While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 13, 2024
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“We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years,” said Nato chief Mark Rutte, in his first major speech since taking office.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Nato chief calls for defence surge to avoid Russia war
Nato chief Mark Rutte issued a stark warning on Dec 12 to “turbo-charge” defence spending, saying European nations were not prepared for the threat of future war with Russia.
“We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years,” Mr Rutte said, in a keynote address in Brussels, his first major speech since taking office as Nato secretary-general in October.
“Danger is moving towards us at full speed.”
Russia’s war in Ukraine has jolted the Western military alliance to strengthen its eastern flank and ramp up spending. But despite increases in defence budgets, Nato countries still do not match Moscow’s arms production.
US working to bring home citizen found in Syria
The United States is working to bring home an American citizen found on Dec 12 in Syria, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Jordan, where he held meetings to discuss the political transition in Syria.
In media reports, the man was identified as Travis Timmerman.
CBS News reported Mr Timmerman identified himself as an American from Missouri and that he was freed from prison earlier in the week after Syrian rebel groups ousted the country’s longtime President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend.
Two men deny spying in Britain for Hong Kong
PHOTOS: REUTERS
Two men denied a charge of assisting Hong Kong’s foreign intelligence service in Britain before a London court on Dec 12.
Chung Biu Yuen, 64, and Chi Leung Wai, 39 - also known as Peter Wai - pleaded “not guilty” at the Old Bailey to two charges under Britain’s National Security Act, a law passed in 2023 to give new powers to target threats from foreign states.
The men, both dual Chinese and British citizens, are accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service between December 2023 and May 2024 by “agreeing to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception” in Britain.
Chinese associate of Prince Andrew banned from UK
REUTERS
A Chinese businessman, who had forged close links with Prince Andrew and was authorised to act on his behalf to seek investors in China, has been banned from Britain on national security grounds.
The 50-year-old man, who has been granted anonymity and is named only as H6, was taken off a flight from Beijing to London in February 2023 and told that Britain intended to ban him from the country. This happened the following month.
H6 appealed against the ban at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which rejected his case in a written ruling on Dec 12 - the first time the reported relationship has come to light.
India’s Gukesh Dommaraju youngest world chess champ
EPA-EFE
Moments after winning the Fide World Championship on Dec 12, Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju called his mother on the phone.
But, for a while, there were no words. Instead, tears flowed freely on both sides of the call, with the 18-year-old having just made history by dethroning defending champion Ding Liren of China at Resorts World Sentosa.
His triumph in Game 14 not only gave him a 7.5-6.5 winning margin, but it also made him the youngest world champion, rewriting a record held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he beat fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.
