NATO Chief Urges 400% Increase in Alliance's Air Defense

FILE PHOTO: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands before their meeting, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine April 15, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands before their meeting, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine April 15, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
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NATO Chief Urges 400% Increase in Alliance's Air Defense

FILE PHOTO: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands before their meeting, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine April 15, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands before their meeting, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine April 15, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday was due to urge a "400-percent increase" in the transatlantic alliance's air and missile defense capacities in response to the threat from Russia.

"We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies," Rutte was due to say in a speech to the Chatham House think-tank in London, according to comments quoted in a statement.

To maintain credible deterrence and defense, he was to say that NATO needs "a 400-percent increase in air and missile defense".

His comments come ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands this month where US President Donald Trump is pressuring alliance members to announce a major boost in their military budgets.

Trump is pushing NATO members to increase their defense spending to five percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), up from the current target of two percent.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said last week in Brussels that the allies were close to an agreement on the five-percent target, which could be formalized at the summit in The Hague.

NATO members have been scrambling to bolster their defense capabilities since Russia launched its war against Ukraine in February 2022.

"Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends," Rutte was to say, according to AFP.

"We need a quantum leap in our collective defense... We must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans in full."

"Our militaries also need thousands more armored vehicles and tanks, millions more artillery shells."

Rutte will visit London next week, where he is expected to welcome Britain's new defense strategy.

Britain announced plans last week to build up to 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines and six munitions factories to rearm the country in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.



France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
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France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)

France accused Iran on Monday of "repression and intimidation" after a court handed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security.

Mohammadi, sentenced Saturday, was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for "propaganda" against Iran's system, according to her foundation.

"With this sentence, the Iranian regime has, once again, chosen repression and intimidation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, describing the 53-year-old as a "tireless defender" of human rights.

Paris is calling for the release of the activist, who was arrested before protests erupted nationwide in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.

The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).


Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
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Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday called on his compatriots to show "resolve" ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution this week.

Since the revolution, "foreign powers have always sought to restore the previous situation", Ali Khamenei said, referring to the period when Iran was under the rule of shah Reza Pahlavi and dependent on the United States, AFP reported.

"National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and steadfastness of the people," the leader said, adding: "Show it again and frustrate the enemy."


UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
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UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides ⁠in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the ⁠US.

"I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from ⁠1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.