Page 2 - Us Military

US military strike on alleged drug boat kills 4 in eastern Pacific

The US military said Wednesday that it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people on the same day the House rejected efforts to limit President Donald Trump's power to use military force against drug cartels. US Southern Command stated on social media that the vessel was operated by narco-terrorists along a known trafficking route. The military didn't provide evidence behind the allegations but posted a video of a boat moving through water before there was an explosion. The attack brought the total number of known boat strikes to 26 while at least 99 people have been killed, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels. The administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign. The first attack in early ...

US military strikes on 3 boats in eastern Pacific Ocean, kill eight people

The US military said Monday that it attacked three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of eight people as scrutiny over the boat strikes is intensifying in Congress. The military said in a statement on social media that the strikes targeted designated terrorist organisations, killing three people in the first vessel, two in the second boat and three in the third boat. It didn't provide evidence of their alleged drug trafficking but posted a video of a boat moving through water before exploding. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels. But the Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign, which has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes since early September, including a follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to the ...

America needs allies to counter China's industrial, military expansion

Tomahawk missile case highlights US limits against China. To maintain security and influence, US must collaborate with allies economically, technologically, and militarily to counter China's rise

US nuclear bombers join Japan in show of force after China-Russia drills

The flight of two US B-52 bombers with three Japanese F-35s and three F-15s marked the first US show of military presence since China began its exercises in the region last week

US House passes defence bill to raise troop pay, overhaul weapons purchases

The House voted to pass a sweeping defence policy bill on Wednesday that authorises USD 900 billion in military programmes, including a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defence buys weapons. The bill's passage comes at a time of increasing friction between the Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump's administration over the management of the military. The annual National Defense Authorization Act typically gained bipartisan backing, and the White House has signalled "strong support" for the must-pass legislation, saying it is in line with Trump's national security agenda. Yet tucked into the over-3,000-page bill are several measures that push back against the Department of Defence, including a demand for more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean and support for allies in Europe, such as Ukraine. Overall, the sweeping bill calls for a 3.8 per cent pay raise for many military members as well as housing and facility improvements o

New warfare era: AI, bioweapons escalate US-China security fears

Deterrence will be necessary. The biggest reason to build a military that can win the wars of the future is to prevent those wars from ever happening

US judge questions Trump's authority over California National Guard troops

A federal judge on Friday sharply questioned the Trump administration's authority and need to maintain command of California National Guard troops it first deployed to Los Angeles in June following violent protests. At a hearing in San Francisco, US District Judge Charles Breyer suggested conditions in Los Angeles had changed since the initial deployment, and he questioned whether the administration could control state Guard troops forever under its interpretation of federal law. "No crisis lasts forever," he said. "I think experience teaches us that crises come and crises go. That's the way it works." He pressed an attorney for the government for any evidence that state authorities were either unable or unwilling to help keep federal personnel and property in the area safe and noted President Donald Trump had access to tens of thousands of active duty troops in California. California officials have asked Breyer to issue a preliminary injunction returning control of remaining ...

Four killed as US military conducts another strike on suspected drug boat

US Southern Command announced that it conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, following a pause of almost three weeks. Thursday's strike is the 22nd the US military has carried out against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration claimed were trafficking drugs. There were four casualties in Thursday's strike, according to the social media post, bringing the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people. In a video that accompanied the announcement, a small boat can be seen moving across the water before it is suddenly consumed by a large explosion. The video then zooms out to show the boat covered in flames and billowing smoke. The strike was conducted the same day Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the US Capitol as lawmakers began an investigation into the very first strike carried out by the military on September 2. The sessions came after a repor

Trump holds Oval Office meeting on Venezuela amid questions on US strikes

The deliberations came as the US has stepped up pressure on Venezuela through strikes on drug boats and a significant military build-up in the Caribbean under 'Operation Southern Spear'

US halts all asylum decisions after shooting of National Guard members

The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people travelling on Afghan passports, seizing on the National Guard shooting in Washington to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration. The suspect in Wednesday's shooting near the White House that killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, both of the West Virginia National Guard, is facing charges including first-degree murder. Investigators are seeking to find a motive for the attack. Rahmanullah Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and was granted it this year under President Donald Trump, according to a group that assists with resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in their country. The Republican administration is promising to pause entry to the United States from some poor nations and review Afghans and other legal ...

