49 h. ago UK faces calls for 5% GDP defence spend, ahead of PM’s meeting with Nato chief

Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the alliance, said on Thursday he is proposing Nato members spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.

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54 h. ago Starmer to meet Nato’s Rutte amid US pressure to spend 5% of GDP on defence – Europe live

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth says there is ‘near consensus’ on funding commitment for Nato member statesUK trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds has also called for reforms of the WTO including changes to the much-criticised dispute resolutions system which can also take years to settle disputes between trading nations.“We do recognise that reforming and repositioning the WTO so that it can respond more effectively to the challenges of today is the only way to safeguard long term stability and growth tomorrow. Continue reading...

Events

58 h. ago NATO nations must spend 5% GDP on defence and end 'reliance' on US to defend them, Pete Hegseth tells meeting of alliance chiefs

'Our message is going to continue to be clear. It's deterrence and peace through strength, but it can't be reliance,' Hegseth said at a meeting with counterparts in Brussels.

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4 d. ago UK set to back Nato push for members to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence

Commitment to new target expected at summit despite fresh questions for Keir Starmer over funding

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4 d. ago Nato ‘will force Starmer to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence’ to keep Trump happy

PM under pressure from nuclear alliance and US president after row over funding threatened to derail the launch of strategic defence review,

Politics

5 d. ago Defending Britain with the magic money tree? Starmer warned he faces hiking taxes to get the country 'war

Keir Starmer has heralded a strategic review of the UK's military, promising investment in new submarines, munitions and personnel.

Events

5 d. ago Starmer claims he's making Britain ready for WAR as UK faces 'new nuclear risks' and 'Russian aggression'... but he won't say how he will pay for it

Keir Starmer is heralding a strategic review of the UK's military, promising investment in new submarines, munitions and personnel.

Events

7 d. ago UK on track to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2034, says Healey

The Defence Secretary has promised a ‘certain decade of rising defence spending’.

Politics

8 d. ago China has ‘totally violated’ its trade agreement’ with the US, says Trump

President took to social media to denounce Beijing in the latest development in his ongoing tariff warDonald Trump declared that China has “totally violated its agreement” against the US on trade just two weeks after the countries reached a deal, raising fears that the trade war will continue to rattle the global economy.“I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning. “Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Don’t be fooled. Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is typically ugly and typically misnamed | Arwa Mahdawi

Republicans love to make the most harmful laws sound sensible or even noble. This pretty-sounding package of tax breaks and spending cuts is just the latest exampleWhat’s big, beautiful and kept a lot of Republicans up late on Sunday night? There might be various responses to that question, but the answer I’m looking for is the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Coming in at 1,116 pages, the bill isn’t quite War and Peace but it’s definitely big. Whether the mega-package of tax breaks and spending cuts is beautiful, however, is up for debate.And there has certainly been a lot of debate. The bill has been in limbo for a while because a few Republicans who consider themselves “fiscally conservative” are happy with the package’s extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and increased spending for the military and immigration enforcement, but don’t think enough social and climate-related programmes have been slashed to pay for it all. In particular, they want deeper cuts to food stamps and Medicaid, ...

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3 w. ago What’s the perfect gift from the President who has everything? | Fiona Katauskas

Donald Trump is happy to lay his cards on the tableSee more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here Continue reading...

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