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Northeastern Syria CNN —He had had visitors just once before, years ago when he first arrived in prison at 14. According to Amnesty, the estimated 30,000 children currently held in at least 27 detention facilities and two detention camps – Al-Hol and Al-Roj – in northeastern Syria represent the highest concentration of children arbitrarily detained and deprived of their freedom anywhere in the world. CNN was granted extremely rare access inside detention camps and facilities for suspected ISIS fighters and their family members, including Panorama prison. ‘A breeding ground for the next generation of ISIS’At Al-Hol, a sprawling detention camp of faded tents, rusted barbed wire and wind-swept earth, the scale of the problem reveals itself. Hoda Muthana holds hands with her 7-year-old son at the Al-Roj detention camp in northeastern Syria.
Persons: Northeastern Syria CNN —, Stefan Uterloo, Uterloo, ” Uterloo, It’s, We’ve, , Roj, Mazloum Abdi, ” Mazloum, Erik Kurilla, Mike Pratt, Hol, , Ní Aoláin, , you’ve, it’s, Shamil Chakar, doesn’t, ” Shamil, , Brandy Salman, Hoda, She’s, Muthana, Trump, Hoda Muthana, Christina Jump, Scott McWhinnie, Oscar Featherstone, Augusta Anthony , Lou Robinson, Sarah Tilotta, Eliza Mackintosh, Laura Smith Organizations: Northeastern, Northeastern Syria CNN, American, CNN, ISIS, Syrian Democratic Forces, Panorama, Amnesty, United Nations, SDF, UN, US military’s, Command, US, Boys, Twitter, State Department Locations: Northeastern Syria, United States, Suriname, Dutch, South America, Syria, Kurdish, Iraq, Hol, Al, Panorama, Baghouz, Cologne, Germany, Minnesota, American, Alabama, US
Eyewitnesses also said that they saw Israeli forces in disguise – dressed as Hamas fighters or civilians. The Israeli military denied using civilian vehicles, but declined to say whether the officers conducting the rescue were disguised as militants or dressed as Palestinian civilians. The Israeli military had previously used civilian clothing as a tactic in its operations. But soon after the mission got underway, Israeli soldiers and militants began to exchange fire, according to eyewitness accounts and statements from the Israeli military. A senior Biden administration official tells CNN that Israeli forces did not use an aid truck in the operation.
Persons: Mercedes, , , ” Khalil Al Tirawi, Mercedes van, — Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv, Noa Argamani’s, Adm, Daniel Hagari, , Argamani, Arnon Zamora, Al Tirawi, Abdullah Jouda, ” Jouda, ” Hagari, Fadi Thabet, Trevor Ball, Richard Weir, ” Al Tirawi, Nidal Abdo, Zamora, Yaron Finkelman, that’s, Jake Sullivan, CNN’s Dana, ” Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Hagari, Alex Marquardt Organizations: CNN, Israel Defense Forces, Nova, Israeli Security Agency, IDF, ” CNN, National Police, Hamas ’, Al, CNN CNN, Mercedes, Human Rights Watch, Biden, Southern Command, Union, Sheba Medical, Ichilov Locations: Nuseirat, Gaza, Israeli, Jabalia, Al Jazeera, Argamani, United States, Israel, U.S, “ State, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv
CNN —The US military’s temporary pier off the coast of Gaza was repaired and reattached to the beach on Friday morning, after breaking apart and sustaining damage in heavy seas last week, the deputy commander of US Central Command said on Friday. “I’m very pleased to announce that earlier this morning, in Gaza, US forces successfully attached the temporary pier to the Gaza beach. Israeli Defense Force engineers provided all the necessary support to ensure the safe emplacement of the pier to the beach,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told reporters on Friday. The damage last week came after significant obstacles on distribution routes including Hamas drones and looting that delayed the deliveries. The pier’s construction came as the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorates and the death toll from Israel’s bombardment climbs.
Persons: “ I’m, Brad Cooper, , ” Cooper, Cooper, , Chris Mewett, ” Mewett, Shania Shelton, Jennifer Hansler, Oren Liebermann, Alex Marquardt, Haley Britzky, Kylie Atwood, Michael Conte, Helen Regan Organizations: CNN, US Central Command, US, Israeli Defense Force, USAID, Royal Jordanian Air Force Locations: Gaza, Rafah
Here is a breakdown of how the aid crisis has deepened in the territory after 245 days of war. Crossing closures nearly halt all aidIsrael’s restrictions on land routes into Gaza meant aid was barely trickling into the strip. Aid workers say they can barely meet humanitarian demands on the ground. Israeli attacks on aid convoys have sparked fierce condemnation from rights groups, drawing attention to growing Western skepticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. The attacks “reveal fundamental flaws with the so-called deconfliction system, meant to protect aid workers,” according to the report.
