Thursday, Apr 18th
Last update02:57:41 AM GMT
Military Glance
Austin, 70, was taken back to Walter Reed by his security detail at 2:20 p.m. Sunday, according to Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. Just before 5 p.m., he transferred his authority to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.
He remained at the hospital Sunday evening, Ryder said.
Unlike his previous hospitalization that began Jan. 1, Austin notified the White House, Congress and Pentagon officials, Ryder said in a statement.
Searchers have found the bodies of five Marines who were aboard a U.S. Marine helicopter when it crashed in a mountainous region east of San Diego, authorities said Thursday.
It's not known where the bodies were discovered. Recovery efforts have begun and an investigation into the crash is underway.
The Marines were assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Their names will not be released until 24 hours after their families are notified.
The CH-53E Super Stallion, a heavy-lift helicopter, was flying from Nevada to California when contact was lost at about 11:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, Marine Corps officials said.
The U.S. said Wednesday it killed a senior commander in Iraq with the Iranian-backed militia group Kata’ib Hezbollah who was involved in planning attacks on American troops.
The commander was killed during a strike that took place around 9:30 p.m. local time, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
“The United States will continue to take necessary action to protect our people,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to hold responsible all those who threaten our forces’ safety.”
CENTCOM said there were no civilian casualties or collateral damage from the strike.
The strike hit a car in a busy section of eastern Baghdad, killing the commander and two other Kataib Hezbollah officials, according to The Associated Press.
A search-and-rescue operation is underway for five Marines after a United States military helicopter carrying them to Southern California was found Wednesday.
The helicopter departed from Nevada and was slated to land in California, USMC 1st Lt. Kevin Uebelhardt told USA TODAY. After it was reported overdue, teams in several states began a search and the aircraft was located by civil authorities in Pine Valley, California, just after 9 a.m.
"The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing is managing search and rescue efforts through the Wing Operations Command Center and using ground and aviation assets to locate the aircrew in coordination with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and multiple federal, state and local agencies," the agency said in a statement.
The five missing marines are assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Uebelhardt said.
Saturday in another wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have attacked US and international interests in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
Ships and fighter jets on Saturday launched strikes against the Houthis. It followed an air assault in Iraq and Syria on Friday targeting other Iran-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops – William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett – in Jordan last weekend.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the military action “sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.”
The Pentagon on Monday released the identities of the three American service members killed Sunday by a drone strike in northeastern Jordan.
The three were identified as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga.; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga.
The three were all reservists assigned to the 718th Engineer Company in Fort Moore, Ga.
Meanwhile, the number of those wounded in the attack rose to more than 40, the Pentagon announced on Monday.
A modern-day ocean explorer has claimed to have possibly solved one of the great mysteries of modern aviation by publishing sonar images which he claims may show the wreckage of the the airplane flown by Amelia Earhart at the bottom of the Pacific.
Earhart’s plane disappeared over the Pacific in 1937 as she sought to become the first woman to fly around the world. Ever since then, mystery has surrounded the American aviator’s fate amid intense speculation as to what happened to her.
But Tony Romeo, a pilot and former US air force intelligence officer, told the Wall Street Journal on Friday he may have solved the mystery after he collected a sonar image of what could be an aircraft as part of his quest to find Earhart’s plane.
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