Polish president vetoes EU defence loan bill
The Straits Times
WARSAW, March 12 - Poland's president said on Thursday that he would not sign legislation creating a mechanism to spend 43.7 billion euros ($50.30 billion) in European Union loans to boost the military, triggering condemnation from the government. Read more at straitstimes.com.
WARSAW, March 12 - Poland's president said on Thursday that he would not sign legislation creating a mechanism to spend 43.7 billion euros ($50.30 billion) in European Union loans to boost the military, triggering condemnation from the government.
The clash between nationalist President Karol Nawrocki and the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk over the 150 billion-euro Security Action for Europe initiative is the latest example of the deep divisions complicating policymaking at Poland's highest levels of state.
"The SAFE mechanism is a massive foreign loan taken out for 45 years in a foreign currency, with interest costs that could reach up to 180 billion zlotys," Nawrocki said in a televised address to the nation.
"Poles will therefore have to repay twice the value of the loan, while Western banks and financial institutions will profit from it."
He added that Brussels could halt the payout of funds arbitrarily through deploying conditionality rules, thus limiting Poland's sovereignty, and questioned its constitutionality.
"Poland's security cannot depend on foreign decisions," he said.
Mr Dan Caldwell was a former top adviser to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Read more at straitstimes.com.
They allegedly shared images and videos of school shootings in other countries with one another. Read more at straitstimes.com.
CHISINAU, March 16 - A Russian attack on a hydroelectric plant in southern Ukraine triggered an oil spill and polluted water systems in neighbouring Moldova, with supplies cut completely in the country's second-largest city, officials said on Monday. Read more at straitstimes.com.
MOSCOW, March 16 - Russian air defence units downed at least 67 Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow on Monday, according to data published by the city's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. Read more at straitstimes.com.
MOSCOW, March 16 - Russia has taken control of 12 settlements in Ukraine in the first two weeks of March as part of advances along the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian state-run news agencies quoted top general Valery Gerasimov as saying on Monday. Read more at straitstimes.com.
The eastern half of the US, including New York, Chicago and Atlanta, has been hit with widespread air travel delays and cancellations. Read more at straitstimes.com.
It could lead to a protracted conflict with devastating humanitarian consequences, the leaders said in a joint statement. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Bhumika Shrestha on March 16 became Nepal’s first transgender woman lawmaker. Read more at straitstimes.com.
It would serve as a way to formalise the kinds of things the US should be importing from and exporting to China. Read more at straitstimes.com.
BBC argued that Donald Trump's subsequent re-election showed it did not harm his reputation. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Upgrades include better active noise cancellation and an improved microphone system. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Some 350 oil tankers, some loaded and some empty, are currently stranded in the area. Read more at straitstimes.com.
GENEVA, March 16 - The head of a U.N. investigation said on Monday that an Israeli air strike on a prison last year was a war crime, and warned of risks of further repression following the current U.S.-Israeli bombings. Read more at straitstimes.com.