U.S. military

The Pentagon said on Aug. 14 it was setting up a new task force under the U.S. Navy to investigate UFO sightings.

With the creation of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), the Defense Department hopes "to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs," spokeswoman Susan Gough said in a statement.

President Donald Trump on June 10 said his administration will "not even consider'' changing the name of any of the 10 Army bases that are named for Confederate Army officers. Two days earlier, Defense Secretary Mark Esper indicated that he was open to a broad discussion of such changes.

Wielding extraordinary federal authority, President Donald Trump threatened the nation's governors on June 1 that he would deploy the military to states if they did not stamp out violent protests over police brutality that have roiled the nation over the past week.

Russia has not sent military personnel to Libya and the Russian upper house of parliament has not received a request to approve such a dispatch, Interfax on May 27 cited Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the upper house's international affairs committee, as saying.

Russia recently sent fighter jets to Libya to support Russian mercenaries fighting for strongman Khalifa Haftar in the long-running conflict, the U.S. military said on May 26.    

The Taliban said their peace deal with the United States was nearing a breaking point, accusing Washington of violations that included drone attacks on civilians, while also chastising the Afghan government for delaying the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners promised in the agreement.

Iraq condemned overnight U.S. airstrikes on March 13, saying they killed six people and warning of dangerous consequences for what it called a violation of sovereignty and targeted aggression against the nation's regular armed forces.

American troops have begun leaving Afghanistan for the initial troop withdrawal required in the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement, the U.S. military confirmed on March 9, amid political chaos in Kabul that threatens the deal.

Two former presidential rivals endorsed Joe Biden on March 6 in the latest sign that the Democratic establishment is coalescing around the former vice president to stop the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, who ratcheted up attacks on his rival ahead of crucial contests next week.

The U.S. military on Feb. 10 disclosed a more than 50 percent jump in cases of traumatic brain injury stemming from Iran's missile attack on a base in Iraq last month, with the number of service members diagnosed climbing to over 100.