Putin has signed off on a record defense budget for 2025 amid the ongoing Ukraine war.Defense spending will rise to 13.5 trillion rubles, making up a third of the country's budget.Russia's economy faces inflation and ruble decline, despite military-driven activities.Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed off a federal budget that will boost defense spending to a record level next year.The budget for 2025 will take the amount allocated for national defense to 13.5 trillion rubles, or $126.8 billion — up from 10.8 trillion rubles in 2024.This means defense will make up 32.5% of Russia's federal budget next year, up from ...

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It was not Kyiv that fell in three days, but Aleppo. A surprise offensive[1] launched by Syrian rebels from the north west of the country last week has reignited a dormant conflict – and revealed a change in the balance of power caused not by one but two nearby wars, in Ukraine and Lebanon and the Middle East.Aleppo was the scene of fierce and destructive fighting between 2012 and 2016 when the Syrian civil war was at its height. Rebel groups were forced out as Syrian government forces supporting the president, Bashar al-Assad, were able to capture the country’s second ...

Leading China hawks in the U.S. House of Representatives are calling for a rethink on whether Hong Kong should continue to enjoy the cozy banking relationship it has with the U.S., saying the city is becoming a hub for money-laundering and sanctions evasion.Hong Kong has turned into a major center for the export of controlled Western technology to Russia; the creation of front companies to buy Iranian oil; the managing of “ghost ships” that serve North Korea, as well as other violations of U.S. trade controls, the bipartisan leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said ...

PARIS (AP) — President Joe Biden said France was America’s “first friend” at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.“United we stand, divided we fall,” Macron said in toasting Biden at a state dinner. “Allied we are and allied we will stay.”Biden and Macron attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday and met separately the following day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris[1]. ...

Related: Vladimir Putin hints at strikes on WestYour support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to ...

These were the key developments on the 1,013th day of the Russia-Ukraine war.Here is the situation on Tuesday, December 3:FightingUkraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 110 drones to attack the country overnight. Of 110 drones, the Air Force shot down 52, while at least 50 were “lost”, it said.Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions overnight, state news reported, citing the country’s Ministry of Defence.A Russian contract soldier undergoes training in a T-72 tank during military drills held at a firing range in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region on December 2 [Sergey Pivovarov/Reuters]Military aid and ...

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will attend the reopening celebration[1] for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this weekend, his first foreign trip since the election.The cathedral is set to reopen Saturday after more than five years of reconstruction[2] following a devastating fire in 2019[3] that engulfed and nearly destroyed the soaring Paris landmark[4]. The ceremonies being held Saturday and Sunday will be high-security affairs[5], with about 50 heads of state and government expected to attend.Trump announced that he will be among them in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening.Trusted news and daily delights, right in ...

NEW YORK -- President-elect Donald Trump will attend the reopening celebration[1] for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this weekend, his first foreign trip since the election.The cathedral is set to reopen Saturday after more than five years of reconstruction[2] following a devastating fire in 2019[3] that engulfed and nearly destroyed the soaring Paris landmark[4]. The ceremonies being held Saturday and Sunday will be high-security affairs[5], with about 50 heads of state and government expected to attend.Trump announced that he will be among them in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening.“It is an honor to announce that I ...

Nato is highly unlikely to heed Ukraine’s call for a membership invitation at a meeting on Tuesday, diplomats have told the Reuters news agency. “It will take weeks and months to get consensus,” a senior Nato diplomat said on Monday, Reuters reported. “I don’t see that happening tomorrow, I would be very surprised.” The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will be in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday for the probably last high-level Nato foreign ministers’ meeting before Donald Trump takes over from Joe Biden as president. In a letter to his Nato counterparts ahead of the meeting, the Ukrainian ...