Food rations are halved in one of Africa's largest refugee camps after US aid cuts
KAKUMA, Kenya (AP) — Martin Komol sighs as he inspects his cracked, mud-walled house that is one rain away from fully collapsing. Nothing seems to last for him and 300,000 other refugees in this remote Kakuma camp in Kenya — now, not even food rations.
Funding for the U.N. World Food Program has dropped after the Trump administration paused support in March, part of the widespread dismantling of foreign aid by the United States, once the world's biggest donor.
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Toronto Sun
44 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
The success of a key NATO summit is in doubt after Spain rejects a big hike in defence spending
Published Jun 20, 2025 • 5 minute read Security ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Photo by Peter Dejong, File / AP Photo BRUSSELS — The success of a key NATO summit hung in the balance on Friday, after Spain announced that it cannot raise the billions of dollars needed to meet a new defence investment pledge demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. 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Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Trump and his NATO counterparts are meeting for two days in the Netherlands from next Tuesday. He insists that U.S. allies should commit to spending at least 5% of gross domestic product, but that requires investment at an unprecedented scale. Trump has cast doubt over whether the U.S. would defend allies that spend too little. Setting the spending goal would be a historic decision. It would see all 32 countries invest the same amount in defence for the first time. Only last week, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed confidence that they would endorse it. But in a letter to Rutte on Thursday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote that 'committing to a 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the (European Union's) ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defence ecosystem,' Sanchez wrote in the letter, seen by The Associated Press. Spain is not entirely alone Belgium, Canada, France and Italy would also struggle to hike security spending by billions of dollars, but Spain is the only country to officially announce its intentions, making it hard to row back from such a public decision. Beyond his economic challenges, Sanchez has other problems. He relies on small parties to govern, and corruption scandals have ensnared his inner circle and family members. He's under growing pressure to call an early election. In response to the letter, Rutte's office said only that 'discussions among allies on a new defence investment plan are ongoing.' NATO's top civilian official had been due to table a new proposal on Friday to try to break the deadlock. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The U.S. and French envoys had also been due to update reporters about the latest developments ahead of the summit but postponed their briefings. Rutte and many European allies are desperate to resolve the problem by Tuesday so that Trump does not derail the summit, as he did during his first term at NATO headquarters in 2018. Budget boosting After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO allies agreed that 2% of GDP should be the minimum they spend on their military budgets. But NATO's new plans for defending its own territory against outside attack require investment of at least 3%. Spain agreed to those plans in 2023. The 5% goal is made up of two parts. The allies would agree to hike pure defence spending to 3.5% of GDP. A further 1.5% would go to upgrade roads, bridges, ports and airfields so that armies can better deploy, and to prepare societies for future attacks. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Mathematically, 3.5 plus 1.5 equals Trump's 5%. But a lot is hiding behind the figures and details of what kinds of things can be included remain cloudy. Countries closest to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have all agreed to the target, as well as nearby Germany, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands, which is hosting the June 24-25 summit. The Netherlands estimates that NATO's defence plans would force it to dedicate at least 3.5% to core defence spending. That means finding an additional 16 billion to 19 billion euros ($18 billion to $22 billion). Supplying arms and ammunition to Ukraine, which Spain does, will also be included as core defence spending. NATO estimates that the U.S. spent around 3.2% of GDP on defence last year. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The additional 1.5% spending basket is murkier. Rutte and many members argue that infrastructure used to deploy armies to the front must be included, as well as building up defence industries and preparing citizens for possible attacks. 'If a tank is not able to cross a bridge. If our societies are not prepared in case war breaks out for a whole of society approach. If we are not able to really develop the defence industrial base, then the 3.5% is great but you cannot really defend yourselves,' Rutte said this month. Spain wanted climate change spending included, but that proposal was rejected. Cyber-security and counter-hybrid warfare investment should also make the cut. Yet with all the conjecture about what might be included, it's difficult to see how Rutte arrived at this 1.5% figure. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It's not enough to agree to spend more money. Many allies haven't yet hit the 2% target, although most will this year, and they had a decade to get there. So an incentive is required. The date of 2032 has been floated as a deadline. That's far shorter than previous NATO targets, but military planners estimate that Russian forces could be capable of launching an attack on an ally within 5-10 years. The U.S. insists that it cannot be an open-ended pledge, and that a decade is too long. Still, Italy says it wants 10 years to hit the 5% target. Another issue is how fast spending should be ramped up. 