The U.S. is planning to send almost 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, according to a Trump administration official. Defense Secretary James Mattis could announce the deployment—the largest so far under President Donald Trump—as early as next week. The military’s top commander in Afghanistan has said he needs more forces to fight a reinvigorated Taliban insurgency…
One U.S. military member was killed and two others were wounded Thursday in Somalia, when they were attacked by small-arms fire on a mission about 40 miles outside of Mogadishu, the Pentagon announced. The operation was against al Qaeda-linked militants in the country, officials said Friday. “U.S. forces are assisting partner forces to counter al…
A bipartisan $1.1 trillion spending bill that will keep the federal government running through September was approved Wednesday by the House. The bill does not include any funding for President Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, secures funding for Planned Parenthood, and adds $15 billion to the military’s budget. The National Endowment…
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a shutdown of the U.S. government would be necessary in order to fix the “mess” in Congress. “The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there!” Trump tweeted. “We either elect more Republican Senators…
The U.S. military on Wednesday started moving parts of a controversial missile defense system to a site in South Korea where it will be installed to help protect against threats from North Korea, as tensions rise over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear weapons programs. Hundreds of local residents protested against the construction of the system, known…
The “mother of all bombs” unleashed Thursday in Afghanistan by the U.S. left 36 Islamic State terror group fighters dead but killed no civilians, according to government officials in Afghanistan. The U.S. has been concentrated on fighting the estimated 600 to 800 ISIS forces in Afghanistan while also supporting Afghans in their battle against the…
On Wednesday, President Trump publicly contradicted several long-stated policy views, bringing his stances more in line with Washington orthodoxy. Meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump said of the military alliance: “I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete.” A week after calling China the “world champion” of currency manipulation, a common refrain…
President Trump’s son Eric doubled down on recent comments, indicating he believes nepotism is a “beautiful thing” days after saying it was “kind of a factor of life.” Eric Trump, who took the reigns of the family business along with his brother Donald Trump Jr., said it made sense to trust family members to look…
Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Syria was influenced by his daughter, Ivanka, being “heartbroken and outraged” at the country’s alleged chemical weapons attack, one of the president’s sons told a British newspaper. The president launched 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian government air base he alleged was involved in a chemical weapons attack that killed…
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday said Russia must soon choose between its relationship with the U.S. or its relationship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Tillerson, speaking at the Group of 7 conference, said it still is not clear if Russia failed to take its obligations to Syria seriously or just did a poor…
New airstrikes have targeted a town in northwest Syria that was hit by a deadly chemical attack earlier this week, activists said. It wasn’t immediately clear who conducted the strikes on Khan Sheikhoun, which hit on Friday and Saturday, though only Russian and Syrian regime aircraft have been bombing that area of rebel-held Idlib province.…
The Kremlin has warned the US it is ‘one step from war’ over Syria – but the Trump administration hit back by saying it would be prepared to carry out airstrikes again. In the first direct American raid on Bashar al Assad’s forces, President Trump authorised the firing of 59 cruise missiles at a military…
Russia confirmed Friday that it received advanced warning from the U.S. about its strike on Syria, in which the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first American assault on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Moscow condemned the strike and gave notice that Russia is pulling out of all agreements to minimize risk of…
Steve Bannon, former executive chair of Breitbart News and current chief strategist at the White House, threatened to quit over a clash with the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Politico reports. Bannon believes that Kushner, who has taken on an increasingly important position within the administration over the last few weeks, is trying to undermine his…
Following top White House strategist Steve Bannon’s Wednesday morning ouster from the National Security Council, the president has reportedly added Energy Secretary Rick Perry to fill the vacancy. Along with Perry, Trump added the director of national intelligence, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the director of the CIA, and the U.S. ambassador…
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, made an unannounced trip to Iraq over the weekend with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Joseph Dunford, a senior U.S. official said Sunday. The official said that Kushner wanted to show his support for Iraq’s government, and get a better understanding of…
China’s foreign ministry confirmed Thursday that President Xi Jinping will travel to Florida April 6-7 for his first meeting with President Trump. The leaders of the world’s largest and second-largest economies will meet at Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, where Trump also hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in February. Unlike Abe, Xi will not stay…
President Trump unveiled his 2018 budget proposal Thursday, providing the clearest view yet of the policies he wants to use to deliver on his campaign promises. The plan includes a $54 billion increase in defense spending and a substantial bump for border security, while calling for deep cuts to most federal agencies, including roughly 30…
A few hundred U.S. Marines have been sent into Syria with heavy artillery guns, as coalition forces prepare to retake the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State terror group, a U.S. official told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The Marines will also re-position howitzers for Syrian forces during the temporary deployment, the official said,…
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Sunday, with three landing in his country’s exclusive economic zone. A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said “several projectiles” fired from North Korea’s North Pyongan province flew about 620 miles. The U.S. and South Korea are conducting…
The White House has said construction could begin quickly on President Trump’s border wall using “existing funds and resources” from the Department of Homeland Security, but a DHS document says the agency so far has identified just $20 million that could be redirected to the project, Reuters reported Wednesday. The document, which was given to…
President Trump’s nominee for U.S. commerce secretary won Senate confirmation on Monday, paving the way for work to begin on renegotiating trade deals with China and Mexico. Billionaire Wilbur Ross was confirmed with a Senate vote of 72-27, with support from 19 Democrats. Ross will now be at the helm of an agency with over…
President Trump on Monday announced that he had picked Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, a respected military strategist, as his new national security adviser. McMaster replaces Michael Flynn, who was ousted last week for withholding information on his communication with Russia’s ambassador from Vice President Mike Pence. In an appearance at his Mar-a-Lago club in…
Defense Secretary James Mattis on Monday said that the U.S. would not try to seize Iraq’s oil, an idea President Trump floated last month that has upset Iraqi leaders. Some local lawmakers have been pressuring Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to cut back on the country’s cooperation with the U.S. due to Trump’s oil threat and…
The Trump administration is considering a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border, according to a draft memo obtained by The Associated Press. The 11-page document calls for the unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland,…
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a “lengthy” and “very cordial” phone conversation Thursday evening, the White House said in a statement, and “President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our ‘one China’ policy.” Trump had irked Beijing by speaking with Taiwan’s president on the phone soon after his…
President Donald Trump threatened in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart to send U.S. troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them itself, according to an excerpt of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press. The excerpt of the call did not make…
In addition to a Navy SEAL being killed during U.S. raid in Yemen on Sunday, NBC News confirmed that also killed in the firefight was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born al Qaeda leader who was killed by U.S. forces five years ago. The strike in southern Yemen was ordered by President Donald…
Four of the five remaining survivors of the USS Arizona will gather in Hawaii on Wednesday for a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which sank the Arizona and pulled the U.S. into World War II. There were 335 survivors from the Arizona; 1,177 of its officers and…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday that it would not approve permits to build the Dakota Access oil pipeline under Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The decision halted construction, a major victory for members of the tribe and other activists who have been protesting…
