Us Military

Dozen US F-22 fighter planes land in Israel amid tensions with Iran

American news outlets also reported that a US official has confirmed that the fifth-generation aircraft landed at an Israeli air force airbase in South Israel

Hegseth warns Anthropic to let military use firm's AI tech as it sees fit

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic's CEO a Friday deadline to open the company's artificial intelligence technology for unrestricted military use or risk losing its government contract, according to a person familiar with their meeting Tuesday. Anthropic makes the chatbot Claude and is the last of its peers to not supply its technology to a new US military internal network. CEO Dario Amodei repeatedly has made clear his ethical concerns about unchecked government use of AI, including the dangers of fully autonomous armed drones and of AI-assisted mass surveillance that could track dissent. Defence officials warned they could designate Anthropic a supply chain risk or use the Defence Production Act to essentially give the military more authority to use its products even if it doesn't approve of how they are used, according to the person familiar with the meeting and a senior Pentagon official, who both were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of ...

Three killed as US military strikes alleged drug boat in Caribbean Sea

The US military said it killed three people Monday in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Trump administration's months-long campaign against alleged traffickers. Monday's attack brought the death toll to at least 151 people since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" in small vessels in early September. As with most of the military's statements on the more than 40 known strikes, US Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs but posted a video on X that showed a small boat with outboard engines being destroyed. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," Southern Command stated in a post on X. "Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action." President Donald Trump

Iran prepares nuclear counterproposal as Trump weighs military strikes

Iranian FM did not give specific timing for when Iran would deliver its counterproposal to Witkoff and Kushner but said a diplomatic deal could be achieved 'in a very short period of time'

US military strikes another alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific, killing 3

The US military said Friday that it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. US Southern Command said on social media that the boat "was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations." It said the strike killed three people. A video linked to the post shows a boat floating in the water before bursting into flames. Friday's attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration's strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 148 people in at least 43 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. President Donald Trump has said the US is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing "narcoterrorists." Critics have questioned the overa

Air Force One will be painted red, white, blue as Trump hinted: US military

A red, white and blue colour scheme championed by President Donald Trump will become the new look for Air Force One, the US military said Thursday. The Air Force said a "red, white, gold and dark blue paint scheme" will be used for the updated jet that is slated to serve as Air Force One as well as other, smaller jets that routinely fly other top government officials. The military released a rendering of the new look that matches an airplane model that has been seen in the Oval Office for meetings with foreign leaders. Boeing is in the process of modifying two of its 747-800 aircraft that are slated to replace the existing fleet of two aging Boeing 747-200 aircraft that the president currently uses and that take on the Air Force One call sign when the president is aboard. In 2018, Trump directed that those new jets would ditch the iconic Kennedy-era blue-and-white design for a white-and-navy colour scheme. Instead, the top half of the plane would have been white, while the bottom,

The War Within a War: How Vietnam shaped the civil rights movement

A new history shows how the Vietnam War became a frontline of America's civil rights struggle, exposing deep racial injustice within the US military

Maduro raid shows 'full might of US military', means 'we are feared': Trump

President Donald Trump celebrated the special forces members who ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, saying last month's audacious raid means "the entire world saw what the full military might" of the US can do and ensured "we are feared" by potential enemies around the world. Addressing soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, one of the world's largest military bases, Trump declared, "Your commander in chief supports you totally." Then, drawing on one of his own campaign slogans, he implored them, "When needed, you're going to fight, fight, fight. You're going to win, win, win." The president and first lady Melania Trump also met privately with military families. But the visit felt more like a political rally than an official visit to celebrate the US armed forces. Trump's lauding of the raid that toppled Maduro came only after he called to the stage Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chair who has the president's endorsement as he now runs for Senate

US strike on alleged drug-trafficking boat kills two in Eastern Pacific

The US military said on Thursday that it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. US Southern Command said on social media that the boat "was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations." It said the strike killed two people. A video linked to the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames. The strike was announced just hours after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that "some top cartel drug-traffickers" in the region "have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean." However, Hegseth did not provide any details or information to back up this claim, made in a post on his personal account on social media. Neither US Southern Command nor the Pentagon would answer follow-up questions about Hegseth's claim. Thursday's strike raises t

Turkey seeks to broker talks between US-Iran to avert military escalation

Turkey is attempting to bring US and Iranian officials to the negotiating table in hopes of easing the threat of US military action against Iran. Neither the US nor Iran has confirmed whether they plan to take part in any negotiations. Two Turkish officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said Turkey is trying to organize a meeting between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian leaders. The meeting could take place as soon as the end of the week, one of the officials said. The US military has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Middle East, but it remains unclear whether US President Donald Trump would decide to use force against the Iranian government, as he has suggested he might do in retribution for their devastating crackdown on last month's protests and as he presses for a deal on Iran's nuclear program. "We have talks going on with Iran, we'll see how it all works out

