Latest news with #SUMANNAISHADHAM
Japan Today
11 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Today
Spain rejects NATO's anticipated 5% defense spending proposal as 'unreasonable'
By SUMAN NAISHADHAM and LORNE COOK Spain has rejected a NATO proposal to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense needs that's due to be announced next week, calling it 'unreasonable.' Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in a letter sent on Thursday to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, said that Spain 'cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP' at next week's NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands. Any agreement to adopt a new spending guideline must be made with the consensus of all 32 NATO member states. So Sánchez's decision risks derailing next week's summit, which U.S. President Donald Trump is due to attend, and creating a last-minute shakeup that could have lingering repercussions. Most U.S. allies in NATO are on track to endorse Trump's demand that they invest 5% of GDP on their defense and military needs. In early June, Sweden and the Netherlands said that they aim to meet the new target. A NATO official on Thursday said that discussions between allies were ongoing about a new defense spending plan. 'For Spain, committing to a 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive, as it would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the EU's ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defense ecosystem,' Sánchez wrote in the letter seen by The Associated Press. Spain was the lowest spender in the trans-Atlantic alliance last year, directing less than 2% of its GDP on defense expenditure. Sánchez said in April that the government would raise defense spending by 10.5 billion euros ($12 billion) in 2025 to reach NATO's previous target of 2% of GDP. On Thursday, Sánchez called for 'a more flexible formula' in relation to a new spending target — one that either made it optional or left Spain out of its application. Sánchez wrote that the country is 'fully committed to NATO," but that meeting a 5% target 'would be incompatible with our welfare state and our world vision." He said that doing so would require cutting public services and scaling back other spending, including toward the green transition. Instead, Spain will need to spend 2.1% of GDP to meet the Spanish military's estimated defense needs, Sánchez said. At home, corruption scandals that have ensnared Sánchez's inner circle and family members have put the Spanish leader under increasing pressure to call an early election, even from some allies. Increased military spending is also unpopular among some of Sanchez's coalition partners. In April, when Sánchez announced that Spain would reach NATO's previous 2% spending target, the move angered some coalition members further to the left of his Socialist Party. NATO allies agreed to spend 2% of GDP on military expenditure after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. But the alliance's plans for defending Europe and North America against a Russian attack require investments of at least 3%. The aim now is to raise the bar to 3.5% for core defense spending on tanks, warplanes, air defense, missiles and hiring extra troops. A further 1.5% would be spent on things like roads, bridges, ports and airfields so armies can deploy more quickly, as well as preparing societies for possible attack. Several allies have committed to reaching the new spending goal, even though other nations will struggle to find the billions required. Rutte had been due to table a new proposal on Friday aimed at satisfying Spain and trying to break the deadlock. European allies and Canada want to end the standoff before the leaders meet with Trump on Wednesday. Poland and the Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — have already publicly committed to 5%, and Rutte has said that most allies were ready to endorse the goal. But Spain isn't alone among NATO's low spenders. Belgium, Canada and Italy will also struggle to hike security spending by billions of dollars. A big question still to be answered is what time frame countries will be given to reach an agreed-upon new spending goal. A target date of 2032 was initially floated, but Rutte has said that Russia could be ready to launch an attack on NATO territory by 2030. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
The world's oldest restaurant faces a challenge from another Madrid tavern that says its even older
A view shows the exterior of the Casa Pedro restaurant in Madrid, Spain, on May 16. By SUMAN NAISHADHAM In the heart of Spain's capital, Sobrino de Botín holds a coveted Guinness World Record as the world's oldest restaurant. Exactly three hundred years after it opened its doors, Botín welcomes droves of daily visitors hungry for Castilian fare with a side of history. But on the outskirts of Madrid, far from the souvenir shops and tourist sites, a rustic tavern named Casa Pedro makes a bold claim. Its owners assert the establishment endured not just the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s and the Napoleonic invasion in the early 1800s, but even the War of Spanish Succession at the start of the 18th century — a lineage that would make Casa Pedro older than Botín and a strong contender for the title. 'It's really frustrating when you say, 'Yes, we've been around since 1702,' but ... you can't prove it,' said manager and eighth-generation proprietor Irene Guiñales. 'If you look at the restaurant's logo, it says 'Casa Pedro, since 1702,' so we said, 'Damn it, let's try to prove it.'' Guiñales, 51, remembers her grandfather swearing by Casa Pedro's age, but she was aware that decades-old hearsay from a proud old-timer wouldn't be enough to prove it. Her family hired a historian and has so far turned up documents dating the restaurant's operations to at least 1750. That puts them within striking distance of Botín's record. Both taverns are family-owned. Both offer Castilian classics like stewed tripe and roast suckling pig. They are decorated with charming Spanish tiles, feature ceilings with exposed wooden beams and underground wine cellars. And both enjoy a rich, star-studded history. Botín's celebrated past includes a roster of literary patrons like Truman Capote, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Graham Greene. In his book 'The Sun Also Rises,' Ernest Hemingway described it as 'one of the best restaurants in the world." While Casa Pedro may not have boasted the same artistic pedigree, it boasts its own VIPs. Its walls are adorned with decades-old photographs of former Spanish King Juan Carlos I dining in one of its many rooms. The current Spanish monarch, King Felipe VI dines there, too, albeit more inconspicuously than his father. But the similarities between the two hotspots end there. Casa Pedro was once a stop on the only road heading north from the Spanish capital toward France. Its clientele is largely local regulars, like David González and Mayte Villena, who for years have spent every Friday lunching at the tavern. 'It wouldn't change a thing for us,' Villena said about the restaurant someday securing the Guinness title. Botín, on the other hand, is a stone's throw from Madrid's famed Plaza Mayor, where any day of the week tour guides are herding groups around town — and often straight through the restaurant's front door. Antonio González, a third-generation proprietor of Botín, concedes that the Guinness accolade awarded in 1987 has helped business, but said the restaurant had enough history to draw visitors even before. 'It has a certain magic,' he said. The question then becomes: How can either restaurant definitively claim the title? Guinness provides its specific guidelines for the superlative only to applicants, according to spokesperson Kylie Galloway, noting that it entails 'substantial evidence and documentation of the restaurant's operation over the years." González said that Guinness required Botín show that it has continuously operated in the same location with the same name. The only time the restaurant closed was during the COVID-19 pandemic, as did Casa Pedro. That criteria would mean that restaurants that are even older — Paris' Le Procope, which says it was founded in 1686, or Beijing's Bianyifang, founded in 1416, or the 1673-established White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island — aren't eligible for the designation. La Campana, in Rome's historic center, claims over 500 years of operation, citing documents on its menu and in a self-published history. Its owners say they have compiled the requisite paperwork and plan to submit it to Guinness. Guiñales and her husband couldn't consult archives from the former town of Fuencarral, now a Madrid neighborhood. Those papers went up in flames during the Spanish Civil War. Instead, they delved into Spanish national archives, where they found land registries of the area from the First Marquess of Ensenada (1743-1754) that showed the existence of a tavern, wine cellar and inn in the small town as of 1750. In their spare time, the couple continues to hunt for records proving that Casa Pedro indeed dates back to 1702, as is proclaimed on its walls, takeout bags and sugar packets. But even if they dig up the final documents and wrest the Guinness honor from Botín, Guiñales concedes that her restaurant's quiet location makes it unlikely to draw Botín's clientele in central Madrid. 'To think that we could reach that public would be incredible,' Guiñales said. 'It's a dream, but it's a dream.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
