defense

May 24 (UPI) — Germany is deploying soldiers beyond its border, moving troops into Lithuania to defend its European neighbor.

Deploying troops to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius is an indefinite move, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on X, accompanied by photos of him greeting soldiers.

“In Lithuania we are taking the defence of NATO’s eastern flank into our own hands: Together, Lithuanians and Germans show that we are ready to defend Europe’s freedom against any aggressor,” Merz said in the post.

“Germany stands by its responsibility. Today. Tomorrow. For as long as it takes.”

The move marks the first time Germany has installed a permanent military presence in another country since World War II.

Merz last month signaled that Germany would send troops to Lithuania on a long-term basis.

The deployment is meant to shore up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern flank and to ensure “the security of our Baltic allies is also our security,” Merz said during the event.

German officials expect the 45th Armored Brigade to be at full strength in late 2027. At that point, it is expected to have around 4,800 soldiers and 2,000 vehicles, including tanks and will be headquartered in the Lithuanian city of Rudninkai, near the capital.

Earlier in the month, Merz said Germany planned to build the “strongest conventional army in Europe,” citing a demand from its “friends and partners.”

Lithuania is straddled by allies Belarus to the east and the Russian province of Kaliningrad to the west.

This week, Lithuania accused Belarus of carrying out a massive smuggling scheme and launched legal proceedings against its neighbor at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Only a narrow strip of land known as the Suwalki Gap connects Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to other NATO territories in Europe. The strip straddles the border between Poland and Lithuania and has a small population, making it a potential target for possible Russian military aggression.

In Vilnius this week, Merz mentioned the area while discussing “Russia’s aggressive revisionism” in relation to that country’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

May 24 (UPI) — Dozens of employees were reportedly relieved from their positions with the National Security Council, with an eye towards downsizing the agency’s workforce.

Over 100 staffers received a memo earlier this week from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, informing them they were being put on administrative leave, CNN reported, citing two official sources.

The NSC staff members were not given any warning before being placed on leave, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The decision was made by President Donald Trump after it was suggested by Rubio, The Post reported. Rubio also serves as a interim national security advisor to the president.

Trump fired his previous national security advisor Mike Waltz earlier this month, tabbing Rubio as an interim replacement. Waltz was later nominated to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Since taking the second role, Rubio has favored reducing NSC staffing levels, Politico reported, with a plan of reducing the total workforce from around 350 people to a figure closer to 150.

“The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision,” Rubio said in a statement to Axios.

“The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”

A White House official told Axios the NSC staff cuts were aimed at combating the “Deep State” within the agency. Another official told Axios it is Trump’s wish to keep Rubio as interim national security advisor “as long as possible.”

Early last month, the Trump administration fired a number of senior NSC advisors. The move came shortly after the president met with far-right podcaster Laura Loomer, although it’s unclear if the moves were related.

May 24 (UPI) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is further restricting media access to areas of the Pentagon, as he seeks to cut down on unsanctioned leaks of military information.

“Updated security measures for resident and visiting press are needed to reduce the opportunities for in-person inadvertent and unauthorized disclosures,” Hegseth said in a memo issued earlier this week.

Reporters will now be required to have an official escort with them in more areas of the Pentagon, including the hallway where Hegseth’s office is located.

“They [media] are required to be formally escorted to and from those respective offices,” the memo reads.

Journalists in the Pentagon will also be required to sign a pledge to protect “sensitive information.”

Reporters may not move freely inside the Defense Department headquarters “without an official approval and escort from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.” That role currently belongs to Hegseth’s assistant for public affairs and senior advisor, Sean Parnell.

Parnell earlier in the week was tasked with leading a panel conducting a “comprehensive review” of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Hegseth has taken aim at the media following a series of Defense Department leaks and missteps.

In March, the Defense Secretary came under fire for accidentally adding a journalist to a Signal chat, sharing classified information about U.S. bombings of Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Defense Department officials were later successively put on leave in April, including deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick. Chief of staff to Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Colin Carroll was put on administrative leave at the same time.

A fourth official was implicated in the leak and reassigned days later.

Later that month, Hegseth was found to have reportedly shared classified military information in a separate Signal chat.

“While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect CNSI (classified national intelligence information) and sensitive information — the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. Service members in danger,” Hegseth wrote in the memo.

The Defense Secretary said the “updated security measures” are necessary “to reduce the opportunities for in-person inadvertent and unauthorized disclosures.”

May 23 (UPI) — Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday addressed the 1,048 graduates of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., telling them, “Your country needs you now more than ever.”

During the ceremony, Marine 2 circled Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, and there was Blue Angels flyover.

During the ceremony, Vance, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to the Iraq War, watched as 786 men and women received Navy assignments and 262 went to graduates who now will serve in the Marines.

On a sunny day, the graduates raised their right hands and swore to protect the Constitution as they were officially commissioned. In unison, they shouted “I do” when the oath was finished.

They walked up to the stage to shake Vance’s hand and receive their diploma.

Divided into 36 companies, they later tossed caps into the air, a Naval tradition.

“It will be you, the graduates gathered here today, who will lead the way for the rest of us,” Vance said. “Your service will bring new challenges and environments, including ones unfamiliar even to those who served before you. You will deploy new equipment, new systems, and new technology. And, through those experiences, it is you who will learn, who will teach others and will help our services and our entire country adapt to the future we’re confronting.”

This was Vance’s first remarks to service academy’s graduates as vice president.

“The extraordinary education you received is an investment by the American people, an investment not only in your courage, but in the strength of your minds and the promise of your leadership because your nation rests easier knowing that we have the most brilliant strategists and tacticians standing guard,” Vance added.

