Latest news with #IranIsrael
CNA
3 days ago
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Training Employment Pass under scrutiny following alleged misuse
CNA938 Rewind - Iran-Israel truce: Possibility of a violation and what would Trump do? A truce appears to have taken hold between Israel and Iran, despite initial violations by both sides. Meanwhile, a preliminary US intelligence assessment says the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities may have set back Tehran's programme by only a matter of months. What is the possibility of another ceasefire violation and what would US President Donald Trump do in response? Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman chat with Professor Lawrence Rubin from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology to find out. 15 mins CNA938 Rewind - Training Employment Pass under scrutiny following alleged misuse The Training Employment Pass has come under scrutiny of late, following allegations of misuse. Errant employers and agents have for years attempted to illegally bring in foreign workers for rank-and-file roles under the TEP. Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman chat to Jaya Dass, APAC Managing Director at Randstad Enterprise to look at what can be done to curb this misuse. 14 mins CNA938 Rewind - Is a share buyback scheme the best solution Income can come up with? Following up on Income's proposal of a possible share buyback programme for its shareholders, Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman find out if it is the best solution the Singapore insurer can come up with at this point and what other options could actually appease shareholders. They chat to Victor Lai, Principal Consultant at Citadelcorp. 13 mins
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
How Nato's ‘Daddy strategy' finally conquered Donald Trump
You might call it the 'Daddy strategy'. When Nato chiefs pondered how to handle Donald Trump at their summit in The Hague, they appear to have decided that mere praise and flattery were inadequate for the task. Instead, they turned high diplomacy into the art of calculated subservience. Just as the Congress of Vienna of 1814-1815 was arranged around glittering balls and concerts – with a symphony conducted by Beethoven himself and the British delegation alone getting through 10,000 bottles of wine – so this summit in The Hague was designed to serve one purpose and one alone: satisfying Mr Trump's wants, needs and wishes. If Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, had believed that Mr Trump yearned for 10,000 bottles of vintage, he would have arranged for their supply. Had he thought that Mr Trump wished to meet Beethoven, Mr Rutte would have attempted a resurrection. As it turned out, the man who became the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history – and happens to be 58 years old – publicly hailed Mr Trump as 'Daddy'. When the president spoke of Iran and Israel as if they were squabbling children who had to be separated, Mr Rutte helpfully interjected: 'Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.' He was rewarded with a self-satisfied smile from the target of the adulation. On arrival at The Hague, Mr Trump was swept to the elegant 17th-century splendour of Huis Ten Bosch palace – the Dutch version of Buckingham Palace – where he dined with other Nato leaders before staying overnight as the guest of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. Then, on Wednesday morning, as most leaders were bombarded with questions from the media as they drew up at the summit venue, Mr Trump was allowed to make his own entrance via a separate door. He would not have to deign to share the limelight with the small fry, namely the other 31 members of the alliance. The summit sessions themselves were compressed into a three-hour sprint and the declaration cut to the barest minimum. One Nato official used to describe summit conclusions as 'our Bible' because they described everything that alliance headquarters in Brussels was charged with implementing. But the Bible has been getting shorter. The Vilnius summit declaration in 2023 exceeded 11,000 words. Last year's conclusions in Washington totalled nearly 5,000 words. And the summit with 'daddy' Trump at The Hague? Just 424 words in five paragraphs. All of this reflects the central fact about Nato, present since the alliance's birth in 1949. Its founding purpose was described by Lord Ismay, the first secretary general, as: 'Keeping the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down.' The last goal has thankfully fallen away, but the first two are more urgent than ever. Alas they are also inter-dependent: keeping the Russians out requires the Americans to stay in. Why? Because one fact has remained constant since 1949 – and will not change in the foreseeable future: America is the pre-eminent superpower