Support us by contributing to StratNewsGlobal on the following UPI ID
ultramodern@hdfcbank
Strategic affairs is our game, South Asia and beyond our playground. Put together by an experienced team led by Nitin A. Gokhale. Our focus is on strategic affairs, foreign policy and international relations, with higher quality reportage, analysis and commentary with new tie-ups across the South Asian region.
You can support our endeavours. Visit us at www.stratnewsglobal.com and follow us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
र 500 per month
र 1000 per month
र 5000 per year
र 10000 per year
Donate an amount of your choice
र 500 per month
Donate र 500 per month
र 1000 per month
Donate र 1000 per month
र 5000 per year
Donate र 5,000 per year
र 10000 per year
Donate र 10,000 per year
Donate an amount of your choice
Donate an amount of your choice
Belgium To Back Palestinian Statehood Recognition At UN Assembly
Belgium will move to recognise a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said on Tuesday. The step mirrors recent decisions by Australia, Britain, Canada and France, adding to mounting international pressure on Israel.
Under mounting global criticism for its war in Gaza, Israel has been angered by the pledges to formally recognise a Palestinian state at a summit during this month’s U.N. event.
Belgium will join the signatories of the New York Declaration, paving the way for a two-state solution, or a Palestinian state co-existing in peace alongside Israel, Prevot said in a post on X.
The decision comes “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law,” Prevot added.
Belgium intends to recognize a Palestinian state as part of a joint diplomatic initiative led by France and Saudi Arabia, Prevot said. The move is described as a political signal also aimed at condemning Israel’s settlement expansion and military presence in the territories.
‘Firm Sanctions’ On Israel
U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised Canada’s decision to back Palestinian statehood and Rubio has said the decision by France is reckless. The White House did not comment after Belgium’s statement.
Belgium would also levy 12 “firm” sanctions on Israel, such as a ban on importing products from its settlements, a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies and declaring Hamas leaders persona non grata in Belgium, Prevot said.
European Union foreign ministers remained sharply divided during a meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday over the war in Gaza, with some urging the bloc to exert significant economic pressure on Israel, while others firmly opposed such measures.
The Palestinians have long sought a state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The United States says such a state can only be set up through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Belgium, a member of the European Union, took the decision to step up pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas, Prevot said.
Prevot also emphasized Belgium’s commitment to Palestine’s reconstruction, adding that the country would advocate for “European measures targeting Hamas and supporting new Belgian initiatives to combat antisemitism.”
The United States said on Friday it would bar Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from travelling to New York in September for a United Nations summit, where several U.S. allies are expected to formally recognise Palestine as a state.
West Bank
According to reports of three Israeli officials in August, Israel is considering annexation in the occupied West Bank as a possible response to France and other countries recognising a Palestinian state.
In 2024, the United Nations’ highest court ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements were illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Israel says the territories are not occupied in legal terms as they are on disputed land, but the United Nations and most of the international community see them as occupied territory.
Israel’s annexations of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights decades ago have not won international recognition.
Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, after fighters from Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group in control of the territory, attacked Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Venezuela: Maduro Accuses U.S. Of Pushing Regime Change With Caribbean Naval Deployment
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused the United States of trying to force regime change through its naval buildup in the Caribbean. He made the remarks during a rare press conference on Monday.
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have risen in recent weeks amid a large U.S. naval buildup in the Southern Caribbean and nearby waters, which U.S. officials say aims to address threats from Latin American drug cartels.
U.S. President Donald Trump has made cracking down on drug cartels a central goal of his administration, part of a wider effort to limit migration and secure the U.S. southern border.
But Maduro, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and other officials have said the U.S. is threatening their country and the buildup is meant to justify an intervention against them.
Venezuela Is ‘Super Prepared’
“They are seeking a regime change through military threat,” Maduro told journalists, officials and uniformed military brass in Caracas, echoing comments last week by his government’s representative at the United Nations.
“Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” Maduro added. “A situation like this has never been seen.”
His country is peaceful, Maduro added, but will not bow to threats. Venezuela’s military is “super prepared,” he said.
Venezuela’s government has scoffed at U.S. assertions that the country and its leadership are key to major international drug trafficking.
