Latest Military and defense News

China and India agree to work on solution to their border dispute in the Himalayas

Dec. 18, 2024 12:11 PM EST

BEIJING, China (AP) — China and India agreed Wednesday to work toward a solution to their long-running border dispute in the Himalayas after a military standoff that began with a deadly clash in 2020. The development follows a pact on border patrols the two Asian giants reached in...

Senate readies for vote on defense bill to raise troop pay, bar trans care coverage for minors

Dec. 18, 2024 11:49 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is voting Wednesday on final passage of a sweeping defense bill that will authorize significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members and boost overall military spending to $895 billion while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for...

What Assad's fall has revealed about Syria's trade in the stimulant drug Captagon

Dec. 18, 2024 11:48 AM EST

BEIRUT (AP) — Since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, industrial-scale manufacturing facilities of the amphetamine-like stimulant Captagon have been uncovered around the country, which experts say fed a $10 billion annual global trade in the highly addictive drug. ...

US repatriates 3 Guantanamo Bay detainees, including one held 17 years without charge

Dec. 18, 2024 10:44 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has transferred two Malaysian detainees at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison to their home country, after they pleaded guilty to charges related to deadly 2002 bombings in Bali and agreed to testify against the alleged ringleader of that and other attacks, the...

China has expanded its nuclear force and strengthened ties to Russia, the Pentagon says

Dec. 18, 2024 10:24 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — China is expanding its nuclear force, has increased military pressure against Taiwan and has strengthened its ties with Russia over the past year, according to a Pentagon report Wednesday that details actions accelerating key areas of conflict with the United States. ...

Mystery drone sightings continue in New Jersey and across the US. Here's what we know

Dec. 18, 2024 10:02 AM EST

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A large number of mysterious drones have been reported flying over New Jersey and across the eastern U.S., sparking speculation and concern over where they came from and why. The FBI, the Homeland Security Department and state agencies have been investigating,...

After Assad's fall, the task of unearthing the dead from Syria's mass graves is just beginning

Dec. 17, 2024 22:14 PM EST

NAJHA, Syria (AP) — Bones are visible here and there among the mounds of earth in a field south of Damascus, one of the mass graves around Syria believed to hold the bodies of tens of thousands of people killed under Bashar Assad’s rule. With his ouster, residents, forensic teams and...

Lawsuit accuses State Department of creating loopholes for Israel on military aid and human rights

Dec. 17, 2024 15:57 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has carved out exceptions for close ally Israel that block a U.S. law restricting foreign military support over human rights abuses, a lawsuit from a group of Palestinians in Gaza and American relatives asserted Tuesday. Former State...

A top Russian general is killed in a Moscow bombing claimed by Ukraine

Dec. 17, 2024 15:48 PM EST

A senior Russian general was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service leveled criminal charges against him. A Ukrainian official said the service carried out the attack. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the...

Blast kills 2 Mexican soldiers and wounds 5 others in suspected booby trap by drug cartel

Dec. 17, 2024 12:30 PM EST

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An improvised land mine apparently planted by a drug cartel killed two Mexican soldiers and wounded five others, Mexico's defense secretary said Tuesday. Gen. Ricardo Trevilla acknowledged that the army had already suffered six deaths from such improvised...