UK weighs up faster rise in defence budget

The UK is considering significant increases to its military spending, to three per cent of the public national income within the next three years. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, made the announcement at the Munich Security Conference at the weekend. This would mean additional spending of up to $19bn a year. Also: Supporters of the late Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, have laid flowers at his grave in Moscow while five European countries say they have evidence that Russia poisoned Mr Navalny with a rare toxin linked to the poison dart frog. And why the former US president Barack Obama thinks that aliens exist.

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