In early August, the United States doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups.
While U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships regularly operate in the Southern Caribbean, this buildup is significantly larger than usual deployments in the region.
But it is unclear exactly how the U.S. military presence would disrupt the drug trade.
Most of the seaborne drug trade travels to the United States via the Pacific, not the Atlantic, where the U.S. forces are, and much of what arrives via the Caribbean comes on clandestine flights, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s 2023 Global Report on Cocaine.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Tariffs Cost Thousands Of Jobs In Mexican Border City
In Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, thousands of factory jobs have disappeared under U.S. tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. Among those affected is Fabiola Galicia, who spent 11 years rising from production worker to manager at a decorative ribbon plant before seeing her career cut short.
In June, her shift was cut to just three days a week. Then in August, a representative for Design Group Americas, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, shut down its Ciudad Juarez factory, leaving Galicia and some 300 other workers without jobs.
In court filings, the company partially blamed its troubles on tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Galicia said a company representative also blamed Trump. “They told us the tariffs had affected the company,” said Galicia, whose husband also worked at the company and was laid off.
Design Group Americas didn’t respond to a request for comment about the layoffs.
Assembly Plants Face Crisis
Assembly plants in Ciudad Juarez, which import raw materials mostly duty free from around the world and export the finished product to the U.S., are in crisis. Trump’s global trade war has added misery to an industry already facing a litany of challenges including rising wages and investor concern over reforms by Mexico’s ruling leftist Morena party.
Known as maquiladoras, the plants account for roughly 60 percent of jobs in Ciudad Juarez. For decades one of the most important manufacturing hubs in Mexico, the city’s industrial sector benefited in recent years as large numbers of multinational companies moved operations to Mexico to avoid U.S. tariffs on Chinese-produced products in a trend dubbed ‘nearshoring.’
But after booming growth and employment, many plants are now shedding workers and in some cases shutting down altogether.
Between June 2023 and June 2025, the municipality of Juarez lost more than 64,000 factory jobs, including nearly 14,000 in the first six months of the year, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
The mass layoffs underscore the challenges facing Mexico’s economy, which depends on free trade with the U.S.
Projected GDP growth for 2025 has stalled to less than one percent as companies struggle to stay afloat amid Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs.
Maria Teresa Delgado, vice president of the maquila association INDEX Juarez, said the industry is in “crisis.” Besides tariffs, she and six other business experts attributed the layoffs in Juarez to a combination of factors.
‘Cherry On Top’
Factories experienced a decline in profit margins following a federally mandated increase in the minimum wage, they said. The minimum wage in Mexico’s northern region has risen since 2019 from 22 pesos an hour ($1.17) to 52.48 pesos ($2.80).
Then, in 2023, Mexico’s former president proposed a major judicial reform–to replace appointed judges with elected judges, raising alarm among foreign investors and hampering investment because of the threat to judicial independence. The reform was enacted this year.
But Trump’s trade war was the tipping point, Delgado said. While a majority of Mexican exports enter the U.S. duty free, there are high tariffs on the automotive industry and products like steel, aluminum and some textiles.
“Trump’s tariffs were the cherry on top,” Delgado said about the layoffs.
Foreign direct investment in Mexico fell 21% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period a year before. In the state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located, foreign direct investment in manufacturing declined 56%, from $800 million to $348 million.
“Uncertainty is impacting the business environment,” said Ulises Alejandro Fernandez, Chihuahua’s Secretary of Innovation and Economic Development. “Companies are holding off on making decisions and making new investments until there is clarity about what will happen with trade policy.”
Companies Shifting From Ciudad Juarez
Some companies are already pulling out of Ciudad Juarez as they move to countries with lower labour costs or decide to invest in the U.S. to avoid tariffs.
Earlier this year, automotive parts-maker Lear Corp announced it will relocate some production lines from Ciudad Juarez to Honduras, in what it described as a broader strategy to reduce costs amid shifting demand and rising wages in Mexico’s northern border region.
French electronics manufacturer Lacroix plans to shut down its operations in Ciudad Juarez by the end of this year. The company cited sustained losses and trade uncertainty as key reasons for its exit from North America.
