German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has defended his country’s defence budget against renewed criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump as NATO leaders are due to gather in Ankara for a two-day summit on Tuesday.

“We’re looking at the numbers, and they are pointing up,” Wadephul told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio.

Responding to demands from Trump, who has repeatedly complained about unfair burden-sharing within the defence alliance, NATO allies committed last year to raise core defence spending from two to 3.

Wadephul said Germany was on track to reach the 3.

“We are spending more than many of our partners. What Germany is doing is also being noticed in Washington,” he stressed.

Trump has continued to pressure allies, branding their defence spending as “ridiculous” just days before the summit, singling out Germany in particular.

The United Nations and partners are expanding relief operations following Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes, while supporting the Government’s response to the humanitarian crisis.

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric confirmed the update during a news conference at UN headquarters in New York on Monday.

“We and our partners are continuing to scale up assistance to impacted people by the earthquakes, in coordination with the Government,” Dujarric said.

Two earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude, struck north-central Venezuela on June 24, only 39 seconds apart, causing widespread devastation.

A preliminary assessment by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimated direct physical damage to housing and infrastructure at approximately $37 billion.

The estimate includes about $24 billion in damage to homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and other public facilities.

A further $13 billion covers damage to infrastructure, with telecommunications suffering losses of about $5 billion, ahead of energy facilities and road networks.

The assessment relies on risk modelling rather than field inspections and excludes wider economic losses, disrupted services, emergency costs and future reconstruction expenses.

UN officials warned that the overall economic impact was therefore expected to increase significantly.

The UN Children’s Fund estimated that about 650,000 people, including 234,000 children, require urgent humanitarian assistance.

Around one-third of schools across the Capital District, including Caracas, sustained damage, disrupting education for thousands of pupils.

UNICEF has deployed emergency teams and delivered 68 tonnes of relief supplies, including medical materials, water, sanitation equipment and essential household items.

The agency has appealed for $52 million to expand healthcare, nutrition, safe water, child protection and education services for affected families.

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said search and rescue operations continued across the worst-hit communities.

Medical personnel, engineers and other specialist teams are arriving, while a humanitarian needs assessment is nearing completion.

The assessment will guide an updated response plan and determine additional funding requirements for relief operations.

Government figures showed more than 3,340 people have died, over 16,740 were injured and approximately 17,000 residents remain homeless.

“The authorities in Caracas are leading the response, focusing on supporting displaced people and addressing urgent humanitarian needs,” Dujarric said.

At least 79 temporary camps have been established in stadiums and sports centres to shelter displaced residents and distribute humanitarian assistance.

UN agencies are already operating in three camps while assessing additional locations requiring humanitarian support.

Health partners are providing primary healthcare, mental health support, psychosocial care, and sexual and reproductive health services where necessary.

Humanitarian officials said access to safe water and sanitation continued improving through hygiene kit distributions and expanded sanitation facilities at temporary shelters.

The Humanitarian Response Plan for Venezuela has received $274 million, alongside more than $32 million from private sector donors and additional in-kind contributions

Police in Singapore have seized a multi-million dollar luxury home that was allegedly bought using proceeds from smuggling Nvidia artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

The property last changed hands for 55 million Singapore dollars (£32m; $42.

The home was seized as part of a probe into the alleged illegal trade in servers containing highly sought-after advanced Nvidia chips, which are subject to US export controls.

The US Department of Justice has previously flagged Singapore as a key transit hub to conceal illegal shipments to China.

The police said an order was in place to stop the property being sold during the investigation.

Located a short walk from Singapore’s famous Botanic Gardens, the property sits in a prime district of the land-scarce city-state.

Wei Zhaolun, who is also known as Alan Wei, will be charged with money laundering for allegedly using around 38 million Singapore dollars of criminal proceeds to fund the purchase of the house, police said.

He is the chief executive of Aperia Group, which sells servers and other tech hardware to businesses. Authorities have also seized around one million Singapore dollars held in bank accounts.

The police said a total of four people, including Wei, have been accused since February 2025 over fraud and other alleged crimes linked to the case.

The individuals allegedly placed orders for servers from global suppliers under the pretence that they would be used by companies they worked for.

Authorities have not said where the servers were shipped to.

The police said the servers in the case were bought from three suppliers – Dell, Super Micro Computer and Asus. If convicted of fraud, the four, who face multiple charges, could face jail time of up to 20 years.

Singapore-based tech companies, Luxuriate Your Life and three firms under the Aperia Group, also face charges in what the police say is the first instance of corporate entities being prosecuted under these investigations.

The police said it holds a “zero-tolerance stance towards such offences” and will act against anyone who violates Singapore’s laws to protect the country’s integrity as a trusted global business hub.

The US and Singapore have cracked down on the illegal shipping of Nvidia chips since Washington restricted their export in 2022 over concerns that they could be used by the Chinese military.

Authorities in Singapore said in 2025 that servers containing chips under US export controls were believed to have been shipped via the island-state.

The US has since approved the sale of some of Nvidia’s semiconductors to China, under certain conditions.