More than 20 of 32 NATO allies spending at least 2% of GDP on defense, Stoltenberg says
CNN
The United States and NATO are expected to announce Monday that the number of allied countries spending at least 2% of their country’s economic output on defense has doubled during President Joe Biden’s term.
The United States and NATO are expected to announce Monday that the number of allied countries spending at least 2% of their country’s economic output on defense has doubled during President Joe Biden’s term. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Washington and meeting with Biden ahead of the city’s hosting of the alliance’s annual summit, set to take place in July. “Just five years ago, there was still less than 10 allies that spent 2% of GDP on defense,” Stoltenberg said during remarks at The Wilson Center in Washington. “I can only now reveal that this year, more than 20 allies will spend at least 2% of GDP on defense.” “This is good for Europe,” he added. “And good for America.” It was not immediately clear which countries are not yet meeting the defense-spending benchmarks. But the number of countries that are meeting those goals has steadily increased since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Several NATO member countries that either border Russia or are nearby have hiked their defense spending since 2022.
Friday featured yet another drop in the drip-drip-drip of new information from the Jeffrey Epstein files. This time: new pictures released by House Democrats that feature Donald Trump and other powerful people like Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon and Richard Branson, culled from tens of thousands of photos from Epstein’s estate.
Mubashir had just stepped outside into the snowy Minneapolis winter weather to take his lunch break when he says he saw a masked federal officer running toward him “at full speed.”
The death of a 32-year-old man after riding a high-speed roller coaster at the Universal Epic Universe theme park was accidental, and an investigation has been closed, according to a Florida sheriff’s office report released this week.
Bruna Ferreira had rushed out of her Massachusetts home, shoelaces untied, and was driving to pick up her 11-year-old son from school when she was approached by unmarked vehicles and a “swarm of people.”
The US special forces veteran who spirited Nobel laureate María Corina Machado out of Venezuela has begged her not to return to the country, after a perilous rescue mission that lasted nearly 16 hours and was carried out largely in the middle of the night through rough waters.
House Republicans unveiled a narrow health care package on Friday that does not extend soon-to-expire enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies — the latest sign that Congress is unlikely to avert skyrocketing insurance premiums for millions of Americans in the new year.
The Department of Labor held a Christian prayer service for its employees this week, TKTKTK this is highly unusual.
The Justice Department sued Fulton County, Georgia, on Friday, seeking records related to the 2020 election as efforts continue to prove President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from him.
Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander of US Southern Command who reportedly clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the legality of the US military strikes in the Caribbean, officially retired on Friday in a ceremony in Floria where he handed the reigns of the command to his deputy.
The nation’s top historic preservation group said Friday it was suing the Trump administration to block construction of President Trump’s planned 90,000 square-foot ballroom until review boards weigh in on the massive project.
The 1980 US Olympic men’s ice hockey team defied nearly insurmountable odds to defeat the Soviet Union, the world’s largest hockey superpower, propelling them to win a gold medal and the nation’s adulation.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Friday that she is focused on an orderly transition of power in her country should President Nicolás Maduro leave power, and is confident that Venezuela’s police and armed forces would not oppose such a transition.
The Venezuelan government said the US administration has unilaterally suspended deportation flights from the United States that were due to land on Friday.