The US has urged Australia to boost its defense spending as Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles confirmed that nuclear submarine development is progressing well.
At the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Marles to discuss ongoing cooperation. Hegseth described the US-Australia relationship as “long-standing” and vital.
Australia, part of the Quad alliance with the US, Japan, and India, aims to strengthen its military in response to China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
Marles told Australian media that while no specific spending figure was discussed, Hegseth encouraged higher defense investment. The 2021 AUKUS pact, involving the US, UK, and Australia, is advancing as planned, focusing on building nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy.
Key milestones include setting up the Submarine Rotation Force – West at HMAS Stirling near Perth, which will host rotating US Virginia-class submarines within the coming years.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced an extra $10 billion in defense funding after a report warned that Australia’s military risked becoming underfunded.
Hegseth also met defense leaders from Southeast Asia, raising concerns about China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea and calling on regional countries to share responsibility for security.
In discussions with Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, the US defense chief stressed the importance of transparency and partnership in deterring China’s influence.
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Four people aboard a Florida‑registered speedboat were killed and six others wounded on Wednesday after the vessel entered Cuban territorial waters and fired on Cuban border guards, Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT) reported.
Syria’s economy is showing clear signs of recovery, with economic activity accelerating in recent months, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz agreed on Wednesday in Beijing to strengthen economic cooperation while addressing trade imbalances, market access concerns, and the war in Ukraine, during Merz’s first official visit to China since taking office.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem says it will provide on-site passport and consular services to settlers based in the West Bank on Friday 27 February. The move marks the first time American consular officials have offered such services to settlers, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
The Taliban in Kabul has rejected Russian claims that more than 23,000 militants from around 20 international terror groups are currently operating within Afghanistan.
Four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the war is no longer defined by shock but by scale.
Seven people were killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Kohat, a district in Pakistan’s north-west near the Afghan border, on Tuesday, in an attack that comes amid rising militant violence and heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war can be measured not only in lives and territory, but in money. In Part One, the war’s cost was measured in casualties and kilometres. In Part Two, it is measured in billions of dollars.
Thousands of people gathered across Europe and beyond over the weekend in solidarity with Ukraine, as the war with Russia entered its fifth year.
Four people aboard a Florida‑registered speedboat were killed and six others wounded on Wednesday after the vessel entered Cuban territorial waters and fired on Cuban border guards, Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT) reported.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Wednesday (25 February) on more than 30 individuals, entities and "shadow fleet" vessels it said enabled Iran's illicit petroleum sales, ballistic missiles and weapons production.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest State of the Union address set out a second-term agenda built on economic protectionism, military strength and a hard line on Iran, signalling a strategy that pairs diplomatic engagement with firm red lines, Assoc. Prof. Orkhan Valiyev told AnewZ Daybreak.
Switzerland said on Wednesday (25 February) it would make a one-off payment of 50,000 Swiss francs ($56,000) to each severely injured survivor and to the bereaved families of those killed in the New Year bar fire at the ski resort of Crans-Montana.
Russia has claimed its forces have taken control of a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s new Flamingo missiles successfully struck targets deep inside Russian territory, underscoring the continuing intensity of the conflict.
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