Persons: , , ” Raed Redwan, Louise Wateridge, it’s, Trucks, COGAT, Ahmad Salem, Wateridge, “ It’s, Mahmoud Shalabi, ” Mahmoud Shalabi, Shalabi, “ I’m Organizations: CNN, Gaza’s Ministry of Health, UN, US, Pentagon, UNRWA, United Nations, Bloomberg, Getty, Humanitarian Affairs, NGO, Aid, humanitarians, Relief, Human Rights Watch, HRW Locations: Deir al, Gaza, Palestinian, Israel, Rafah, Egypt, Kerem, Wadi Gaza,
Eastern Ukraine CNN —Ukrainian crews working on US-supplied Abrams tanks have told CNN of a series of the weaknesses and flaws with the armored vehicles, calling into doubt their utility on the war’s ever-changing frontlines. Much of the Ukrainian frontline is now dominated by the use of self-destructing attack drones, tiny and accurate devices that can swarm infantry and even cause significant damage to tanks. Mick Krever/CNNAmmunition is also a problem, like elsewhere on the Ukrainian frontline. NATO “would never” use the Abrams tank the way the Ukrainian military has to use it, a Ukrainian soldier who uses the moniker “Joker” said. Mick Krever/CNNThe Ukrainian crew expressed frustration the tanks were made for a NATO style of warfare, in which air power and artillery prepare the battlefield before tanks and infantry advance.
Persons: Abrams, Joe Biden, , Crews, Saddam Hussein’s, Mick Krever, ” Joker, , ’ ”, Oleksandr Syrsky, Victoria Butenko Organizations: Eastern, Eastern Ukraine CNN —, CNN, United, ” CNN, 47th Mechanised Brigade, Pentagon, Abrams, NATO, Locations: Eastern Ukraine, United States, Ukraine, Germany, Iraq, Dnipro, Ukrainian, Avdiivka, Russia, Poland, American, Russian, Red Square, Kyiv, “ Ukraine, Ukraine’s, France
CNN —The wreck of one of the most storied US Navy submarines of World War II has been found in the South China Sea eight decades after its last patrol, the Navy’s History and Heritage Command said Thursday. “Harder was lost in the course of victory. U.S. Navy archive photo of USS Harder. The NHHC said the wreck of the Harder was confirmed by data provided by the Lost 52 Project, an effort led by Tim Taylor, CEO of Tiburon Subsea, to find the 52 US subs lost in World War II. Harder, which had the motto of “Hit ‘em Harder,” was captained by Cmdr.
Persons: Harder, “ Harder, , Samuel J, Cox, NHHC, Tim Taylor, NHHC’s Cox, Samuel Dealey, Dealey Organizations: CNN, Navy, South China, Heritage Command, US Navy, U.S . Navy, Harder, East, US, National, Honor Museum, Honor Locations: South, Philippine, Luzon, Philippines, Bataan, Japanese, Tiburon, Japan, East Indies, Southeast Asia
The distribution comes several days after the US military’s pier operation launched and got off to a rocky start. “Such challenges with internal distribution are not new or unique to aid delivery from the sea,” Cooper said. The US military is also going to continue airdropping aid into Gaza, Cooper confirmed. Dieckhaus said Thursday that there are “thousands and thousands of tons” of aid in Cyprus awaiting processing to be brought across the pier. On Wednesday, “the UN reported 215 private sector trucks entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom and 115 humanitarian assistance trucks through Zikim/Erez West,” USAID said.
Persons: Brad Cooper, ” Cooper, Cooper, Daniel Dieckhaus, , Dieckhaus, Erez West, Erez East, Organizations: CNN — Aid, US Agency for International Development, USAID, United States Central Command, Pentagon, Management, UN Locations: Gaza, Hamas, Cyprus, Kerem Shalom, Rafah, Erez, United States, Israel
Julian Assange leaves a Melbourne court after facing charges of computer hacking in 1995. WikiLeaks/ReutersUnder a global spotlightAs WikiLeaks continued its disclosures, Assange found himself the latest cause célèbre – his every movement intensely scrutinized. … He liked the fuss that (the disclosures) caused but he was oddly incurious actually about the documents.”Others offer alternative explanations for Assange’s eccentricities. There were mounting calls for Assange to leave WikiLeaks and, when he didn’t, many cut ties with it. Outside the confines of his diplomatic shelter, the world questioned whether Assange was trying to circumvent justice.
