- Nigeria refuse to play in Libya as Algeria, Cameroon qualify
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- Leweling rockets Germany past Dutch and into Nations League quarterfinals
- Kolo Muani double fires France to win in Belgium
- Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League amid high security
- UN peacekeepers to 'stay in all positions' in Lebanon
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- 'Unique' Ronaldo an example to everyone, says Martinez
- New lawsuits against Sean Combs allege sex assault, including of minor
- Italy begins migrant transfers to Albania with first group of 16
- Google signs nuclear power deal with startup Kairos
- Carsley open to foreign England manager amid Guardiola links
- Pogba hungry to have his football cake after doping ban
- India and Canada expel top envoys in Sikh separatist killing row
- Mbappe says victim of 'fake news' after 'rape' report in Sweden
- Lebanon says 21 killed in strike on northern village
- Netanyahu vows no mercy after deadly Hezbollah drone strike
- Russia could be able to attack NATO by 2030: German intelligence
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- Clarke backs Scotland to bounce back from 'tough' run
- Harris, Trump target crucial Pennsylvania as US vote looms
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- Lebanese Red Cross says 18 killed in strike in north
- Mendy borrowed money from Man City team-mates for legal fees
- Palestinian officials say Israeli forces kill two in West Bank
- Football leagues, unions file EU complaint against FIFA in calendar dispute
- Nigeria boycott AFCON qualifier in Libya after 'inhumane treatment'
- India to recall top envoy to Canada: foreign ministry
- Hezbollah, Israeli troops in 'violent clashes' after drone strike
- China insists won't renounce 'use of force' to take Taiwan as drills end
- Painkiller sale plan to US gives France major headache
- Italy begins landmark migrant transfers to Albania
- Russia jails French researcher for three years
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- New Zealand 4-0 up in America's Cup but British show signs of life
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years prison for French researcher
- 'Innocent' British nerve agent victim caught in global murder plot: inquiry
- Afghan Taliban vow to implement media ban on images of living things
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years, 3 months jail for French researcher
- England ready for Pakistan's spin assault in second Test
- New Zealand's Ravindra excited for India Tests with father in crowd
- India's capital bans fireworks to curb air pollution
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- FIFA to open 'global dialogue' on transfer system after Diarra ruling
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Starmer vows to cut red tape as he urges foreign investors to 'back' UK
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- 'Not viable': Barcelona turns against surging tourism
- Hezbollah says targeted Israeli naval base after deadly drone strike
Germany says EU won't reach ammo target for Ukraine
Germany on Tuesday deepened the despondency around Western efforts to back Ukraine by saying the EU would not reach a target to supply Kyiv with a million artillery shells by March.
The pessimistic assessment came at a bleak time for Ukraine after its counter-offensive failed to regain territory and as Israel's war with Hamas distracts its key allies.
The European Union pledged last year to deliver one million desperately needed howitzer rounds to Ukraine by March 2024 to help Kyiv battle against Russia's invading forces.
So far, EU nations have only managed to provide 300,000 rounds from their existing stocks.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said countries have placed joint orders for 180,000 more 155-millimetre shells, but that figure is due only by the end of next year.
"Unfortunately, the cautionary voices are now right," German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said at a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels on Monday.
"The one million will not be reached. We have to assume that."
Borrell said a major issue was that European defence firms were exporting about 40 percent of production to other countries.
"Maybe what we have to do is to try to shift his production to the priority one, which is Ukrainian. That would be quite a change," he said.
EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said efforts to ramp up production were having an impact and the EU should be able to turn out a million shells a year.
- EU must deliver -
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said his country had placed a 280-million-euro ($303 million) order for ammunition -- "the biggest procurement in Europe at this very moment".
"Look at Russia. They are producing today more than ever. They are getting shells from North Korea. Europe cannot say that Russia and North Korea can deliver and we cannot," he said.
"We don't have the luxury to say we are tired, because Ukrainians are not tired," Pevkur told AFP.
The EU's struggles to make good on promised deliveries comes as opposition in the US Congress has thrown doubt on key ally Washington's ability to sustain supplies.
"Certainly the war is lasting more than expected," Borrell said.
"We have to continue providing support stubbornly, more of the same."
Brussels says that together with EU member states it has funnelled military support worth 27 billion euros to Ukraine since Moscow invaded in February 2022.
But a plan to provide guaranteed support for Kyiv over the longer-term has stumbled.
Borrell in July proposed a new 20-billion-euro defence fund over the next four years to help cover arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The plan was part of a broader G7 vow to provide Kyiv long-term security commitments to help it ward off Russian aggression.
Discussions over the EU initiative have stalled amid doubts from key member states.
Germany -- which last week said it would double its own funding for Ukraine to eight billion euros next year -- is reluctant to commit more money to the EU pot.
Hungary, Russia's closest ally in the bloc, has also expressed scepticism over the plan.
Borrell said the EU would present a revised plan to Ukraine by the end of the month ahead of a debate by EU leaders in December on approving it.
P.Costa--AMWN