whose military strength towers over all of Europe combined. The United States alone accounts for 66 per cent of total Nato defence spending; the other 31 allies provide only a third put together. Hence Mr Trump's rage – which was shared by his predecessors – that America is paying too much and the Europeans are shamelessly free-riding. These European allies expect the US to honour its pledge under Article V of the Washington Treaty to come to their defence – even at the risk of nuclear war – and yet they consistently fail to pay their way. European leaders privately admit that this extraordinary imbalance amounts to the biggest threat to Nato's future. They know that it must change. They are also aware that Europe's willingness to skimp on defence has created an extraordinary disparity of power around the Nato summit table. Very few international clubs have one member providing fully two thirds of the heft. This stark fact gives Mr Trump what he prizes most and positively enjoys using: leverage over other nations. Hence the imperative of giving him what he wants. The only alternative, as Mr Rutte once put it, is to 'learn Russian'. The summit's brief communiqué reflects this yawning imbalance of power. All allies, including America, reaffirm their 'ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article V'. But in return for getting Mr Trump to sign up to this pledge, Europe has agreed to raise defence spending from the current target of 2 per cent of GDP to 3.5 per cent, with another 1.5 per cent on top for related infrastructure. Put simply, they have given 'Daddy' everything he wants while gilding the substance with artful subservience. Asked why he had called Mr Trump 'Daddy', Mr Rutte conceded that 'it's a bit of a question of taste', but denied that it was demeaning. 'He's a good friend,' said Mr Rutte, pointing out how the president was 'forcing' Europe to spend more on defence. 'Doesn't he deserve some praise?' he asked. Daddy himself certainly thinks so. When he appeared at the final press conference, tired on his feet but visibly elated by the attention, Mr Trump's words revealed the triumph of Mr Rutte's 'daddy strategy'. 'It was a fairly long trip but worth it,' said Mr Trump. 'Tremendous things have been accomplished.' The stay in the Palace was evidently a home-run for the hosts. Mr Trump announced that he had 'slept beautifully' and the King and Queen were 'beautiful people'. In fact, the royal couple were worthy of his highest accolade: 'They're central casting,' he said. And the overall effect was exactly what the secretary general was hoping for. 'I came here because it was something I was supposed to be doing,' said Mr Trump. 'But I left here a little bit different.' He described how every leader had spoken with 'love and passion' about their countries. 'They want to protect their country,' said Mr Trump. 'They were so respectful of me.' He continued: 'Almost every one of them said 'thank God for the United States, without the United States we couldn't have Nato.' Then Mr Trump said the vital words which signalled that all had been forgiven. 'It's not a rip off,' he declared of Nato. 'And we're here to help them.' Now, instead of 31 delinquents, there was only one. Spain has refused to increase its defence budget to 5 per cent of GDP and Mr Trump denounced this decision as 'very terrible'. He vowed to conduct trade negotiations with Spain in person – apparently unaware that such matters are handled by the EU – and promised to 'make them pay twice as much'. Daddy is not nice to all his children. And the family had made another gesture for the sake of his happiness. The summit declaration was the first since 2022 that failed to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. One sentence in paragraph three stated that the allies 'reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine,' but without saying why that support was necessary. If they had told the truth and blamed Daddy's other friend, Vladimir Putin, he would not have approved. Daddy went home happy, but pleasing him carries a price.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump responds to NATO head's ‘daddy' remark: ‘I think he likes me'
Donald Trump has responded to being called 'daddy' by Nato chief Mark Rutte during a summit in The Hague on Wednesday (25 June). Mr Rutte defended the US president's expletive outburst against Iran and Israel on Tuesday (24 June), where he said both nations 'don't know what the f*** they're doing'. The secretary general excused the rant, saying: 'Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.' Asked by a journalist if he regards his Nato allies as children, Mr Trump laughed and said that Mr Rutte was being 'very affectionate' and thinks that he 'likes him'. He said that his allies 'need a little help at the beginning' but is hopeful that they will be able to defend Europe themselves.