Vance noted that they would be leading troops in regions with military powers, including China and Russia.

To the graduates, guests and military personnel, he touted the Trump administration’s policies.

He described President Donald Trump‘s visit last week to the Middle East as “historic.”

Vance told the crowd how his administration’s foreign policy is different from predecessors by moving away from nation-building and prioritizing American interests.

“No more undefined missions. No more open-ended conflicts,” Vance said.

He voted that Trump and himself would “never ask you to do anything without a clear mission and a clear path home.”

The vice president described the military’s targeted and limited airstrikes this spring against the Houthis in Yemen as the type of mission the Trump administration would prioritize. The goal was to stop Houthi militants from attacking American ships in the Red Sea.

“We pursued that goal through overwhelming force,” Vance said. “That’s how military power should be used: Decisively.”

Earlier he was greeted by demonstrators protesting the Trump administration’s policies

Several groups advocating for racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights rallied across the street on the grounds of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. From a distance, they protested deep cuts to social services in the proposed budget.

The Naval Academy stopped considering race, ethnicity or sex in admissions. Nearly 400 books exploring White supremacy, race and racism in America; gender identity; and sexuality and diversity were removed from the academy’s library after an executive order by Trump. Many have since been returned to the library’s shelves.

“I’m sure some of you share my politics and some of you don’t,” Vance said, “but I know today I speak for a grateful nation when I say, ‘We are rooting for you, Naval Academy Class of 2025, we are proud of you and we depend on you. Congratulations. Godspeed.’ “

The U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2025 includes 751 men and 298 women from all 50 states. Fourteen international students from 13 countries will return home to serve in their respective armed forces. The class began with 1,186 candidates: 838 men and 348 women.

Midshipmen said the graduation of four challenging years at the academy was surreal.

“After today, I’m a commissioned officer in the greatest fighting force. There’s a little bit of nerves,” political science major Lucas Merritt, 23, of Georgia, who is going into the Marine Corps, told The Baltimore Banner. “I feel ready.”

“Our sailors and Marines’ lives are literally in our hands,” Rebecca Wiley, 21, of Houston, who will work on submarines in Charleston, S.C., said after studying naval architecture and mechanical engineering. “I’m nervous to do a good job, but that just shows that I care.”

Joseph Lee, a 22-year-old from Kansas, studied chemistry and will go to medical school.

They will join approximately 92,000 Naval Academy alumni who have graduated since 1845.

May 22 (UPI) — The United States will impose sanctions on Sudan after determining that its military used chemical weapons against its breakaway paramilitary forces during their civil war, the State Department said.

The determination that the government of Sudan used chemical weapons last year was made by the United States on April 24 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 and was delivered to Congress on Thursday.

The sanctions, which include restrictions on U.S. exports and access to U.S. government lines of credit, will be imposed on June 6, following the 15-day Congressional notification period, the department said.

The Sudanese government has yet to respond to the development.

The Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a brutal civil war since April 15, 2023, following years of political instability.

In March, the Sudanese military captured the capital, Khartoum, marking a significant victory in the war that has killed an estimated 150,000 people and continues to rage.

The United States has accused both SAF and RSF of committing crimes against humanity and, last month, said atrocities committed by the paramilitary forces meet the threshold of genocide.

In January, The New York Times reported that the SAF used chemical weapons at least twice against the RSF since the war began in remote areas of the country. Officials cited in the report said the chemical weapon used was chlorine gas.

Sudan has denied the accusation.

The Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 is a U.S. law that requires the president to impose sanctions on countries determined to use chemical weapons.

Sudan is also a signatory to the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which obliges all signatories to chemically disarm by destroying their stockpiles of chemical weapons.

“The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations under the CWC,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

“The United States remains fully committed to hold to account those responsible for contributing to chemical weapons proliferation.”

May 23 (UPI) — The Pentagon is sending an additional 1,115 soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Northern Command announced Thursday.

The troops are being deployed to Joint Task Force-Southern Border to provide sustainment, engineering, medical and operational capabilities, USNORTHCOM said in a statement.

Securing the border has been a top priority of President Donald Trump. On Jan. 20, his first in office, Trump declared a controversial emergency at the southern border, claiming “America’s sovereignty is under attack.”

Two days later, the Defense Department announced the first deployment of some 1,500 troops to the border.

With the announcement Thursday, the deployment grows to some 10,000 troops.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security asked the Pentagon for more than 20,000 National Guard members to support Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

May 22 (UPI) — American defense contractor L3 Technologies Inc. will pay tens of millions of dollars in fines to settle allegations that one of its divisions, Communications System West, submitted false business info to U.S. military and other federal agencies, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday.

L3, doing business in Utah, agreed to pay $62 million to the U.S. government to settle scores of allegations that Communications System West had violated multiple provisions in federal law by “knowingly” making false claims, according to a settlement agreement.

“Taking advantage of the resources that support the armed forces of the United States and other government agencies will not be tolerated,” said Utah’s Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti.

At the end of 2018, L3 Technologies and Harris Corp. announced its merger that created the country’s sixth largest defense contractor.

U.S. officials say L3 company leaders knowingly made false statements and submitted other claims for “dozens” of government contract proposals by not accurately disclosing L3’s current and complete set of cost and pricing data for communication devices sold to a number of departments and agencies, including the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force.

Viti said his office will continue to work and partner with law enforcement agencies to investigate and “hold accountable individuals and contractors who defraud the government.”

L3 produces communications equipment designed to operate unmanned vehicles, retrieve data and other visuals for U.S. military ops and intelligence, DOJ added.

