Latest NATO leaders gathering for key summit

     The Hague (Netherlands), Jun 25 (AP) NATO member leaders, including US President Donald Trump, were gathering for a summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
    They are expected to agree upon a new defense spending target of 5 per cent of gross domestic product.
    But Spain announced that it wouldn't be able to reach the target by the new 2035 deadline, calling it “unreasonable”.
     Belgium signalled that it wouldn't get there either, and Slovakia said it reserves the right to decide its own defence spending.
    On Tuesday, Trump complained that “there's a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly”.
    
     Here is the latest:
    
     UK boosting its nuclear arsenal
     Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the UK will buy 12 US-made F35 fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons and join NATO's shared airborne nuclear mission.
    The government says it is “the biggest strengthening of the UK's nuclear posture in a generation”.
    The UK phased out air-dropped atomic weapons after the end of the Cold War, so all of its atomic weapons are submarine-based missiles.
    The use of nuclear weapons by the UK as part of the mission would require the authorisation of the alliance's nuclear planning group as well as the US president and British prime minister.
    NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte welcomed the announcement, saying it was “yet another robust British contribution to NATO”.
    
     NATO chief upbeat before summit
     NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says he's looking forward to what he describes as a “transformational” summit of NATO leaders as they seek to agree on a huge hike in defence spending.
    US President Donald Trump was arriving at the summit later Wednesday after raising questions a day earlier about his commitment to NATO's cornerstone mutual defence guarantee.
    Trump spent the night at a royal palace in The Hague as a guest of Dutch King Willem-Alexander.
    Spurred by Trump's demands that NATO allies share the burden of defence spending more fairly, leaders are set to pledge to spend 5 per cent of their economic output on defence by 2035, although Spain has said it will not meet that target.
    Trump insisted on Tuesday that “there's a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly”. (AP) PY
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)