Thor Salayandia, president of the regional business coalition Border Block Trade, said he has had to cut employees at his hardware factory in Ciudad Juarez that produces nails. He now has 20 employees, down from around 90 in 2023, he said.
“Clients are cutting costs. One day they place an order, the next they don’t.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
As Xi Hosts Parade, Taiwan President Lai Sends Defiant Message
A day ahead of Beijing’s massive military parade, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday asserted that aggression is destined to fail, citing lessons from World War Two and Taiwan’s key victories over Chinese forces in 1958 as proof of resilience.
Democratically governed Taiwan has over the past five years repeatedly complained about heightened Chinese military activity including war games around the island as Beijing steps up pressure to enforce territorial claims the government in Taipei rejects.
Large-Scale Military Parade
Chinese President Xi Jinping, flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, will oversee a large-scale military parade in Beijing on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.
Speaking to officers at the defence ministry, Lai noted that Tuesday marked the 67th anniversary of a 1958 naval battle Taiwan celebrates as a victory that was part of the August 23 Chinese attack on the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, better known internationally as the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.
Taiwan’s victories then show that true peace stems from a resolve to unite against aggression, he added.
‘Unity Ensures Victory’
“We all know that the current security environment is more severe than ever before. In recent years, the Chinese communists have persistently conducted high-intensity activities with military aircraft and vessels around the Taiwan Strait,” Lai said.
“From the victory in World War Two to the glorious achievements of the September 2nd naval battle and the August 23rd artillery exchange, the most valuable lesson remains: unity ensures victory, while aggression inevitably fails.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lai’s remarks. China considers Lai a “separatist” and has rebuffed multiple offers of talks.
Tense Exchange
China and Taiwan have both been engaged in an increasingly tense exchange of accusations about the World War Two anniversary and its broader historical meaning.
Taiwan has told its people not to attend Beijing’s parade, to China’s anger.
The most high profile person from Taiwan attending is Hung Hsiu-chu, a former chairwoman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT).
The KMT and the Republic of China government it ran fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.
The two had an uneasy alliance against Japan in World War Two and the Japanese invasion of China that preceded that, though much of the fighting was done by republican forces, historians generally agree.
Republic of China remains Taiwan’s formal name.
(With inputs from Reuters)
China: Victory Day Parade Marks Xi’s Push For New World Order
Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to host the country’s largest-ever military parade this week, aiming to position Beijing as a key force in shaping a post-US global order amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.
More than 20 world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will gather in Beijing for the September 3 “Victory Day” event marking 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War Two.
Displaying Diplomatic Clout
The highly choreographed spectacle aims to project China’s military might and diplomatic clout amid doubts over the United States’ global role, as President Donald Trump slashes foreign aid, retreats from international institutions and wages a sweeping trade war on allies and rivals alike.
The unprecedented joint appearance of Xi flanked by Putin and Kim overseeing the showcase of cutting-edge equipment like hypersonic missiles and drones, may well be the defining image of the parade, an “Axis of Upheaval” defying the West.
‘Leading Authoritarian Power’
For Kim, who crossed into China on his special train early on Tuesday, it will be his first major multilateral event and the first time a North Korean leader has attended a Chinese military parade in 66 years.
“The presence of Vladimir Putin, (Iran’s) Masoud Pezeshkian, and Kim Jong Un underscores China’s role as the world’s leading authoritarian power,” said Neil Thomas, a Chinese politics expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.
The increase in leaders from Central Asian, West Asian and Southeast Asian countries attending this year’s parade compared to the last one in 2015 highlight’s Beijing’s progress in regional diplomacy, Thomas added.
Empty Talks?
Proceedings will kick off at 9 a.m. (0100GMT), according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Slovakian Prime Minster Robert Fico and Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic, both critical of sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, are the only Western leaders attending.
Trump, whose own June military parade drew the largest nationwide protests since his return to power, has repeatedly talked up his close relations with Xi, Putin and Kim but has failed to make any major diplomatic breakthroughs.
‘Memory War’
Earlier this week, Xi rallied leaders of developing nations to advocate for a more equal, multipolar world and promote the “correct historical perspective” of World War Two at a regional security forum in the port city of Tianjin.