The Justice Department contends that the practice went on from October 2006 to at least February 2014.

It said L3 Tech allegedly violated provisions in the 1863 False Claims Act, amended in 1986 under the Reagan administration, and the 1962 Truth In Negotiations Act which requires a federal contractor to provide the most current and accurate facts to government regulators by the time there’s an agreement, which could “reasonably be expected to affect price negotiations significantly.”

“Investigating companies that defraud the Army is crucial to maintaining the trust of the American public and upholding the integrity of government contracting,” said Special Agent in Charge Olga Morales of the U.S. Army’s CID southwest field office.

In 2020, L3Harris Technologies was selected to design and manufacture a next-gen aerial device in a nearly $500 million contract, and the company started the year with a $28 million DOD contract to update Greek F-16 jets. The year prior, L3 was on the receiving end for more than $37 million to produce U.S. Navy precision aiming lasers and $73 million to repair U.S. Navy submarine issues in 2019.

OSI Special Agent Jeffery Herrin said the $62 million settlement underscored the “commitment” the Air Force Office of Special Investigations has to protect national security and “ensuring the integrity of Department of Defense acquisitions.”

“L3’s defective pricing in contract proposals for critical systems like ROVER, VORTEX and SIR erodes public trust,” he continued, saying with “robust” law enforcement alliances that “law and order” will be upheld in the U.S. defense industry.

Whatever Canon King of Venice High had done earlier this season — he had six home runs — his performance on Tuesday night in the City Section Open Division semifinal game against Sylmar at Cal State Northridge earned him a lofty place few others have attained.

He was five for five with three RBIs and scored the winning run in the eighth inning of a 9-8 victory.

“It felt amazing,” he said. “My approach all day, get on base.”

He repeatedly looked for holes in Sylmar’s defense and sent the ball wherever they existed. It was an amazing display of bat discipline and knowledge. He had a single in the first inning, a two-run single in the second, a single in the fourth, a single in the sixth and a run-scoring double in the eighth.

Now he gets to play in the Open Division final against El Camino Real at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dodger Stadium. He’s committed to Cal State San Marcos and is a three-time Western League MVP.

“Best hitter in the City in my time doing this,” Westchester coach Joshua Saperstein said.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a gifted Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar for President Trump to use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The Defense Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the aircraft to make it safe for use by the president, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. He added that the plane was accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.”

Trump has defended the gift, which came up during his recent Middle East trip, as a way to save tax dollars.

“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media site during the trip.

Others, however, have raised concerns about the aircraft being a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on foreign gifts. They also have noted the need to retrofit the plane to meet security requirements, which would be costly and take time.

Trump was asked about the move Wednesday while he was meeting in the Oval Office with South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa. “They are giving the United States Air Force a jet,” Trump said.

The Republican president has presented no national security imperative for a swift upgrade rather than waiting for Boeing to finish new Air Force One jets that have been in the works for years.

Baldor writes for the Associated Press.

May 20 (UPI) — The keel for the future guided-missile destroyer USS Quentin Walsh was officially laid Wednesday in a ceremony at Bath Iron Works in Maine. It is the first time an Arleigh Burke-class ship will be built in honor of a Coast Guard member.

The keel, the structure at the bottom of the ship’s hull, represents the start of construction or birth of the ship. Madison Ann Zolper, the great-granddaughter of the ship’s namesake Coast Guard Capt. Quentin Walsh, attended Wednesday’s ceremony and welded the family’s initials into the keel plate.

“We are honored to mark the beginning of the construction for the future USS Quentin Walsh and celebrate his legacy with his family,” said Capt. Jay Young, Arleigh Burke-class Destroyer program manager for PEO Ships. “DDG 132 will provide our Navy with critical strategic capabilities to support fleet readiness.”

The Arleigh Burke-class Flight III destroyer, designated as DDG 132, will feature upgraded air and missile defense radar to provide “enhanced war fighting capability to the fleet,” according to the U.S. Navy. The destroyers are designed to fight air, surface and subsurface battles at the same time.

Walsh, who died in 2000 and held various roles in the U.S. Coast Guard, was awarded the Navy Cross for heroic actions in the 1944 Battle of Cherbourg during World War II. Walsh’s 53-man reconnaissance unit captured 750 German soldiers and freed 52 American prisoners of war.

Walsh, who also served during the Korean War, was among those honored in France on the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

“Capt. Walsh was a hero whose efforts during World War II continue to inspire, and his leadership in securing the French port of Cherbourg had a profound effect on the success of the amphibious operations associated with Operation Overlord,” former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer said at a 2019 ceremony in Cherbourg.

That same year, Adm. Karl Schultz — former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard — announced the USS Quentin Walsh.

“Naming a future Navy destroyer after Capt. Walsh, the first Arleigh Burke-class ship to be named after a Coast Guard legend, highlights not only his courageous actions but the bravery of all U.S. service members involved in the D-Day invasion of Normandy,” Schultz said in 2019, as the Navy on Tuesday celebrated the start of construction.

“The keel laying of future USS Quentin Walsh (DDG 132) symbolizes the Navy’s 250-year commitment to innovation and maritime dominance,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement. “This milestone marks the Navy’s enduring legacy and commitment to shaping the future of maritime power.”

May 20 (UPI) — The United States and United Arab Emirates are deepening their commercial and defensive ties following President Donald Trump‘s recent diplomatic trip to the Middle East.

Officials with the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit and the UAE’s Tawazun Council signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen defense cooperation between the two nations, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday in a news release.

“We are building a global network by fostering collaboration to stay ahead of emerging threats,” DIU Director Doug Beck said.

