Briefly

EUROPE

EU ministers approve fund to boost defense

Ministers from the European Union countries on Tuesday approved the creation of a 150-billion-euro ($170.2 billion) arms fund, the bloc's first large-scale defense investment program at the EU level, the Council of the EU said. The fund will be channeled through the new Security Action for Europe instrument, which offers competitively priced, long-maturity loans to member states that choose to invest in defense industrial production via joint procurement of priority capabilities, the council said. The European Commission proposed the fund in March as an essential part of its ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 package.

SOUTH KOREA

Lee holds big lead ahead of presidential election

Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of South Korea's liberal Democratic Party, held a big lead of more than 10 percentage points for the upcoming presidential election on June 3, a Flower Research survey showed on Wednesday. Lee won the support of 48.8 percent, leading Kim Moon-soo, candidate of the conservative People Power Party, who garnered 37.7 percent. Lee lost the 2022 election to former president Yoon Suk-yeol by the country's narrowest margin of 0.73 percentage points.

UNITED NATIONS

Global warming to top 1.5 C in 4 years: Report

The United Nations warned on Wednesday that there is a 70 percent chance that average warming from 2025 to 2029 would exceed the 1.5 C benchmark. The planet is therefore expected to remain at historic levels of warming after the two hottest years ever recorded in 2023 and 2024, according to an annual climate report published by the World Meteorological Organization, the UN's weather and climate agency. The 2015 Paris climate accord aimed at limiting global warming to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to peg it at 1.5 C.

Xinhua - Agencies