Persons: London CNN — Julian Assange, , He’s, Chelsea Manning, Joe Biden, Assange’s, Anthony Albanese, Assange, , ” –, Julian Assange, Ian Kenins, Sarah Palin’s, Atika Shubert, Shubert, ” Shubert, célèbre, Fidel Narvaez, “ Assange, ” Narvaez, James Ball, Joe Raedle, ” Ball, Ball, , Narvaez, Hans Crescent, Lenin Moreno, Moreno, Abu Hamza al, Masri, Stella Assange, Daniel Leal, Stella, “ I’m, Nick Vamos, It’s, Alice Jill Edwards, Agnès Callamard, El País, Der Spiegel, Jameel Jaffer, Xiaofei Xu, Alex Stambaugh Organizations: London CNN, WikiLeaks, Court, Ecuadorian, Army, Australian, Pentagon, NASA, University of Melbourne, Fairfax Media, of Scientology, Republican, CNN, Chelsea, Apache, Reuters, Guardian, Ellingham, Hans, London’s Metropolitan Police, US Justice Department, of Justice, Britain's, Getty, Peters & Peters, Prosecution Service, Human Rights, UN, Amnesty, The New York Times, Columbia University Locations: United States, Australian, London’s, Australia, Townsville, Queensland, cybercrime, Melbourne, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq, London, Afghanistan, , Sweden, Ecuador, UK’s, Belmarsh
The World Food Programme (WFP) will support distribution of aid from the pier following weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the organization said Saturday. The US role in the effort has been complex, with the military carrying out a high-stakes construction mission in a warzone and diplomats helping to organize a dangerous and highly politicized aid distribution operation. US military and commercial ships will be able to transport aid to the US military pier, a defense official said, but only the US military will be allowed access to the causeway. “Everyone is wary of being too close to the IDF” for both security and political reasons, one humanitarian official told CNN. Fogbow is willing to use the US military pier to get aid onto shore, the sources said, but also won’t need to use it in order to carry out its operations.
Persons: CNN —, Biden, CNN –, , Joe Biden, , Bashar al Masri, Masri, Scott Paul, ” Paul, Kerem Shalom, ” Fogbow, Cameron Hume, Fogbow, Paul Organizations: CNN, UN, Food Programme, US, Israel Defense Forces, WFP, United Nations, Food, Palestinian, Palestine Development, Investment Company, IDF, Oxfam, Maritime Humanitarian Aid Foundation, Qatari, Fogbow Locations: Gaza, American, Israel, Cyprus, Israel’s, Palestinian, Rafah, Kerem, Geneva, Algeria, South Africa, Indonesia, Qatar, Gaza’s
CNN —US and Chinese military representatives met in Hawaii this week to discuss the safety of forces in the Pacific, marking the first in-person meeting of its kind in years after cancellations by China. The Military Maritime Consultative Agreement Working Group meeting was held in Honolulu on Wednesday and Thursday this week. Eighteen officials from China’s People’s Liberation Army attended, alongside 18 representatives from the US military’s major commands in the Pacific, including officials from US Indo-Pacific command, US Pacific Fleet, and US Pacific Air Forces. In January, US and Chinese officials also met at the Pentagon to discuss relations after two years of cancellations by China. But in January, two US defense officials told CNN that China’s unsafe interceptions of US military aircraft had eased.
Persons: , we’ve, Joe Biden’s, Xi Jinping, Biden, Xi, Ian Francis Organizations: CNN, Maritime, People’s Liberation Army, US Pacific Fleet, US Pacific Air Forces, Pentagon, Northeast, INDOPACOM, PLA, US Locations: Hawaii, China, Honolulu, US, , Northeast Asia, PRC, Philippines, South China
The intensifying military cooperation between Russia and Niger is central to the dispute between the US and the Nigerien junta, officials said. Russia and Niger agreed to strengthen their military ties in January, Russia’s Defense Ministry said at the time. If the US were forced to withdraw, counterterrorism efforts across the region could take a hit, officials said. In return, Russia is profiting off the region’s natural resources, another official said, including the gold mines in Niger. Several European countries shared this goal, offering a measure of support to the junta, the official noted.