“We are accelerating the integration of commercial technologies into the defense markets,” Beck added.

He said the accelerated integration of technologies will occur by working together to develop technologies with the help of national security and private sector experts and non-traditional companies.

The MOU includes using “non-traditional practices” to develop and access “cutting-edge technologies” to improve both nations’ defensive capabilities.

The collaborative effort expands defensive investments and industrial partnerships while building a “strong international community of defense innovation entities, according to the DOD.

The Defense Department “is enhancing best practices for harnessing and sharing the best commercially derived technologies for the warfighter in defense of the free and open international system through mission-driven collaboration among the many nations that rely on that system,” the DOD release said.

Trump on Thursday also announced $200 billion in commercial agreements between the United States and the UAE.

The agreement includes forming an artificial intelligence alliance and launching a 1-gigawatt and jointly run AI technology cluster that will be located in the UAE’s capital of Abu Dhabi.

Other elements of the $200 billion deal include the UAE’s Etihad Airways spending $14.5 billion to buy 28 U.S.-built Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft powered by GE Aerospace engines.

Emirates Global Aluminum will invest another $4 billion to develop an aluminum smelter in Oklahoma and double that nation’s annual aluminum production capability.

UAE entities also will collaborate with U.S.-based oil and natural gas producers to expand production of both inside the United States and to lower energy costs in both nations.

Many other deals were secured during Trump’s visit to the Middle East last week and total $2 trillion in investment agreements, according to White House officials.

April 30, 1975, marked a brilliant milestone in the history of the Vietnamese nation when the country was officially reunified after more than twenty years of protracted resistance. Since that sacred moment, national defense and security have always played a key role in protecting the achievements of the revolution, rebuilding the country, and affirming Vietnam’s position in the international arena. After half a century of development, Vietnam has transformed from a country suffering many consequences of war into a dynamic entity, contributing to peace and stability in the region.

This article analyzes the development process of Vietnam’s defense and security over the past 50 years, from the focus on protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity to the increasingly clear role of creating a regional position. During his lifetime, the then Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan wrote an essay titled “Security, development, and influence,” which are not only the three strategic goals in the process of “building and protecting the homeland” during the Doi Moi period but also strongly affirm the role of security for Vietnam in the current “era of rising up.” With guaranteed security and defense, the economy is developed in the highest and most sustainable way. With strong security and defense, it creates a strong voice in the international arena, weighing down on bad wills that threaten national sovereignty.

After national reunification, Vietnam entered a post-war recovery period with numerous socio-economic difficulties. In that context, the primary task of national defense was to maintain revolutionary achievements and protect independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity from external threats. During the 1980s, Vietnam faced border wars in the North and Southwest and was subject to embargoes from Western countries. This was a period that demonstrated the bravery, resilience, and absolute loyalty of the people’s armed forces to the cause of defending the Fatherland.

The turning point came after the 6th Congress in 1986, when the Communist Party of Vietnam initiated the Doi Moi process. In the national development strategy in the new period, national defense and security were placed in correlation with the tasks of economic development and international integration. The policy of national defense and people’s security was consolidated, closely combining the people’s hearts and military and security positions. Vietnam shifted from a defensive mindset to a preventive mindset, taking stability as the foundation, cooperation as the tool, and development as the motto.

Entering the 21st century, especially since 2010, Vietnam’s defense and security have recorded many significant advances, reflecting flexible adaptation to the changing regional and global security environment. In the context of increasing sovereignty disputes in the East Sea, Vietnam has always persevered in resolving disputes by peaceful means , on the basis of international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). At the same time, Vietnam has actively modernized its army, focusing on building a strong enough navy and air force to protect its sovereignty over its seas and islands. According to the 2019 Vietnam Defense White Paper, Vietnam maintains a defense policy of “no military alliances, no use of force or threat of force, no participation in military alliances, and no foreign military bases on Vietnamese territory.” This is a principle that demonstrates the peaceful, autonomous, and transparent nature of Vietnam’s defense.

In the context of the Asia-Pacific region, especially the East Sea, becoming the focus of strategic competition between major powers, Vietnam must both strengthen its defense capacity and persist in its independent, multilateral, and diversified foreign policy. The “four no’s” defense policy continues to affirm Vietnam’s commitment to peace and stability.

A highlight in the defense and security policy over the past 50 years has been the expansion of international defense cooperation. Vietnam has continuously strengthened bilateral and multilateral defense cooperation with many partners, from traditional Russia and India to “former enemies” such as the United States, Japan, and France, demonstrating Hanoi’s skillful strategic balancing role in a period of complex geopolitical competition. In addition, Vietnam is currently an active member of regional defense cooperation mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+), the Shangri-La Dialogue, etc. Vietnam has also sent forces to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations since 2014 in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. This is evidence that Vietnam not only focuses on protecting domestic security but also actively contributes to the common security of the region and the world.

In addition, ensuring national security and defense has also undergone major changes. In the context of non-traditional security emerging as a transnational challenge, Vietnam has promptly adjusted its awareness and response methods. Risks such as cybercrime, terrorism, energy security, environmental security, epidemics, etc. are included in the national security strategy. Vietnam has strengthened cooperation with INTERPOL, ASEANPOL, and major partners in preventing transnational crimes, ensuring social order and safety, and strengthening people’s trust in the national security apparatus.