US adds 500 more National Guard troops in Washington after 2 members shot

Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation's capital were shot Wednesday just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence that the mayor described as a targeted attack. FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the Guard members were hospitalised in critical condition. The presence of the National Guard in the nation's capital has been a flashpoint issue for months, fuelling a court fight and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration's use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem. Jeffrey Carroll, an executive assistant DC police chief, said investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant "came around the corner" and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators. "This was a targeted shooting," Bowser said. West Virginia Gov Patrick Morrisey initially said the troops had died, but later walked back the stateme

Kash Patel under scrutiny for use of SWAT teams to protect his girlfriend

The FBI director's travel on government jets has contributed to growing questions inside the administration about whether he is using taxpayer-funded resources inappropriately

Trump slams Democrats for 'seditious behaviour' in video to US troops

Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of 'seditious behaviour' after they released a video asking US troops to uphold the Constitution and refuse illegal orders

Guam hosts Australia, India, Japan, US forces in Exercise Malabar 2025

This year marks the 29th iteration of the Malabar exercise, which began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the United States and India

Trump calls Democrats' military video 'seditious' and punishable by death

President Donald Trump on Thursday accused half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition punishable by DEATH after the lawmakers all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community called on US military members to uphold the constitution and defy illegal orders. The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Sen Elissa Slotkin's X account. In it, the six lawmakers Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan speak directly to US service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are under enormous stress and pressure right now. The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution, Slotkin wrote in the X post. Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words. It marked another flashpoint in the political rhetoric that at times has been thematic in his administrations, as well as among some in his MAGA base. Some Democrats accused him o

US military's 20th strike on alleged drug-running boat kills 4 in Caribbean

The U.S. military's 20th strike on a boat accused of transporting drugs has killed four people in the Caribbean Sea, a Pentagon official said Friday, coming as the Trump administration escalates its campaign in South American waters. The latest strike happened Monday, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. It brings the death toll from the strikes that began in September to 80, with the Mexican Navy suspending its search for a survivor of a strike in late October after four days. The attack, which occurred the same day that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced two strikes had been carried out on Sunday, comes as the Trump administration expands the U.S. military's already large presence in the region by bringing in the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier. The nation's most advanced warship is expected to arrive in the coming days after traveling from the Mediterranean Sea. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on ...

US govt shutdown forces local workers at overseas bases to go without pay

The longest US government shutdown on record is doing more than grind activities to a halt at home; an ocean away in Europe, local workers at US military bases have started to feel the pain. At least 2,000 people working at overseas bases in Europe have had their salaries interrupted since the shutdown began almost six weeks ago. In some cases, governments hosting the US bases have stepped in to foot the bill, expecting the United States to eventually make good. In others, including in Italy and Portugal, workers have simply kept working unpaid as the gridlock in Washington drags on. It's an absurd situation because nobody has responses, nobody feels responsible, said Angelo Zaccaria, a union coordinator at the Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy. This is having dramatic effects on us Italian workers, he told The Associated Press. An array of needed jobs ----------------------------- The jobs foreign nationals do at US bases around the world range from food service, constructio

Trump threatens US military action in Nigeria over killing of Christians

The US government will also immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, Trump said in a post on Truth Social

New Pentagon policy undercuts trans troops' ability to ask to stay in army

The Pentagon has rolled out a new policy that will severely undercut the ability for transgender troops who have been banned from the armed forces by the Trump administration to turn to boards of their peers to argue for their right to stay in the military, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. If military separation boards decide to allow transgender service members to remain in uniform, commanders can override that decision, according to an Oct 8 memo to all the services from the Pentagon's undersecretary for personnel and readiness, Anthony Tata. That breaks with longstanding policy that boards act independently. It is the Pentagon's latest step to drive transgender troops out of the armed forces following an executive order from President Donald Trump. He and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in what they say is an effort to make the military more lethal. The adminstration's policies have faced pushback in the .

US troops to be paid despite shutdown, says Vance, seeks Democrats' backing

Vice President JD Vance said he believes US military members will be paid at the end of the week, though he did not specify how the Trump administration will reconfigure funding as pain from the second-longest shutdown spreads nationwide. The funding fight in Washington gained new urgency this week as millions of Americans face the prospect of losing food assistance, more federal workers miss their first full paycheck and recurring delays at airports snarl travel plans. We do think that we can continue paying the troops, at least for now, Vance told reporters after lunch with Senate Republicans at the Capitol. We've got food stamp benefits that are set to run out in a week. We're trying to keep as much open as possible. We just need the Democrats to actually help us out. The vice president reaffirmed Republicans' strategy of trying to pick off a handful of Senate Democrats to vote for stopgap funding to reopen the government. But nearly a month into the shutdown, it hasn't worked. .