'I have a cunning plan for that,' Rutte said. He wants the allies to submit annual plans that lay out how much they intend to increase spending by. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. For Europe, Russia's war on Ukraine poses an existential threat. A major rise in sabotage, cyberattacks and GPS jamming incidents is blamed on Moscow. European leaders are girding their citizens for the possibility of more. The United States also insists that China poses a threat. But for European people to back a hike in national defence spending, their governments require acknowledgement that the Kremlin remains NATO's biggest security challenge. The billions required for security will be raised by taxes, going into debt, or shuffling money from other budgets. But it won't be easy for many, as Spain has shown. On top of that, Trump has made things economically tougher by launching a global tariff war — ostensibly for U.S. national security reasons — something America's allies find hard to fathom. Toronto & GTA MMA News World Sunshine Girls
Winnipeg Free Press
44 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Olympic leader Bach got 10% raise in 2024 payment that trails far behind soccer's elected leaders
GENEVA (AP) — The International Olympic Committee paid its president Thomas Bach $350,000 in 2024, the Olympic body said Friday — a 10% raise for his final full year in office after a two-year freeze. The payment, or 'indemnity' in Olympic language, revealed in its annual report is small compared to soccer bodies that, like the IOC, are based in Switzerland and count annual revenue in billions. Bach on Monday will formally hand over to President-elect Kirsty Coventry, who will start an eight-year initial term as the Olympic body's first female leader and first from Africa. The IOC has classed the 71-year-old Bach as a volunteer on a full-time executive mission who 'should not have to finance activities related to his function from his personal savings.' Bach, who also gets living allowances, was paid from 12% to 15% what soccer gives its top elected officials. FIFA paid its president Gianni Infantino $5.2 million in taxable salary and bonus last year, plus other expenses. Infantino also is among the 109 IOC members and so can claim $7,000 each year for office costs and $450 daily allowance when on Olympic business. UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin got almost $4.3 million in taxable income last year, including $300,000 from FIFA as one of its vice presidents. It is unclear if the 41-year-old Coventry will be a salaried president of the IOC instead of officially a volunteer. The IOC was asked for comment. The two-time Olympic champion in swimming left her job as sports minister of Zimbabwe after winning the seven-candidate IOC election in March. Bach's annual payment has been decided by the IOC's ethics commission on the stated principle 'the president should not financially benefit from his position.' Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. The German lawyer held a series of business consultancies and board of director seats before being elected in 2013 to lead the IOC. The IOC paid Bach 225,000 euros ($259,000) in 2020. It rose to 275,000 euros ($317,000) in the year of his re-election, 2021, then was frozen for each of the next two years. International sports bodies have typically published details of leadership pay as part of governance reforms, particularly after corruption scandals in soccer. ___ AP Olympics:
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pope Leo XIV flags AI impact on kids' intellectual and spiritual development
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that artificial intelligence could negatively impact the intellectual, neurological and spiritual development of young people as he pressed one of the priorities of his young pontificate. History's first American pope sent a message to a conference of AI and ethics, part of which was taking place in the Vatican in a sign of the Holy See's concern for the new technologies and what they mean for humanity. In the message, Leo said any further development of AI must be evaluated according to the 'superior ethical criterion' of the need to safeguard the dignity of each human being while respecting the diversity of the world's population. He warned specifically that new generations are most at risk given they have never had such quick access to information. 'All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development,' he said in the message. 'Society's well-being depends upon their being given the ability to develop their God-given gifts and capabilities,' and not allow them to confuse mere access to data with intelligence. 'In the end, authentic wisdom has more to do with recognizing the true meaning of life, than with the availability of data,' he said. Leo, who was elected in May after the death of Pope Francis, has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, saying it poses challenges to defending human dignity, justice and labor. He has explained his concern for AI by invoking his namesake, Pope Leo XIII. That Leo was pope during the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and made the plight of workers, and the need to guarantee their rights and dignity, a key priority. Toward the end of his pontificate, Francis became increasingly vocal about the threats to humanity posed by AI and called for an international treaty to regulate it. Francis said politicians must take the lead in making sure AI remains human-centric, so that decisions about when to use weapons or even less-lethal tools always remain made by humans and not machines. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