The parade too is part of a “memory war” in which China and Russia offer an alternative history to a Western narrative they believe underplays their role in fighting fascist forces, the Brookings Institution wrote in a paper last week.
Xi has cast the war as a major turning point in the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” in which it overcame Japan’s invasion to become an economic and geopolitical powerhouse.
Mixed Response
While some residents have requested patriotic and military-themed haircuts ahead of the parade, such enthusiasm may be not be shared by all ordinary Chinese people.
Downtown Beijing has been virtually paralysed by security measures and traffic controls in the weeks leading up to the parade.
Nationwide, local governments have mobilised tens of thousands of volunteers and Communist Party members to monitor for any signs of potential unrest ahead of the parade, estimates based on online recruitment notices show.
$5 Billion Parade?
Taiwanese officials on Monday estimated Beijing was spending $5 billion – the equivalent of 2% of its entire defence budget – on the parade.
A July post on Zhihu, China’s equivalent of Quora, asked users what they looked forward to most about the parade.
“I hope they’ll spend less money and use it towards improving people’s livelihoods,” read one viral response which has since been deleted. Others had urged the government to declare a national holiday, a move it didn’t take.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Massive Parade, Over 13,500 Prisoners Freed As Vietnam Turns 80
Vietnam on Tuesday marked 80 years since its declaration of independence from colonial rule with its largest military parade in decades, generous cash handouts, and the mass release of nearly 14,000 prisoners.
Tens of thousands of people crowded the streets of the capital Hanoi, most of whom were wearing red shirts and holding Vietnamese flags, in a strong show of nationalism in the Communist-run country.
Unwavering Commitment
The parade showcased Vietnam’s most advanced military equipment, including a wide range of tanks, missiles, helicopters and fighter jets. Thousands of Vietnamese soldiers and military personnel from China, Russia and other countries participated in the celebration.
“We are unwavering in our commitment to defend the independence, freedom, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of our Fatherland, down to every sacred inch of land,” Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam said as he opened the parade.
“This resolve draws on the unified strength of our nation: political, economic, cultural, scientific, technological, military, diplomatic, and above all, the will of our people,” he added.
‘Worth The Wait’
National leaders and foreign dignitaries watched the military procession in Ba Dinh Square, where on September 2, 1945, revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh made his historical declaration of independence.
The speech marked the foundation of an independent Vietnam after nearly a century of French colonial rule and a brief Japanese occupation during World War II, but the French did not recognise the new country and fought a decade-long war, which ended with their defeat in 1954.
“I’m so glad, satisfied, and deeply moved to finally witness the marching troops pass by,” said Hoang Thi Huyen, a 42-year-old Hanoi resident who camped on the pavement with her other four family members for nearly two days to secure a spot.
“It was worth the wait. The troops and the fighter jets were amazing,” she added.
100,000 Dong To Every Citizen
Roads in the centre of Hanoi had been blocked for three working days for the rehearsals and the main parade.
As part of anniversary festivities, Vietnam last week announced it would hand out 100,000 dong ($3.80) to each of its 100 million citizens, in an unprecedented package that could cost the country as much as $380 million.
President Luong Cuong also announced last week a major amnesty for 13,920 prisoners who will be released before the end of their jail terms, including 66 foreigners.
Celebrations also took place at sea at the Cam Ranh deep water bay, featuring Vietnam’s fleet of submarines and frigates, mostly imported from Russia.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Palestinians In West Bank Endure Severe Water Shortages Amid Settler Attacks
Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are grappling with worsening water shortages, which they blame on escalating assaults on scarce water supplies by extremist Jewish settlers.
Across the West Bank in Palestinian communities, residents are reporting shortages that have left taps in homes dry and farms without irrigation.
In Ramallah, one of the largest Palestinian cities in the West Bank and the administrative capital of the Palestinian Authority, residents facing water shortages are now relying on public taps.
“We only get water at home twice a week, so people are forced to come here,” said Umm Ziad, as she filled empty plastic bottles with water alongside other Ramallah residents.