On the basis of socio-political stability and firmly protected national sovereignty, Vietnam has increasingly affirmed its role in creating and promoting a stable, peaceful, and rule-based regional order. As the 2020 ASEAN Chair and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term, Vietnam has actively proposed initiatives on preventive diplomacy, security dialogue, and trust building in the region. Vietnam’s extensive participation in new-generation trade agreements such as CPTPP, EVFTA, and RCEP is not only an economic achievement but also a lever to enhance economic security and national comprehensive strength.

In addition, Vietnam is gradually investing heavily in military science and technology and applying technological achievements in protecting national sovereignty and security. Fields such as digital technology, artificial intelligence, big data, remote sensing, and cybersecurity are gradually being integrated into smart defense strategies. The construction and deployment of cybersecurity operations centers, organized cyberattack prevention, and the development of high-quality human resources in the defense and security sector are opening up a new step of development in depth and breadth.

At the same time, defense policies also play a fundamental role in enhancing soft power, creating the image of a peace-loving nation, ready to cooperate and responsible to the international community. Vietnam’s efforts in humanitarian initiatives, disarmament, humanitarian assistance, and regional disaster response have contributed to enhancing the country’s prestige and position. In particular, Vietnam has always promoted its role as a mediator and coordinator in regional and international disputes, which shows that its capacity for conflict management and defense diplomacy is increasingly mature and professional.

In conclusion, after half a century of unification, it can be affirmed that national defense and security have always been a solid pillar of the cause of “building and defending the Fatherland.” At the same time, Vietnam’s national defense and security have transformed from a model tasked with protecting territorial sovereignty in the early post-war years to participating in shaping the regional and global security structure. Vietnam has gradually enhanced its strategic position, affirming its role as a partner of peace, stability, and cooperation. The achievements are clear evidence of the effectiveness of the national defense and people’s security policy under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In the future, Vietnam’s national defense and security will not only stop at protecting sovereignty but also aim to create a peaceful environment for development, making a more positive contribution to global security.

May 18 (UPI) — Against the backdrop of Pope Leo XIV’s first papal mass Sunday, Vice President JD Vance met privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about achieving a stand down in the war that has waged since Russia’s 2023 invasion of Ukraine.

It’s the first face to face meeting between the two leaders since the infamous February meeting in the Oval Office that erupted into verbal attacks, finger pointing and taunts by President Donald Trump.

The meeting between Vance and Zelenksy was overshadowed by Moscow’s large scale drone attack on Ukraine just hours prior. There are also reports that Russia may be planning a nuclear attack as it ramps up efforts to intimidate Kyiv and its allies.

Zelensky called the meeting “good,” and posted photos of smiling Ukrainian and U.S. officials gathered around an outside table.

“I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible,” Zelensky said.

Trump is scheduled to talk with Zelensky Monday, and Trump has also said he plans to have a similar conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Leaders of Britain, Germany, France and Poland planned to speak with Trump before the U.S. president’s Monday phone call with Putin, German chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters in Rome on Sunday.

“I spoke with Marco Rubio, including about the call tomorrow,” Merz said, referring to the U.S. Secretary of State. “We agreed that we will speak again with the four state leaders and the US president in preparation for this conversation.”

The latest efforts at achieving a ceasefire come as the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow failed to make any headway in ending the war, which started with Russia’s full scale invasion of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in February, 2022.

You can go ask any college football recruiter whether they’d be more impressed with a high school player who spends the majority of time in offseason seven-on-seven competitions or working on other skills in track and field? They’d always say track.

Darren Haggerty of Viewpoint High is an example of a football player who’s going to benefit from showing what he can do in track and field.

On Saturday, he pulled off career-best performances to win the Division 4 high jump at 6 feet, 6 inches and the long jump at 22-8 at the Southern Section championships at Moorpark High. He helped Viewpoint share the Division 4 title with Gardena Serra.

He was a little shocked afterward, not knowing he had it in him. He was considered Viewpoint’s best football player last fall as a sophomore, leading the team in receiving with 39 receptions for 674 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 37 tackles on defense. …

Quarterback Luke Fahey led Mission Viejo to the championship of the Millikan seven-on-seven tournament, beating San Diego Lincoln in the final. San Juan Hills won the tournament at Dana Hills and Charter Oak took its own tournament title. …

The semifinals are set for City Section Division I baseball on Wednesday at Stengel Field in Glendale. It will be No. 5 Verdugo Hills vs. No. 1 Banning at 6 p.m. and No. 11 Taft vs No. 2 Carson at 3 p.m.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

May 18 (UPI) — Israel reported Sunday it found the body of Hamas‘ de facto leader, Muhammad Sinwar, in a tunnel in Khan Younis after he was killed in a series of airstrikes last week.

At least 100 people have been killed in the latest series of airstrikes, and Sinwar’s body was found as Hamas has offered to release nine hostages in exchange for a 60-day military stand down in an effort to slow down the fighting in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader in Gaza. Another brother, Zakaria Sinwar, was killed in an airstroke Saturday night, other reports claimed. It’s the third Sinwar brother to be killed in the ongoing battle.

Israeli forces overtook a hospital in northern Gaza Saturday as an offensive to seize territory on the Gaza Strip continues, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Forces seized the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, preventing patients, staff and medical supplies from arriving, the ministry said on Sunday, according to the BBC, leaving the medical facility inoperable.

Hamas made its hostage release offer on Saturday following a new round of peace negotiations in Qatar. Officials said there could also be a larger deal in the works to end the fighting that would include a Hamas withdrawal.

R&B artist Cassie Ventura’s movie premiere was days away in March 2016 when her then-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs texted her asking what she was doing.

She already felt “trapped” in a cycle of physical and sexual abuse by him, she told a New York federal jury this week, outlining 11 years of alleged beatings, sexual blackmail and a rape.

