Serbia’s police raid civil society groups over USAID funding
Belgrade: Serbia’s police raided the offices of at least four civil society organisations on Tuesday as part of a probe into allegations of abuse of US Agency for International Development funds in the Balkan country. This comes after the administration of US President Donald Trump froze foreign funding for 90 days in January and has since taken steps to dismantle the aid agency, firing over a thousand workers. State prosecutor Nenad Stefanovic said Serbia has asked the US Department of Justice for information about potential abuse of funds and money laundering concerning USAID funds in Serbia, citing statements by Trump, State Secretary Marco Rubio, tech billionaire Elon Musk and other US officials about the USAID fund freeze.
Starmer commits to raise UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027
London: Prime Minister Keir Starmer committed to raise UK defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027, saying Tuesday that Europe is in a new and insecure era. The UK spends 2.3% of gross domestic product on defence, and the government had previously set a 2.5% target, without setting a date. Starmer told lawmakers that the increase amounts to an additional 13.4 billion pounds ($17 billion) a year. He said the goal is for defense spending to rise to 3% of GDP by 2035.