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Defense
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One outcome is clear as Washington reaches for a budget deal in the debt ceiling standoff. The ambitious COVID-19 era of government spending is giving way to a new focus on stemming deficits. As President Joe Biden and congressional leaders prepare to meet again soon, their staffs are working on a budget deal. The White House has threatened to veto Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling bill, which it says includes “devastating cuts” to federal programs. But the administration has signaled a willingness to consider other budget caps. It's a turnaround from just a few years ago when Congress passed trillions in emergency aid to halt the pandemic and rebuild the U.S. economy.
May 13, 2023 Poland’s Defense Ministry says it has detected an object in its airspace that flew in from the direction of Belarus and that it was probably an observation balloon. The ministry said Saturday that radar contact with the object was lost near the town of Rypin in central Poland. The ministry said that the Territorial Defense Forces were deployed to search for the object. The development follows two other known incursions into Poland’s air space since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which lies on Poland’s eastern border.
May 13, 2023The Pakistani army says a raid on militants in the southwest in response to an earlier attack on soldiers left seven troops, six militants and a civilian dead. The operation continued for two days after a group of militants attacked a camp of soldiers in the Qila Saifullah district of of northern Balochistan province early Friday. The militants also held hostage three families, including women and children, at the residential area of the army camp. A statement by the military’s media wing Saturday said seven soldiers, six militants and a civilian were killed. A woman was also wounded during the operation.
May 13, 2023-
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spent two days in Europe this week as part of her second international trade trip this year. Whitmer spoke with The Associated Press upon returning to Michigan on Friday. She had visited Austria to meet with business leaders before heading to Latvia. She met with Latvian President Egils Levits and Michigan national guard troops stationed in the country. She used the visit to show support for Ukraine in what she called “Russia's illegal war.” Whitmer has been frequently mentioned as a future presidential candidate but dismissed any speculation that the overseas trips may signal any future ambitions.
May 12, 2023 Independent media and a villager say soldiers from Myanmar's miliary government have killed 19 residents of a village near where soldiers were attacked by resistance forces opposed to army rule. They say the bodies of the victims, including four children, were then burned. Reports of the killings, along with what were said to be photos and videos of the remains of the victims, surfaced on Friday as a human rights monitoring group, Myanmar Witness, released a report charging that the military is deliberately carrying out atrocities, including beheadings, to instill terror in those fighting the army and in a public already dismayed by the military’s barbarity.
May 12, 2023The explosion of violence in Sudan comes after years of building tensions between the country's two most powerful armed forces. Senior officers from both the military and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have described how each side accumulated power and shifted alliances, leading to the eruption of all fighting between them last month — two top generals fighting against each other. Neither wanted to be the loser in any political deal handing over power to civilians, and encroached on the other. One official says that opposition to the RSF was so high within the army that it even fueled a brief mutiny.
May 12, 2023-
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Thailand votes Sunday in an election many see as an opportunity to break free from military-led governments that have been in power for almost a decade. But the opposition party expected to win may find its way thwarted by the conservative establishment. The apparent favorite, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is the daughter of a populist prime minister ousted by the army 17 years ago. Seeking to remain in office is the former general who came to power by another coup nine years ago. One party surging in the polls boldly advocates reform of the military and monarchy, a sensitive and legally perilous subject. The final choice of who leads the next government may rest with unelected senators voting as an establishment bloc.
May 12, 2023 -
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Voters disaffected by nine years of plodding rule by a coup-making army general are expected to deliver a strong mandate for change in Thailand’s general election Sunday. But a predicted victory by the allies of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster by coup 17 years ago plunged the country into prolonged instability, has caused concern for an unhindered democratic transition. Dissatisfaction with incumbent Prayuth Chan-ocha is high. But weariness and even anger at the military’s habitual interference in politics is a major factor. The favored prime minister candidate appears to be Thaksin’s daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra. But the final choice for who leads the next government may rest with senators appointed under military rule.
May 12, 2023 -
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Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed two militant commanders, while a 70-year-old man has been killed by Palestinian rocket fire in the first fatality inside Israel during a current wave of fighting. The continuing bloodshed, which has left 30 Palestinians dead, came despite Egyptian efforts to broker a cease-fire. It is the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in months, with at least 10 civilians — mostly women and children — among the dead. The conflagration, now in its third day, comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the occupied West Bank.
May 11, 2023 -
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Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is facing backlash for remarks he made about white nationalists in an interview about his blockade of military nominees. He said that while Democrats may consider such people to be racists, “I call them Americans.” Speaking Thursday after days of criticism, Tuberville said he had been misinterpreted and that Democrats wrongly label supporters of former President Donald Trump as "white nationalists." The Alabama senator continues to hold up a slew of military appointments over his opposition to Pentagon abortion policies, which provide travel funds and support for troops and dependents who seek abortions but are based in states where they are now illegal.
May 11, 2023 -
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Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ordered the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose arrest earlier this week sparked a wave of violence across the country by his supporters. For this nation accustomed to military takeovers, political crises and violence, the turmoil is unprecedented. Clashes with police first erupted after Khan’s dramatic arrest on Tuesday when he appeared in an Islamabad court to face graft charges. At least 10 people have been killed in the violence and dozens were injured, along with more than 200 police officers. Pakistan's chief justice, while ordering Khan's release, urged the former premier to appeal to his supporters to remain peaceful. After the ruling, Khan left in a heavily protected motorcade for a secure location.
May 11, 2023 -
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The Army's training hub in Georgia is now officially called Fort Moore. The Army completed a name change Thursday that's been a year in the making at the base known previously as Fort Benning. The Army post outside Columbus trains soldiers to fight in the infantry and in tank crews and is home to the elite Army Ranger School. It's one of nine Army posts named for Confederate officers chosen to receive new names. The Georgia post had been named since its founding in 1918 for Henry L. Benning, a secessionist and senior Confederate officer. The name Fort Moore honors a couple: decorated Vietnam veteran Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia.
May 11, 2023 -
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The cycle has become grimly familiar. Over the past three days, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have killed 28 people, including senior Palestinian militants and children as young as 4. Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired some 600 rockets toward Israel, killing one person, setting off warning sirens as far north as the coastal city of Tel Aviv and sending tens of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters. The most violent conflagration in months between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza has pitted the Israeli military against Islamic Jihad, Gaza's second-largest militant group after Hamas. Here’s a look at the more militant Islamic Jihad that’s taking the lead in this round of fighting.
May 11, 2023 Ukraine's air defenses are making great strides in their effort to take down Russian missiles and drones. Since Russia resumed regular attacks on Kyiv on April 28 after a nearly two-month lull, the units have intercepted every drone and missile fired at the capital. It’s a vast improvement since the opening days of the war, when waves of Russian missiles and aircraft eluded many Ukrainian defenses and inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv’s air force. The gains are happening with the help of Western weapons and growing experience. The bolstered defenses are saving infrastructure and lives and preventing Russia from achieving air superiority — a critical step as Ukrainians prepare for a counteroffensive.
May 11, 2023