She claimed Combs threatened to leak videos of her sexual encounters with numerous male sex workers while drug-intoxicated and glistening with baby oil as he watched and orchestrated the events, known as freak-offs.

“If I pleased him with a freak-off, then my premiere would run smoothly,” she said, according to reporting from inside the Manhattan courtroom from the Associated Press.

What happened next could end up being the beginning of the end of Combs’ public life.

Video footage from that March 2016 night shows Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowers and tries to protect herself in front of an L.A. hotel elevator bank. He then drags her down the hall by her hooded sweatshirt toward their hotel room. A second angle from another camera captures Combs throwing a vase toward her. She suffered bruising to her eye, a fat lip, and a bruise that prosecutors showed was still visible during the movie premiere two days later. She donned sunglasses and heavy makeup on the red carpet.

Ventura’s testimony is at the center of the federal trial accusing Combs of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation for prostitution.

Sweeping allegations

The federal indictment alleges that Combs and his associates lured female victims, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Combs then allegedly used force, threats of force, coercion and controlled substances to get women to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes while he occasionally watched in gatherings that Combs referred to as “freak-offs.” Combs gave the women ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to “keep them obedient and compliant” during the performances.

The freak-offs, which prosecutors say sometimes lasted for days, were elaborately produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often recorded, according to the indictment. Prosecutors allege in a detention memo filed in court that the freak-offs occurred regularly from at least 2009 through 2023 and that the hotel rooms where they were staged often sustained significant damage.

Combs’ alleged “criminal enterprise” threatened and abused women and utilized members of his enterprise to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice, prosecutors said. In bringing so-called RICO charges, prosecutors in opening statements said Combs was helped by cadre of company employees, security staff and aides. They allegedly helped organize the crime and “freak-offs” and then covered up the incidents. Thus far, Combs is the only one facing criminal charges related to the investigation.

Combs’ attorney this week said her client was far from perfect but that the charges were overblown.

“Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,” Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors. “There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.”

How Ventura and Combs met

Jurors heard that Ventura was 19 when she met the 37-year-old Combs in 2005, and she signed a 10-year contract with his Bad Boy Records label. About two years later, he had Britney Spears come to her 21st birthday party, where Ventura and Combs kissed and their relationship began, she said. She testified that the freak-offs became a way of life, and she even stepped away from her own birthday party for one.

Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean “Diddy” Combs arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story” at the Writers Guild Theater on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills.

(Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP)

Combs, she told jurors, required her to let a male sex worker urinate in her mouth. That man and others were paid thousands of dollars to have sex repeatedly for 36 to 48 hours, she told the jury.

On the stand, Ventura identified 13 male sex workers through photos presented by prosecutors that she said Combs’ had her recruit for the freak-offs. Hers and Combs’ relationship would end on a day in 2018 when she met him for dinner and he raped her on her living room floor, she testified.

Violence

During four days of testimony, Ventura, who is eight and a half months pregnant, described being raped, beaten at least six times, most severely in 2009.

In the 2009 attack, she testified that Combs was “stomping” on her face after he discovered she was dating rapper Kid Cudi. Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, had his car torched a short time afterward. Prosecutors allege in court papers that Combs ordered it.

Legal analysis

Legal experts say the testimony is designed to build the federal case against Combs, even if on the surface it does not appear directly related to the charges he’s facing.

“Why is the government talking about rape and assault when the charges are RICO and sex trafficking?” said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani. Well, he said, “what separates sex trafficking from consensual sex between adults — which the defense is arguing — is force, fraud or coercion.”

“Ventura’s testimony that she was given drugs to the point of throwing up … and forced to have sex when she was menstruating or had a UTI is evidence of coercion,” he said.

Rahmani said that Ventura’s portrayal of Combs as a gun-brandishing mogul who beat her on multiple occasions, tracked her movements and sent a security team to find her is evidence of force.

Then there were the alleged threats. She recounted that during a commercial flight in 2013, Combs pulled out his laptop and began playing a freak-off recording as they sat together. She said Combs told her that he was going to embarrass her and release them.

“I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” Ventura said.

Authorities raid Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Los Angeles home as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation

(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)

Rahmani said the racketeering charge against Combs requires prosecutors to prove the existence of a criminal enterprise.

“People typically think of the mob, street gangs, or drug cartels, but any loose association of two or more people is enough like Combs’ entourage,” the former federal prosecutor said. They must show two or more predicate acts over 10 years.

“That is why the evidence of bribery, kidnapping, obstruction, witness tampering and prostitution is important,” he said.

LAPD officer testimony

Israel Florez, a hotel security guard who confronted Combs in 2016, now a Los Angeles Police officer, testified Combs flashed a bundle of cash at him — something he believed was an attempted bribe. He rejected it, he said.

Combs’ defense is seeking to paint Ventura as participating in the behavior, recruiting and paying sex partners, acquiring narcotics and texting to push for freak-offs that were part of a swingers’ lifestyle. She is one of four alleged victims in the case, with jurors expected to hear from at least three of them.

On Thursday, defense attorney Anne Estevao had Ventura read a series of loving texts to Combs and got Ventura to testify she’d watched Combs have sex with another woman on multiple occasions. To support the swingers’ defense, the lawyer produced a 2009 text where the singer declared, “I’m always ready to freak off.”

Ventura sued Combs in the fall of 2023, accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse, triggering a cascade of lawsuits and allegations by others who say they’re victims of Combs and eventually, a raid by Homeland Security on his L.A. and Miami homes and his arrest. Ventura acknowledged Wednesday that she got a $20-million settlement within days of filing her lawsuit.