Persons: Michael Langley, Celeste Wallander, Col, Maj, Amadou Abdramane, Langley, Matthew Miller, ” Miller, what’s, Nusrat al, Organizations: CNN, US Africa Command, Air Base, American, Nigerien, Russia’s Defense, EU, Pentagon, Kremlin, West, Russian Federation, National Council, Wagner, US Locations: Africa, Russia, Africa . Niger, Niger, United States, America, Nigerien, Sahel, stoking, China, Russian, Central Africa, , Niamey, US, Agadez, Mali, Burkina Faso, Abdramane, Western Africa, Northwest Africa
CNN —The brother of an Iraqi student killed as a result of US airstrikes on Iraq and Syria on Friday says the family holds the United States responsible for his death. “My brother was killed instantly,” Anmar told CNN on the phone from Al Qaim on Tuesday. Security forces inspect a damaged car at the site of a US airstrike in Al Qaim, Iraq, February 3, 2024. Shell casings lie at the site of a US airstrike in Al Qaim, Iraq, February 3, 2024. A destroyed building at the site of a US airstrike in Al Qaim, Iraq, February 3, 2024.
Persons: Abdulrahman Khaled, Al Qaim, Anmar Khaled, , Abdulrahman, ” Anmar, Stringer, , , John Kirby, ” Kirby, Joe Biden, ” CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Betsy Klein Organizations: CNN, White House, Security, Reuters, Al, General Hospital, Preparatory High School, ISIS, Department of Defense, Popular, National Security Locations: Iraq, Syria, States, Al, Iranian, Abdulrahman, Anbar, Al Qaim, Jordan, United States, Iran
Seoul, South Korea CNN —A United States Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed after suffering an in-flight emergency off the coast of South Korea Wednesday, in the third crash of one of the US military’s Korea-based warplanes in less than a year. The pilot, assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing, ejected safely and was recovered about 50 minutes after the crash, the Air Force statement said. Wednesday’s crash was the third of a South Korea-based F-16 in less than a year, though there are no indications they are related. An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 80th Fighter Squadron takes off from Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, on September 18, 2023. In May 2023, an F-16 crashed into an agricultural area near Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, during training.
Persons: , Matthew Gaetke ,, Samuel Earick, Kunsan Organizations: South Korea CNN, United States Air Force, Kunsan Air Base, 8th Fighter, Air Force, Matthew Gaetke , 8th Fighter, 80th Fighter Squadron, . Air Force, Korean, Osan Air Base, US Air Force, Air Forces, Air Force Safety Center Locations: Seoul, South Korea, Korea, Korean, Republic, Osan
“The Last Fighter Pilot” says when the service saw those scores, Schlamberg was offered his pick of jobs and chose to be a fighter pilot. During that trip, he saw Japanese war veterans up close and felt a kinship, he said. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty ImagesFitting endingsYellin died in December 2017, shortly after “The Last Fighter Pilot” was published. In the foreword to “The Last Fighter Pilot,” Yellin recounted how World War II’s end was fitting for the times. “And that the final combat life in the defense of freedom would be laid down by a teenage Jewish fighter pilot who had not yet learned to even drive a car.”
Persons: Emperor Hirohito, Jerry Yellin, Philip Schlamberg, Yellin, Schlamberg, , ” Yellin, Hirohito, , Phil, they’d, Ian Hitchcock, I’m, “ I’m, ” Schlamberg, Andrew Caballero, Reynolds, Melanie Sloan, ” “, ” Sloan, Philip, Sloan, Don Brown, he’d, Schlamberg’s smarts, Jerry Yellin’s, ‘ I’m, ’ ”, Yellin’s, Michael, , ” Michael Yellin, Saul Loeb, Helene, Robert, Taro Yamakawa, Yamakawa, “ Yellin Organizations: CNN, US Army Air Corps, US Defense Department, Nazi, US, 78th Fighter Squadron, National Archives, Iwo, Fighter Squadron, American, T150 Defence Force Air, Culpeper Regional Airport, Getty, Abraham Lincoln High School, Army Air Corps, Memorial, of, Monuments, New, Montclair Local, Arsenal, Democracy, US Air Force, Arlington National Cemetery, Locations: Tokyo, Nazi Germany, Europe, Brooklyn, Iwo Jima, Ukraine, East, Sudan, Myanmar, United States, Nagasaki, Japan, Hiroshima, Utah, Townsville, Australia, Culpeper, Brandy Station, Virginia, AFP, Honolulu, Honolulu , Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, New Jersey, America, Washington ,, Arlington, Pacific, New York
CNN —The Pentagon has determined that the training and support of Ukrainian forces is exempt from a potential government shutdown, according to the Defense Department, and will continue even in the increasingly likely event that Congress fails to pass a spending bill in the coming days. The determination allows critical elements of American support for Kyiv, such as the training of Ukrainian forces and the ongoing transfer of weapons to Ukraine, to proceed in the midst of an ongoing counteroffensive. “Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” said Defense Department spokesman Chris Sherwood. Operation Atlantic Resolve refers to the US effort to support Ukraine and to bolster NATO’s eastern flank. The decision to shield the US military’s operations related to Ukraine from the effects of a possible shutdown come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington, DC, meeting with President Joe Biden, as well as top leaders at the Pentagon.