The United Nations recorded 62 incidents of Jewish settlers vandalising water wells, pipelines, irrigation networks and other water-related infrastructure in the West Bank in the first six months of the year.
The Israeli military acknowledged it has received multiple reports of Israeli civilians intentionally causing damage to water infrastructure but that no suspects had been identified.
Among the targets have been a freshwater spring and a water distribution station in Ein Samiya, around 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Ramallah, serving around 20 nearby Palestinian villages and some city neighbourhoods.
Settlers have taken over the spring that many Palestinians have used for generations to cool off in the hot summer months.
Water Stations Targeted
Palestinian public utility Jerusalem Water Undertaking said the Ein Samiya water distribution station had become a frequent target of settler vandalism.
“Settler violence has escalated dramatically,” Abdullah Bairait, 60, a resident of nearby Kfar Malik, standing on a hilltop overlooking the spring.
“They enter the spring stations, break them, remove cameras, and cut off the water for hours,” he said.
The Ein Samiya spring and Kfar Malik village have been increasingly surrounded by Jewish Israeli settlements. The United Nations and most foreign governments consider settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under international law and an obstacle to the establishment of a future Palestinian state.
According to the United Nations’ humanitarian office, settlers carried out multiple attacks targeting water springs and vital water infrastructure in the Ramallah, Salfit and Nablus areas between June 1 and July 14. The Ein Samiya water spring had been repeatedly attacked, it said in a July report.
Israeli security forces view any damage to infrastructure as a serious matter and were carrying out covert and overt actions to prevent further harm, the Israeli military said. It said the Palestinian Water Authority had been given access to carry out repairs.
Kareem Jubran, director of field research at Israeli rights group B’Tselem, said that settlers had taken control over most natural springs in the West Bank in recent years and prevented Palestinians from accessing them.
Settler Violence
Palestinians have long faced a campaign of intimidation, harassment and physical violence by extremist settlers, who represent a minority of Jewish settlers living in the West Bank. Most live in settlements for financial or ideological reasons and do not advocate for violence against Palestinians.
Palestinians say the frequency of settler violence in the West Bank has increased since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
They say they fear the rise in settler violence is part of a campaign to drive them from the land. The United Nations has registered 925 such incidents in the first seven months of this year, a 16% year-on-year increase.
Since the Hamas terrorist attacks which sparked the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians have advocated for Israel to annex the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967.
On Sunday Israeli officials said the government is now considering annexing the territory after France and other Western nations said they would recognise a Palestinian state this month, according to reports. The Palestinian Authority wants a future Palestinian state to encompass West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians in the West Bank have long struggled to access water. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited civic rule in parts of the territory and relies on Israeli approvals to develop and expand water infrastructure. Palestinian officials and rights groups say that’s rarely given.
B’Tselem said in an April 2023 report that Palestinians were facing a chronic water crisis, while settlers have an abundance of water.
“The water shortage in the West Bank is the intentional outcome of Israel’s deliberately discriminatory policy, which views water as another means for controlling the Palestinians,” B’Tselem wrote in the report.
Costly Deliveries
Across the West Bank, water tanks are common in Palestinian homes, storing rainwater or water delivered by trucks due to an already unreliable piped water network that has been exacerbated by the settler attacks.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that oversees policy in the West Bank and Gaza, said the Palestinian Authority was responsible for supplying water to Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel transferred 90 million cubic meters of water to the Palestinian Authority each year, it said, blaming any shortages on water theft by Palestinians.
Along with traveling long distances to collect water, Palestinians have become reliant on costly water deliveries to manage the chronic water crisis that they fear will only grow.
“If the settlers continue their attacks, we will have conflict on water,” said Wafeeq Saleem, who was collecting water from a public tap outside Ramallah.
“Water is the most important thing for us.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Slovak PM Fico Set For Meetings With Xi, Putin, Zelenskyy This Week
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday that he will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin during China’s World War Two anniversary celebrations taking place in Beijing this week.
He will then meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in eastern Slovakia on Friday, he said in a statement.
Fico, who leads a NATO and EU member country but has opposed Western sanctions on Russia, has had tense relations with Zelenskyy and broken ranks with European allies. He met with Putin in Moscow in December.
