Category: News

Germany, UK sign post-Brexit friendship pact

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer sign a new friendship treaty | Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa

The treaty underscores the countries’ mutual defence obligations as NATO allies, which is made especially significant given the UK’s status as a nuclear power. The goal is to boost European deterrence and defence over the next decade. The two sides plan to jointly develop a European-made long-range weapons system capable of striking targets up to 2,000 kilometres away, addressing a capability gap with Russian medium-range missiles.

Israel’s Rafael in controversy over video (again)

A blurry, 14-second video published online by the Israeli company, which has now been deleted from the company’s social media channels, showed a Rafael Spike Firefly drone hovering behind a person before he evidently senses danger and runs into a building. The drone chases the person and explodes.

German court rejects Yemeni complaint against U.S. air base supporting drone attacks

The Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court, (l-r), Thomas Offenloch, Astrid Wallrabenstein, Ulrich Maidowski, Doris König (Chairwoman of the Second Senate), Christine Langenfeld, Rhona Fetzer, Peter Frank, announce the verdict on US drone missions via Ramstein | Photo: Uli Deck/dpa

Germany’s top court on Tuesday rejected a constitutional complaint over the government’s legal responsibility for U.S. drone attacks carried out in Yemen with the assistance of facilities at a U.S. air base in Ramstein. The Constitutional Court, based in the south-western city of Karlsruhe, denied the suit brought by two Yemeni nationals whose relatives were killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen in 2012.

GCAP flying demonstrator unveiled

Representation of the Flying Demonstrator of the Global Combat Air Programme next generation stealth fighter aircraft | Image: BAE Systems

Offering the latest look at the form of the future next generation fighter, the model of the flying demonstrator for the next generation Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) combat aircraft was published on Thursday, with the demonstrator expected to be ready for flight by the end of 2027, becoming the first such aircraft developed in the UK in the last 40 years.

Berlin’s hospitals prepare for war scenario

Christian Pegel (L-R), Interior Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Alexander Dobrindt, German Minister of the Interior, under umbrellas at the opening press conference of the nationwide Civil Protection Day in the Hanseatic city's harbour at Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rostock on July 12, 2025 | Photo: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa

Berlin’s hospitals have been presented with a plan for maintaining the services and supply chains needed for hospital to remain operational, the emergency allocation of patients and ensuring sufficient backup power, medical supplies and medicines. The plan has been drawn up against the backdrop of Russia’s war on Ukraine and NATO fears of a further advance towards western Europe.

Two Patriot systems are being prepared for Ukraine, says Pistorius

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius gives a press conference following his meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth | Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The delivery is to be financed by Germany. However, the final technical, logistical and financial details still need to be clarified, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after his talks with U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying these “appear to be solvable for both of us, so we will get to work quickly,” and underlining Ukraine’s urgent need for additional air defence systems.

U.S. puts LeT proxy TRF in terror list

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio | Photo: U.S. State Department

The U.S. State Department said ‘TRF, a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) front and proxy, claimed responsibility for the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack which killed 26 civilians. This was the deadliest attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks conducted by LeT. TRF has also claimed responsibility for several attacks against Indian security forces, including most recently in 2024.’

Timeline: Preliminary Report of Air India 171 crash at AMD

CCTV screenshot of RAT Deployment on Air India 171 on June 12, 2025 | Image: Preliminary Report of India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau

Three seconds after liftoff, both Fuel Control Switches ‘transition from RUN to Cutoff.’ ‘In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,’ according to the Preliminary Report of India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau on Air India Boeing 787-8 crash at Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. These are the Timeline and Notes compiled from the report.

German arms firms see orders spike as wars rage

The Rheinmetall AG logo in front of the company's headquarters | File Photo: Thomas Banneyer/dpa

The Ukraine war and expanding global conflict showered a windfall on German arms companies like Rheinmetall and TKMS, with some startups like Helsing becoming the upstarts of the weapons industry, and other legacy companies like Heckler & Koch even experiencing a dramatic reversal of fortunes.

Germany conscription likely after suspension ‘mistake’

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks at the Day of German Industry organised by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) on June 23, 2025, in Berlin | Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa

As the German Bundeswehr grapples with a shortage of 60,000 soldiers, Chancellor Freidrich Merz said, “We will probably … not be able to manage with the current voluntary system alone, but will need additional elements of compulsory military service.”

Nearly 2/3rds of Germans back European nuclear shield

An unarmed Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launches during an operational test at 12:01 Pacific Time, May 21, 2025, at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | Photo: Tech. Sgt. Elora J. McCutcheon/U.S. Air Force/341st Missile Wing


The poll, conducted by the Forsa polling institute for the magazine Internationale Politik, found that 64 percent of German respondents were in favour of establishing a European nuclear shield as a deterrent, while only 29 percent were opposed.

45% Germans for 5% of GDP on defence

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius looks out of the turret of a Leopard 2A6 during a presentation | File Photo: Federico Gambarini/dpa

Some 45 percent of German respondents favour spending 5 percent of GDP on defence that compared to 37 percent who oppose it, with 18 percent saying they don’t know, a poll from YouGov conducted for the Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung showed.

Europeans divided on increased NATO defence spending

A NATO flag flies in the wind in front of NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on April 03, 2025 | Photo: Anna Ross/dpa

A survey published on Monday by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) found that support for increased defence spending is highest in Poland and Denmark (70 percent), followed by Britain (57 percent), Estonia (56 percent) and Portugal (54 percent).

Most Germans say defence industry investments justifiable

Employees at Rheinmetall work on a cannon for the Leopard 2A4 battle tank in Lower Saxony, Unterluess on June 06, 2023 | File Photo: Philipp Schulze/dpa

Over 56 percent of respondents polled by the opinion research institute Innofact said private investments in the arms industry were justifiable, in a significant change from 2022 when 53 percent of respondents still had reservations about investing in defence companies. Since then, the prospect of higher government defence spending in Germany and many other countries has driven many stocks to record highs.