28/04/2026

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Malaysian Paper

/thesundaily /

Military spending surges on insecurity

o Europe main driver of increase: Report

where state polls are due next year and Modi’s party has never won a majority on its own. Several other AAP leaders have faced court cases over corruption allegations. A New Delhi court in February declined to proceed against Kejriwal and other party colleagues in one case. The matter is now before a higher court. – Reuters Italy to extradite suspected hacker MILAN: The Italian government has decided to extradite a Chinese man wanted by US authorities on hacking charges that include stealing medical research, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The government’s decision, which was first reported by Bloomberg, follows a ruling by an Italian court earlier this month which said Xu Zewei could be extradited. A representative for Italy’s government declined to comment. Xu’s lawyer Enrico Giarda said his client had not received any communications on the matter. Xu was arrested in Milan on July 3 at the request of US authorities, who have accused him of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his alleged role in computer piracy acts that took place between February 2020 and June 2021. Following his arrest, Xu’s lawyer said his client had been a victim of mistaken identity. The US Justice Department (DOJ) alleges that Xu has been hacking and stealing crucial research. The DOJ has said that Xu was part of a team of cyber experts who in 2020 targeted US-based universities, immunologists and virologists conducting research into vaccines, treatment and testing. The DOJ also alleges that in 2021, Xu was part of a cyber-espionage group known as Hafnium, which infiltrated thousands of computers worldwide, including in the US. – Reuters Japan raised military expenditure by 9.7%, to US$62.2 billion last year, equivalent to 1.4% of GDP, its highest share since 1958, while Taiwan increased its spending by 14% to US$18.2 billion. – AFP in the Gaza war after a January 2025 ceasefire deal, the researchers explained, while noting Israeli spending was still 97% higher than in 2022. In Asia and Oceania, spending reached US$681 billion, an 8.5% increase from 2024, the region’s largest annual increase since 2009. Scarazzato said the “major player” in the region was China, which has been increasing spending every year for the past three decades, and spent an estimated US$336 billion in 2025. “But perhaps what’s interesting is the response of South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, reacting to the threat perception,” he said.

The war in Ukraine saw both sides increase their military spending, with each recording the highest share of government spending allocated to the military. Russia’s spending rose 5.9% to US$190 billion, equivalent to 7.5% of GDP. Ukraine boosted spending by 20% to US$84.1 billion – a staggering 40% of GDP. Despite persistent tensions in the Middle East, expenditure in the region rose only marginally, by 0.1%, to US$218 billion. While most countries in the region increased spending, Israel and Iran recorded declines. In Iran, it fell 5.6% to US$7.4 billion, but this was mostly due to high annual inflation of 42%. In nominal terms, spending actually rose. Israel’s 4.9% drop to US$48.3 billion reflected a reduced intensity

approved spending of over US$1 trillion for this year, which could rise to US$1.5 trillion next year if President Donald Trump’s budget proposal passes. The main driver of the global increase was Europe – including Russia and Ukraine – where spending surged 14% to US$864 billion. “That is driven by two major factors. One is the war in Ukraine, and the other is the decreased US engagement with Europe,” Scarazzato said. He said the US is “pushing for Europe to take more care of its own defence”. Germany, the fourth-largest spender, raised expenditure by 24% in 2025 to US$114 billion. Spain also recorded a 50% jump to US$40.2 billion, pushing military spending above 2% of GDP for the first time since 1994.

Researcher Lorenzo Scarazzato said the decrease from the US was more than offset by increases in Europe and Asia, as the world marked “another year of wars and increased tensions”. Scarazzato said this was also reflected in the global “military burden”, the share of worldwide GDP devoted to military spending, which reached its highest level since 2009. “Everything points to a world that feels less secure and is spending on its military to compensate for the global landscape,” he said. The US spent US$954 billion, 7.5% less than in 2024, largely because no new financial military aid to Ukraine was approved. By contrast, Washington pledged a total of US$127 billion to Kyiv over the previous three years. But the decrease is expected to be short-lived as the US Congress has

STOCKHOLM: Military spending reached nearly US$2.9 trillion (RM11.5 trillion) last year, marking an 11th consecutive year of growth, researchers said yesterday, as insecurity and rearmament fuelled defence budgets. The three top spenders – the United States, China and Russia – spent a combined total of US$1.48 trillion, just over half of global expenditure. Spending rose by 2.9% compared with 2024, despite a reduction by the US, the world’s biggest spender, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

BLUSH BLOSSOMS ... Visitors taking pictures at Cherry Blossom Avenue, Asahi-gardens, in Teltow near Berlin. – AFPPIC

Technician dies during Shakira concert stage assembly RIO DE JANEIRO: A technician was killed here on Sunday while setting up a stage where pop superstar Shakira is set to perform a free concert this week. beach, where crowds are expected from around the world to see the Colombian singer perform on May 2 as part of her world tour. Workers managed to free the man and he was taken to hospital, but he did not survive, the state fire department said.

running, and when we looked, the structure was on the ground,” said Antonio Marcos Ferreira dos Santos, 51, who was on the beach at the time. “People were saying that a man had gotten trapped underneath. People rushed over to pull him out.” – AFP

“Unfortunately, the technician passed away in hospital,” concert organiser Bonus Track said. “Out of nowhere, we saw people

The man suffered crushing injuries to his legs in a lifting system, the fire department said in a statement.

Crews have been working for weeks to assemble a stage on the sands of the city’s Copacabana

BJP gains ground in India’s upper house NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party strengthened its position in parliament’s upper house after seven opposition lawmakers joined it, a parliamentary list showed yesterday, a shift that could ease the government’s passage of legislation. All seven defectors are from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by one of Modi’s most high-profile critics, Arvind Kejriwal. The party governs the northern state of Punjab and previously ran the national capital territory of Delhi. The defections leave the AAP with just three seats in the Rajya Sabha house, while Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party now has 113 members, 10 short of a simple majority in the 245 member chamber. Modi’s broader National Democratic Alliance coalition holds about 140 seats in the house, also known as the Council of States. Rajya Sabha members are elected for six-year terms by elected members of state legislatures and federal territories with legislatures, using a proportional representation system. Modi’s coalition rules 19 of India’s 28 states and two of its three federal territories with legislatures. The defectors include former

Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh and Raghav Chadha, the de facto leader of the group who gained prominence by raising middle-class concerns such as the high cost of food at airports. Chadha accused the party of being run by “corrupt and compromised” people. The AAP said the defectors were being opportunistic. All but one of the former AAP members were elected from Punjab,