Fico will also be the only European Union country leader to attend the celebrations in Beijing, where Xi will be flanked by Putin and also the leaders of North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar in a show of solidarity against the West.
Fico Honours Fascism Victims
“I respect every single victim of the fight against fascism, therefore I have in the past stood with respect in front of memorials in Moscow, Normandy, or Washington,” Fico said in an emailed statement.
“I personally regret, and I admit I do not understand why, that from among EU countries, only Slovakia will be present in Beijing. New world order is being built, new rules of a multipolar world, new balance of powers, which is extremely important for stability in the world.”
He said it was necessary to use the opportunity to meet world leaders, and that he had informed EU representatives about his trip.
He did not further specify the agenda of his meetings in Beijing nor the meeting with Zelenskyy.
Slovakia lashed out at Ukraine when it did not renew a contract to ship Russian gas to Slovakia after the old one expired at the end of last year, forcing Slovakia to use alternative routes for Russian gas and look for other suppliers.
Slovakia has also been keen to keep imports of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline running through Ukraine, which were temporarily halted in the past two weeks after Ukrainian attacks on the pipeline in Russia.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Britain Moves To Curb Migrants, Suspends Family Entry Scheme
Britain on Monday announced a pause on applications from registered refugees seeking to bring family members to the UK, saying the move would allow time to tighten existing rules — its latest step aimed at reducing migrant arrivals.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government is under mounting pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers reaching Britain from France in small boats, after hotels housing migrants became a focal point for weeks of sometimes violent demonstrations.
Pressure On Housing
Interior minister Yvette Cooper told parliament that more and more refugees had applied to bring in family members, placing pressure on housing across the country.
Many were applying to bring over families within about a month whereas, as recently as 2019, they were waiting one or two years or more.
Cooper said she would suspend the system while the government looked to toughen the rules.
“The system has to be controlled and managed based on fair and properly enforced rules, not chaos and exploitation driven by criminal smuggler gangs,” the interior minister said.
Pinning Blame On Predecessors
Accused of moving too slowly, the government says it is tackling a problem left by previous Conservative-led administrations by trying to speed up the processing of asylum claims and brokering return deals with other nations.
But the public discontent has handed Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party a consistent lead in opinion polls, prompting the government to go further.
Unofficial Entry Increases
Under the current system, an asylum seeker granted indefinite leave to remain can bring their partner if they can prove they have been in a relationship for at least two years, and children under the age of 18.
Just over 29,000 people have come to Britain unofficially on small boats so far this year, up 38% on the comparable period in 2024.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Germany Rejects Von Der Leyen’s Proposal To Send EU Troops To Ukraine
Germany‘s defence minister on Monday strongly dismissed as premature the remarks made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen regarding plans to send European troops to Ukraine, stating that she did not have the mandate to discuss the issue.
Von der Leyen told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday that Europe is drawing up “pretty precise plans” for a multinational troop deployment to Ukraine as part of post-conflict security guarantees that will have the backing of U.S. capabilities.
“Those are things that you don’t discuss before you sit down at the negotiating table with many parties that have a say in the matter,” the minister, Boris Pistorius, told journalists during a visit to an ammunition factory in Cologne on Monday.
“I would know better than to comment or confirm such considerations in any way, apart from the fact that the European Union has no mandate or competency whatsoever when it comes to positioning troops,” he added.
European Troops
Leyen told the FT that the deployment is set to include potentially tens of thousands of European-led troops, backed by assistance from the U.S., including command and control systems and intelligence and surveillance assets.
“President Trump reassured us that there will be (an) American presence as part of the backstop,” von der Leyen told the FT, adding that “That was very clear and repeatedly affirmed.”
The deployment is set to include potentially tens of thousands of European-led troops, backed by assistance from the U.S., including control and command systems and intelligence and surveillance assets, the report said, adding that this arrangement was agreed at a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior European leaders last month.
European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and von der Leyen, are expected to gather in Paris on Thursday, at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, to continue the high-level discussions on Ukraine, the FT reported, citing three diplomats briefed on the plans.
(With inputs from Reuters)