Combs attorney pushes back

During opening statements in a Manhattan federal courtroom, Geragos, one of Combs’ defense attorneys, drew a distinction for jurors between the violence they would hear testimony about and the charges Combs was facing, saying “domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”

She said the video of Ventura’s assault in the hotel was indefensible, but that the singer “made a choice” to stay with Combs for 11 years.

After the attack, a friend called police to Ventura’s home, she testified. But when officers arrived, she did not identify Combs as the culprit.

The prosecutor asked her why she did not talk. “In that moment, I didn’t want to hurt him that way. I wasn’t ready,” she replied.

On Thursday, the defense cross-examining Ventura sought to change the narrative using dozens of text messages between Combs and Ventura. In a July 2013 text message exchange, Comb’s defense lawyer noted that Cassie raised the idea of having a “freak-off,” writing to Combs: “Wish we could’ve FO’d before you left.”

Using the text message exchanges, the defense lawyer highlighted Ventura’s admitted jealousy over the attention he gave other women.

“You’re making me look like a side piece and that is not what I thought I was,” Cassie told Combs in a 2013 text message.

Estevao tried to recast the hotel incident as the result of the two taking a “bad batch” of the psychedelic stimulant MDMA during a “freak-off” before the hotel beating.

During her testimony this week, Ventura testified that Combs allegedly overdosed on opioids while partying at the Playboy Mansion in 2012. While she wasn’t there, she said, he told her about it.

Ventura’s testimony ended on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed court testimony for this analysis.

May 15 (UPI) — Indian security forces have killed 31 alleged Maoist rebels in what it Modi government officials called “the biggest-ever operation against Naxalism.”

The nearly three dozen accused rebels were killed during a 21-day operation in central India’s Kurraguttalu Hill region along the Chhattisgarh and Telangana state borders, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said Wednesday in a statement on X.

“The mountain that was once ruled by red terror is now proudly flying the national flag,” Shah said.

Naxalism is a communist insurgency of oppressed peasants that was founded in 1967 against feudal landowners in Naxalbari, West Bengal. India has been fighting the insurgency ever since, and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to be “Naxal-free” by March 31 of next year.

Shah said the Kurraguttalu Hill had served as a unified headquarters for several major Naxal organizations and was not only a training center “but also a site for Naxal strategy and weapons manufacturing.”

Eighteen military personnel were injured by improvised explosive devices during the operation, which took place between April 21 and Sunday, the government said in a release. Thirty-one bodies of uniformed Naxalites were recovered following the 21-day operation, including 16 females, with 28 so far identified, it said, adding that there were 21 “encounters” with Naxalites.

A total of 214 Naxal hideouts and bunkers were destroyed during the operation. Authorities also recovered 450 improvised explosive devices, 818 barrel grenade launcher shells, detonators, explosive materials and more than 26,450 pounds of food.

“Analysis of the information obtained during this historic 21-day-long anti-Naxal operation suggests that several senior Naxal cadres were either killed or seriously injured,” the government said.

Modi said in a statement that the operation proves their campaign to “eradicate Naxalism from its roots” was progressing as planned.

“We are fully committed to not only establishing peace in the Naxal-affected areas but also integrating them into the mainstream of development,” he said.

May 14 (UPI) — For a third straight day, the United States on Wednesday issued sanctions targeting Iran as the Trump administration attempts to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with the Middle Eastern country.

The punitive measures imposed by the Treasury Department are secondary sanctions, meaning those aimed and punishing third parties for dealing with previously designated entities, individuals and countries.

The sanctions target six individuals and 12 entities in China and Iran accused of aiding Tehran source the manufacturing of critical materials used in the Islamic state’s ballistic missile program, specifically carbon fiber materials used in the construction of intercontinental rockets.

The State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained in a statement that Iran is “heavily reliant on China to conduct its malign activities in the Middle East.”

The targets work with the U.S.-sanctioned elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The United States cannot allow Iran to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“The Iranian regime’s relentless and irresponsible pursuit of advanced ballistic missile capabilities, including its efforts to indigenize its production capacity, represents an unacceptable threat to the United States and the stability of the region.”

The sanctions are the third batch of Iran-targeted punitive measures that the Trump administration has imposed this week as it engages in negotiations with Iran on a new agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from securing a nuclear weapon — a goal long held by President Donald Trump.

In 2018, during his first term in the White House, Trump slapped sanctions on Iran and unilaterally pulled the United States from a landmark Obama-era multinational accord, calling it “defective at its core.”

He pursued a so-called maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and other punitive measures, but failed to coerce Iran back to the negotiating table, and it instead advanced its nuclear weapons capability to the point the U.S. government estimated in 2022 that it would need just a week to produce enough weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.

In February, Trump reinstated his maximum pressure policy, which includes the recent batches of further sanctions.

The United States and Iran have had four recent negotiations on a new deal, but there does not appear to be a fifth round scheduled yet.

Trump administration officials have said a deal would see Iran dismantle its three enrichment facilities, but Iranian officials have said it will not stop enriching uranium but would be open to restrictions.

Trump is in the Middle East this week for a four-day trip, and has repeatedly voiced optimism that a deal can be made.

“I have a feeling it’s going to work out. I think it’s going to work. It’s got to work out, one way or the other we know it’s going to work out,” Trump said during a press conference Wednesday in Doha, Qatar.

Later to reporters aboard Air Force One, he was more direct with his threats against Iran.

“One way or the other. It’s very simple. It’s going to happen one way or the other. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. So, we will either do it friendly, or we will do it very unfriendly, and that won’t be pleasant,” he said.

