethiopia in a bid to resolve the long-running dispute over Nile River water sharing.
Elon Musk is seeking up to $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft, arguing that the companies profited unfairly from his early support of the artificial intelligence firm, according to a court filing made public on Friday.
Lithuanian prosecutors have charged six foreign nationals with terrorism over an alleged plot to attack a private military supplier providing aid to Ukraine.
The European Union faced calls to implement a range of economic countermeasures in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on eight European countries in connection with Greenland.
Six people have been killed after a massive fire tore through a shopping centre in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, authorities said, as firefighters battled through the night to contain the blaze.
The world is entering a more unstable and fragmented phase as global cooperation declines and rivalry between major powers intensifies, the World Economic Forum has warned.
The Trump administration has denied a report that countries would be required to pay $1bn to join a proposed U.S.-backed peace initiative, after Bloomberg News said a draft charter set out a membership fee.
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