US NATO allies still short on defense spending aims

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. allies in Europe and Canada have increased defense spending for a sixth consecutive year but most of them will still fail to achieve a NATO spending ambition by the target date of 2024. That’s according to new forecasts being discussed by NATO defense ministers on Thursday. After Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, NATO allies agreed in 2014 to halt spending cuts and move toward spending 2% of GDP on their military budgets within a decade. France and No