The Trump administration has said it has sanctioned more than 250 people, entities and vessels related to Iran and its proxies since February.

May 14 (UPI) — A lard-covered obelisk is more than a slippery slope for U.S. Naval Academy plebes, who view it as a rite of passage that changes them into midshipmen.

Dozens of freshmen who are called “plebes” were tasked with climbing the 21-foot-tall Herndon Monument on Wednesday, with the mission being to replace a cap placed on top to mark the end of their first year at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

They accomplished the feat in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 31 seconds by using the kind of teamwork that is required to effectively operate vessels on the high seas like the U.S. Navy has done for almost 250 years, and as it today carries out missions on land and in the air, as well.

The annual climb is a 75-year tradition that started in 1950 and scales the monument to Commander William Lewis Herndon, who went down with his ship when a hurricane sank it in 1857.

The climb requires Naval Academy plebes to scale the obelisk after it has been covered with 200 pounds of lard, remove a “Dixie cup” placed on top and replace it with the hat of an upperclassman.

The Dixie cup is not a reference to the paper cup that often is used at water dispensers.

Instead, it is a reference to the “low-rolled brim, high-domed item constructed of canvas” cap that was created in 1886 and has represented the U.S. Navy throughout the 20th century and beyond.

The Dixie cup cap is featured in the iconic photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in New York City’s Times Square on Victory over Japan Day in 1945.

It also was featured in many classic films and was worn by the S.S. Minnow’s first mate Gilligan on television’s “Gilligan’s Island.”

Members of the Naval Academy’s class of 2028 successfully undertook the task of replacing the Dixie Cup with the upperclassman’s hat.

The 2028 class has about 1,187 plebes, who now are referred to as “midshipmen” upon their completion of the annual rite of passage.

In the aftermath of the armed insurgency that erupted in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, the valley fell into what Basharat Peer called ‘Curfewed Night’—a’ prolonged nightmare. Three decades later, New Delhi revoked Article 370, apparently to spur investment and deepen integration in the valley. Yet, for Kashmiris, the nightmare has not ended. The recent attack in Pahalgam, which led to Operation Sindoor, serves as an unmuted episode in Kashmir’s nightmare.

Decades ago, Kashmiris inscribed ‘Q.K.’ (Quit Kashmir) on courtyard walls, and slogans like ‘Go India Go,’ ‘Al-Umar,’ and ‘Taeju’ echoed through the valley. During a 2008 visit to KASHMIR, Arundhati Roy recorded hearing chants such as ‘Dhoodh maango ge, kheer dein ge; Kashmir maango ge, cheer dein ge’ (Ask for milk, we’ll give you dessert; ask for Kashmir, we’ll tear you apart). Today, those slogans have faded. Headlines now highlight G20 meetings and post-2019 booms in tourism and investment. This raises a critical question: has the revocation of Article 370 erased half a century of resentment in just six years?

The Pahalgam attack challenges the narrative of Modi’s prosperous ‘Naya Kashmir.’ According to the managing editor of Kashmir Times, ‘normalcy has proved to be a mirage in Kashmir.’ After India’s 2019 clampdown silenced most headlines, KASHMIR faded away from the memory of the international community. But silence does not translate into peace. Within a month of the revocation of Article 370, more than 200 politicians, 100 community leaders, and many outspoken activists were imprisoned. There has been a systemic institutionalization of information control. Journalists and human rights defenders have been harassed, detained, and accused of ‘terrorism’ for reporting gross human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiris witness collective punishment. The human cost is profound: in 2022, a Kashmiri man lost his overseas job, faced financial hardship, and struggled with legal burdens because his brother, a journalist, was arrested for sharing a protest video on Twitter (now X).

Farah Bashir recounts in her memoir that every Kashmiri lives with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) or is described as being possessed by a djinn—a traditional way of expressing mental anguish. During crackdowns, soldiers storm homes, ransack belongings, and scatter staples like rice and flour across the floor. These crackdowns often lead to food shortages and, at times, starvation. Reigniting collective trauma, Indian security forces launched a sweeping crackdown following the Pahalgam attack across the valley. Kashmiri students in Jammu and across northern Indian states have faced a wave of violence, threats, and communal slurs. Around 1,500 Kashmiris have been placed under preventive detention. India’s response to the attack shows how the country continues to conflate security with collective punishment. For those born after 1990, fear and resistance have become normalized elements of daily life. Repression in Occupied Kashmir has migrated from open violence to more invisible, psychological forms of control. 

In 2021, the Russell Tribunal on Kashmir warned that the Valley had reached the brink of genocide, fueled by Hindutva-driven policies carried out with impunity. Yet, this reality remains largely invisible in both Indian and global media. The absence of independent reporting suggests that media bias is deeply entrenched, systematically sidelining accounts of state violence. It was only after the mass casualties of Indian tourists in the Pahalgam attack that global attention briefly redirected towards the situation in Occupied Kashmir, highlighting how the region’s persistent human rights crisis otherwise remains marginalized in international discourse.

Only a few Indian analysts have criticized their mainstream media for perpetuating the illusion of normalcy in the disputed territory, arguing that this portrayal masks the enduring reality of Jammu and Kashmir as a war zone. Thousands of Indian troops are omnipresent, and every Friday, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is placed under house arrest to prevent him from leading prayers. 

Since 2019, normalcy in Kashmir has been manufactured through repression, control of the media, and projection of economic development. As long as dissent is crushed, histories erased, and trauma left unhealed, Occupied Kashmir will remain a conflict unresolved—silenced, perhaps, but far from settled.