Persons: , Chris Sherwood, Sherwood, , Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden Organizations: CNN, Pentagon, Defense Department, Kyiv, Defense, Politico, US M1A1 Locations: Ukraine, Crimea, Ukrainian, Washington, DC
CNN —The nominee to be the US military’s most senior general warned US airmen in a letter this week that the Chinese military wants “to exploit your knowledge and skill to fill gaps in their military capability.”Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Concerns over western pilots training China’s military has grown in recent years, as Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand – all members of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, which includes the US – have taken steps to prevent former military pilots from offering their expertise to Beijing. Last October, the UK Ministry of Defense said it believed up to 30 former British military pilots were providing training in China and that many others have been approached, including pilots who were still serving. He has denied the allegations, saying he was only training Chinese civilian pilots seeking to improve their skills. And recently, two Navy sailors were arrested and indicted for allegedly sending classified information to Chinese intelligence officers.
Persons: Charles Q, Brown, Mark Milley, ” Brown, , , Richard Marles Organizations: CNN, ” Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, NATO, Liberation Army, Air Chiefs, The Washington, New Zealand, UK Ministry of Defense, UK Armed Forces, People’s Liberation Army, Australian, “ Defense, Foreign Intelligence Services, Navy Locations: Australia, United Kingdom, New, Beijing, China, People’s Republic of China
CNN —Russian military hackers have been targeting Ukrainian soldiers’ mobile devices in a bid to steal sensitive battlefield information that could aid the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, the US and its allies warned Thursday. The news shows how the struggle to control sensitive military data in cyberspace has been a key front in Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine. The Ukrainian government has encouraged a loose band of thousands of volunteer hackers to launch attacks on Russian assets in Ukraine and on Russian soil. Some analysts and US officials have attributed the relatively limited impact of Russian hacking – at least compared with the outsize expectation of Russian cyber prowess – during the war to the same disorganization that has plagued Russian kinetic operations. But the true scope and impacts of Russian cyber operations in Ukraine is very difficult to pin down in the fog of war, where both sides have incentive to exaggerate their successes.
Persons: Elon Musk’s, , , John Hultquist, Hultquist, ” Paul Chichester, idly, Paul Nakasone Organizations: CNN, Google, Russian Embassy, Cyber Security, Pentagon, Command Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Russia’s, Washington ,, Russia, Ukrainian
CNN —A Russian surveillance aircraft flew above a US base in Syria for an “extended period of time” on Friday morning in what officials deemed an intelligence collecting mission, a senior defense official said. The official said there was a “lot of protest over the deconfliction line” established with Russia in Syria, which Russia brushed off. Despite the increased aggression from Russian aircraft, the official said there is no apparent willingness to get into an escalation with American forces, nor is there an American desire to engage Russian forces. There has, though, been a “qualitative difference” in Russian military flights in Syria and how they interact with US aircraft, the official said. The growing stability of the Syrian regime may also contribute to the willingness to interact with American aircraft.
Persons: Antonov, would’ve, , “ We’re, they’re, Organizations: CNN, Al, Force, US, Kremlin, American, US Navy Locations: Russian, Syria, Tanf, Iraq, Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Gulf of Oman, Iran, Hormuz, Iranian
CNN —Bartolomé, a US military veteran, has spent the last 15 Fourth of July holidays in Mexico. “It’s a stab in the back.”Between 2013 and 2018, 250 US military veterans were placed in removal proceedings and 92 were deported. Unfortunately, an accurate count of deported veterans is nonexistent, because Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not keep a comprehensive record of removed US veterans. Veterans who did not receive a dishonorable discharge are entitled to a military burial in the United States. As a result, the urgency in addressing noncitizen military members’ precarious situation is particularly palpable now.