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
UN80: Our achievements should give us hope for a better future — Philemon Yang
JUNE 25 — Eighty years ago this month, the Charter of the United Nations was signed in San Francisco, turning the page on decades of war and offering hope for a better future. For 80 years, the United Nations has stood as the highest expression of our hopes for international cooperation, and as the fullest embodiment of our aspiration to end the 'scourge of war.' Even in a world steeped in cynicism, this is a milestone worth acknowledging. The United Nations remains the only organisation of its kind, and the only one to have endured for so long. That longevity is remarkable when we consider the context of its founding: assembled from the rubble of not one, but two global cataclysms. Its predecessor, the League of Nations, had collapsed in disgrace. No organisation is flawless. But to paraphrase the second Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld: the United Nations was created not to take humanity to heaven but to save us from hell. In that mission, it has not failed. We continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of war in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere. The recent escalation between Iran and Israel is a stark reminder of the fragility of peace, particularly in the tension-prone Middle East region. Yet amid the violence, we have managed to avert a third global war. In a nuclear age, that is an achievement we can never take for granted. It is one we must preserve with the full force of our efforts. Over the past eight decades, much of human development also bears the direct imprint of the United Nations. Consider the success of the Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000 by 189 Member States and more than 20 international organisations, which gave the world a shared roadmap for action. By 2015, compared to 1990, extreme poverty had been more than halved. Child mortality had fallen by nearly 50 percent. And millions of children — especially girls who had long been denied the right — had entered school for the first time. Now, as we strive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we must build on that legacy of progress. We must continue efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, achieve universal health coverage, and produce and consume sustainably. There is another story of progress, often overlooked: the dismantling of the empire. Eighty years ago, colonialism cast its shadow over much of the world. Today, more than 80 former colonies across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific have gained independence and joined the United Nations. That transition, supported and legitimised by this Organisation, reshaped the global order. It was a triumph of self-determination, a profound affirmation of the Charter's most fundamental principle: the sovereign equality of all States. A man carries a box of aid along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on June 22, 2025, after humanitarian aid trucks entered the northern Gaza Strip through the Israeli-controlled Zikim border crossing, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. — AFP pic Evolving for the future The world has changed dramatically since 1945. Today, the Organisation faces a deepening liquidity crisis. Despite the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, progress has been uneven. Gender equality continues to elude us. Our pledge to limit global temperature rise and protect our planet is slipping beyond reach. These setbacks do not warrant diminished ambition but greater resolve. The United Nations has always shown its worth in times of crisis. Its founders had witnessed humanity at its most destructive and responded not with despair, but with boldness. We must draw on these achievements. The spirit of San Francisco was not utopian. It was grounded in a sober understanding of what was at stake. It held that, even amid deep division, nations could still choose cooperation over conflict and action over apathy. We saw that spirit last September, when world leaders gathered in New York for the Summit of the Future. After difficult negotiations, they adopted the Pact for the Future and its annexes—the Declaration on Future Generations and the Global Digital Compact—by consensus. In doing so, they pledged to renew multilateralism for a world more complex, connected, and fragile than the one imagined in 1945. That spirit endures today. It lives in the resolve of 193 Member States, in the integrity of international civil servants, and in the quiet determination of those who believe firmly in the promise of the Charter. It is carried forward by the Secretary-General's UN80 initiative, which calls on us to deliver better for humanity; and to look to the future with adaptability and hope. As we mark this anniversary, we must rekindle the call for unity and solidarity that rang out from San Francisco 80 years ago. We built a world order once, in the ruins of war. We did so with vision and urgency. Now, again, we find ourselves at a moment of consequence. The risks are high. So too is our capacity to act. *Philemon Yang is the President of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. ** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Rocky Iran, Israel ceasefire continues to hold
conflict world 22 minutes ago Middle East correspondent Perry Wilton spoke to Lisa Owen about US efforts to seal a ceasefire betwen Iran and Israel, which have seen a rocky start. However, the ceasefire appears to be holding, with both Iran and Israel claiming victory after 12 days of strikes.
