France, June 25 -- World leaders met in The Hague on Tuesday for the start of the 2025 NATO summit. The goal was to show unity and support a major increase in defense spending as global security threats grow. But the first day was overshadowed by doubts about the U.S. commitment to NATO itself, protests, and power outages that shut down Dutch railways and raised concerns about possible sabotage.

The first day of the NATO summit in The Hague concluded with a formal dinner at the royal Huis ten Bosch Palace, where alliance leaders emphasised unity and the need for increased defence spending.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte opened the summit by stressing that higher military budgets are essential to prevent war, stating, "We need ammunit...