Submit your Article

The United States plans to reduce the number of personnel it has stationed within several key NATO command centers, a move that could intensify concerns in Europe about Washington's commitment to the alliance, three sources familiar with the matter said this week, Reuters reported. 

As part of the move, which the Trump administration has communicated to some European capitals, the U.S. will eliminate roughly 200 positions from the NATO entities that oversee and plan the alliance's military and intelligence operations, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations.

Among the bodies that will be affected, said the sources, are the UK-based NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre and the Allied Special Operations Forces Command in Brussels. Portugal-based STRIKFORNATO, which oversees some maritime operations, will also be cut, as will several other similar NATO entities, the sources said, according to Reuters. 

There is little question that the man who killed Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 will be convicted when the court delivers its verdict – Tetsuya Yamagami himself pleaded guilty to the crime at the trial's opening last year, BBC reported. 

The 45-year-old is set to be sentenced on Wednesday but what punishment he deserves has divided public opinion in Japan. While many see Yamagami as a cold-blooded murderer, some sympathise with his troubled upbringing.

Prosecutors have demanded life in prison for the "grave act" of shooting Abe dead. The former PM was a huge figure in public life in Japan, where there is virtually no gun crime - and the country was left stunned by his assassination, according to BBC. 

The European Parliament is planning to suspend approval of the US trade deal agreed in July, according to sources close to its international trade committee, BBC reported. 

The suspension is set to be announced in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday.

The move would mark another escalation in tensions between the US and Europe, as Donald Trump ratchets up his efforts to acquire Greenland, threatening new tariffs over the issue on the weekend, according to BBC. 

Australia's lower house of parliament has voted in favour of a national gun buyback programme, firearms and hate speech reforms, a month after the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach, BBC reported. 

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the gunmen would not have legally had access to firearms if had such legislation was in place prior to the attack. 

The individuals who killed 15 people on 14 December had "hate in their hearts and guns in their hands," Burke told parliament, according to BBC.