Europe cannot defend itself without US support: Nato chief Mark Rutte

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte insisted on Monday that Europe is incapable of defending itself without US military support and would have to more than double current military spending targets to be able to do so. "If anyone thinks here... that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can't," Rutte told EU lawmakers in Brussels. Europe and the United States "need each other," he said. Tensions are festering within NATO over US President Donald Trump's renewed threats in recent weeks to annex Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. Trump also said that he was slapping new tariffs on Greenland's European backers, but later dropped his threats after a "framework" for a deal over the mineral-rich island was reached, with Rutte's help. Few details of the agreement have emerged. The 32-nation military organisation is bound together by a mutual defence clause, Article 5 of NATO's founding Washington trea

Death toll from US strikes on suspected drug boats rises to 126 people

The death toll from the Trump administration's strikes on alleged drug boats is up to 126 people, with the inclusion of those presumed dead after being lost at sea, the US military confirmed Monday. The figure includes 116 people who were killed immediately in at least 36 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, US Southern Command said. Ten others are believed dead because searchers did not locate them following a strike. Eight of the presumed dead had jumped off boats when American forces attacked a trio of vessels accused of trafficking drugs on December 30, the military said. The number was not released previously, though the military said when announcing those strikes that the US Coast Guard had searched for survivors. The two other people presumed dead were on boats that were attacked on October 27 and last Friday. President Donald Trump has said the US is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has justified the

Why Greenland has drawn America's strategic interest for over a century

From Cold War defence pacts to Trump's annexation threats, the Arctic island has often found itself at the centre to Washington's strategic calculations

US Army issues standby orders for a possible Minneapolis deployment

The US Army has ordered several dozen additional active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minneapolis if needed, a defense official said Wednesday, amid protests over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement crackdown. The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, confirmed that members of an Army military police brigade who are stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina have been given prepare-to-deploy orders. If deployed, the troops would likely offer support to civil authorities in Minneapolis, according to the official, who stressed that such standby orders are issued regularly and they do not necessarily mean that the troops would end up going. About 1,500 active-duty soldiers from the Army's 11th Airborne Division based in Alaska also have received similar standby orders. President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used 19th century law that would allow him to use active-du

Prez Sheinbaum addresses concerns over US military activity near Mexico

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quelled concerns on Monday about two recent movements of the US military in the vicinity of Mexico that have the country on edge since the attack on Venezuela. On Friday, the US Federal Aviation Administration urged US aircraft operators to exercise caution when flying over the eastern Pacific Ocean near Mexico, Central America and parts of South America, citing military activities. The president said her administration waited a couple hours until the US government provided written assurance that there would not be any US military flights over Mexican territory. She said the US government had not given Mexico a heads up about any military operations. The US government provided precise coordinates for where it was operating and Mexican authorities issued a statement saying the FAA advisory had no implications for Mexico. Then, images of a US military transport airplane on the tarmac at Toluca's airport about 63 kilometres west of Mexico City began

US sends aircraft to Greenland base amid tensions over Trump's takeover bid

NORAD routinely conducts sustained, dispersed operations in the defence of North America, through one or all three NORAD regions (Alaska, Canada, and the continental US)

Venezuela crisis unlikely to hit India oil prices in near term: Crisil

On January 3, the US launched a large-scale operation in Venezuela's capital Caracas and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores

Why Havana Syndrome is back in focus after a 'secret device' test by the US

A covertly acquired device by Pentagon that emits pulsed radio waves is under US testing, reopening questions around Havana Syndrome even as officials say evidence of a foreign attack remains limited

Venezuela holds funeral in Caracas for soldiers killed in US operation

Venezuela's military held a funeral in the capital Wednesday for some of the dozens of soldiers killed during the US operation that captured then-President Nicols Maduro. Music from a military orchestra echoed over the cemetery as family members and soldiers marched behind a row of caskets. Men carried the wooden caskets cloaked in the Venezuelan flag past rows of uniformed officers. Thank you for letting them embrace a military career, a military commander, Rafael Murillo, said to families surrounding him at the cemetery on the city's south side. The men were honored with a gun salute as the caskets were lowered into the ground and their loved ones wailed. Armed National Guard members patrolled parts of the cemetery for hours before and during the ceremony that followed an emotional wake. The funeral came a day after acting President Delcy Rodrguez declared a seven-day mourning period for the fallen officers. Venezuela's military has said at least 24 Venezuelan officers were kill

'History will reveal traitors': Maduro's son after US takes Venezuelan Prez

Maduro Guerra, a lawmaker from La Guaira state and a member of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said the party would remain united despite the recent developments