Persons: CNN —, he’s, Saúl Ramírez Christopher Smith Bartolomé, ” Bartolomé, , , Joe Biden, Mark Takano, Sen, Alex Padilla, “ I’m, I’m, ‘ I’m, , Bartolomé, ‘ Don’t, they’ve Organizations: Harvard University, CNN, US Armed Forces, Pew Research Center, United States, Judiciary, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration, Immigration Services, Department of Defense, Immigration Systems, New, of State, Department of Justice, DHS, of Homeland Security, Committee, Veterans Affairs, Veterans, Los, Twitter, Facebook, Bartolomé Locations: Mexico, United States, Los Angeles
CNN —The US State Department on Friday released its long-awaited Afghanistan After Action Review report, which found that both the Trump and Biden administrations’ decisions to pull all US troops from Afghanistan had detrimental consequences, and details damning shortcomings by the current administration that led to the deadly and chaotic US withdrawal from that country after nearly two decades on the ground. Sharper criticism of Biden admin actions than earlier White House documentThe State Department’s report contains much sharper criticism around the Biden administration’s actions than the White House summary document released in April. That added significantly to the challenges the Department and DoD faced during the evacuation,” the report said. The report noted that in the chaos, the State Department received an “overwhelming volume of incoming calls and messages to the Department from other government agencies, Congress, and the public inquiring about individual cases mostly with regard to at-risk Afghans,” which created an immense challenge. The report detailed 11 recommendations, mostly related to the Department’s crisis response and preparedness.
Persons: Donald, Trump, Joe, Biden, , Afghanistan “, , Hamid, State Department “, ” “, Antony Blinken, I’ll, ” Blinken Organizations: CNN, US State Department, Trump, Biden, State Department, White, Department, Bagram Air Base, Hamid Karzai International Airport, US, , DoD, United States, Task Force Locations: Afghanistan, United, United States, Kabul, Washington
CNN —Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote a letter strongly criticizing an ongoing hold on senior military promotions and nominations in the Senate led by Republican lawmakers, saying it would create a “perilous precedent” for the military and impose “unconscionable” burdens on military families. The Senate approves thousands of civilian and military nominations every year, typically through unanimous consent. But Austin warned in his letter to Warren that the nominations need to be approved as quickly as possible. The United States military relies on the deep experience and strategic expertise of our senior military leaders,” he said. “The longer that this hold persists, the greater the risk the US military runs in every theater, every domain, and every service.”
But the election of his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, last year has returned relations to a more even keel, in part because Manila has become wary of a more assertive China. Last year the US granted $100 million to boost the Southeast Asian country’s defense capabilities and military modernization. Heydarian added that China has to rethink its strategy towards the Philippines, as the Marcos Jr administration is openly more aligned with the US. China remains one of the top trade partners of the Philippines, while Marcos Jr also continues to negotiate energy and agriculture investments from Beijing. Some worry Marcos Jr might be giving too much access to the US, especially when it comes to bases and facilities close to Taiwan, Heydarian said.
SpaceX's most powerful rocket returns to flight
  + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +5 min
With each launch, the Falcon Heavy rocket puts on a dramatic show back on Earth. It’s a signature move for SpaceX, which routinely recovers and reuses its rocket boosters to drive down the cost of launches. All about this rocketFor years, the Falcon Heavy was the world’s most powerful operational rocket. If successful, SpaceX’s Starship would dethrone the SLS as the most powerful rocket flying today. Both the SLS rocket and SpaceX’s Starship are integral to NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time in half a century.
According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, the Philippines occupies nine features in the Spratly chain while China occupies seven. In 2016, a tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute, concluding China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea. “Philippine President Marcos appears open to the idea of pursuing pragmatic cooperation in the South China Sea, while not surrendering its long-standing position when it comes to the territorial issues in the South China Sea,” Banlaoi said. During her trip to the Philippines, Harris is expected to make a number of other announcements including tighter US cooperation with Manila on clean energy, cybersecurity, communication and agriculture. The deals show US intent in the Pacific region, but one South China Sea expert said Harris’ trip to the military base risks aggravating Beijing to the potential detriment of the Philippines.
CNN —SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy — a towering, three-pronged vehicle that is the most powerful operational rocket in the world — returned to the skies on Tuesday for the first time since mid-2019. Since that first test mission, SpaceX has launched only two other Falcon Heavy missions, both in 2019. SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, on the other hand, has launched nearly 50 missions so far this year alone. With each Falcon Heavy launch, the rocket puts on a dramatic showing back on Earth. After Tuesday’s mission, the company only attempted to recover two of the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first-stage rocket boosters.
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