Author: Press Room

TOKYO: US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Sunday (Mar 30) that Japan was indispensable in tackling Chinese aggression by helping Washington establish a “credible” deterrence in the region, including across the Taiwan Strait. “We share a warrior ethos that defines our forces,” Hegseth told Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani at a meeting in Tokyo. Calling Japan a “cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific”, the Pentagon indicated that President Donald Trump’s government would, like past administrations, continue to work closely with its key Asian ally. Japan hosts around 50,000 US military personnel, fighter squadrons and Washington’s only…

The war in Ukraine is at an inflection point, with President Trump seeking rapprochement with the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin, and pressing for an end to the fighting.But for nearly three years before Mr. Trump’s return to power, the United States and Ukraine were joined in an extraordinary partnership of intelligence, strategy, planning and technology whose evolution and inner workings have been known only to a small circle of American and allied officials.With remarkable transparency, the Pentagon has offered a public accounting of the $66.5 billion in weaponry it has supplied to Ukraine. But a New York Times investigation…

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top vaccine official, who was part of the first Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, has reportedly been forced out of his position, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report. A Health and Human Services (HHS) allegedly gave Dr. Peter Marks a choice between resigning or being fired, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.   Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration answers a question during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response…

David M. Childs, an architect who crowned the New York City skyline with the tallest building in the Americas — a shimmering new 1 World Trade Center in place of the twin towers destroyed on 9/11 — died on Wednesday in Pelham, N.Y. He was 83.The cause was Lewy body dementia, his wife, Annie, said. Mr. Childs had homes in Manhattan and Keene, N.Y. The couple were staying in Pelham to be near two of their children.One World Trade Center (also called Freedom Tower) is a tapering, eight-faceted exclamation point abutting the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan. Known…

William Shatner, who made history in 2021 as the oldest person to travel to space at age 90, is offering candid advice to Blue Origin’s all-female crew preparing for their own journey beyond Earth’s atmosphere.”You’re on an adventure. You’ve got to embrace it,” Shatner said to Gayle King, who is part of the crew, during a recent interview. The 94-year-old actor, best known for his role as Captain Kirk in “Star Trek,” traveled aboard the first Blue Origin human flight in October 2021.As the all-female flight prepares for launch on April 14, Shatner emphasized that the experience would be unlike…

Elon Musk said on Friday that he had sold X, his social media company, to xAI, his artificial intelligence start-up, in an unusual arrangement that shows the financial maneuvering inside the business empire of the world’s richest man.The all-stock deal valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, Mr. Musk said on X. X’s price was down from the $44 billion that Mr. Musk paid for the social media company in 2022, but higher than the $12 billion valuation that some of X’s investors have recently assigned it. The last valuation of xAI, at a December fund-raising round,…

At least one person was killed after a small plane crashed into a house in a Minneapolis suburb on Saturday afternoon, engulfing the home in flames, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and local officials.No one in the house was injured after the plane crashed in Brooklyn Park, Minn., Risikat Adesaogun, the city’s communications manager, said. Shawn Conway, the city’s fire chief, said no one aboard the plane survived, though it was not immediately known how many people were aboard.The plane, which the F.A.A. identified as a SOCATA TBM7, seats a maximum of seven people, according to GlobalAir.com.The home that…

Perth Glory’s demoralising trudge towards a second A-League Men wooden spoon in a row continued as they were beaten 3-1 by Central Coast Mariners at Industree Group Stadium.Glory have now gone nine games without a win, a streak which eclipses the eight matches in a row they failed to claim three points in to start the season.The result will heap more pressure on embattled coach David Zdrilic, as Glory once again proved far too susceptible in defence, too reliant on hopeful crosses as a route to goal and nowhere near resilient enough when confronted with adversity.Glory had almost 60 per…

TOKYO: The United States will ensure “robust, ready and credible deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Sunday (Mar 30), calling Chinese actions “aggressive and coercive”. “America is committed to sustaining robust, ready and credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait,” Hegseth said in Japan after talks with counterpart Gen Nakatani. “Japan would be on the front lines of any contingency we might face in the western Pacific and we stand together in support of each other. “That’s why today Minister Nakatani and I talked about the severe…

American citizen Faye Hall has been released by the Taliban after she was detained earlier this year.An American woman has been freed by the Taliban in Afghanistan after she, two Britons and their Afghan translator were detained earlier this year, Washington’s former envoy to Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, has said. She is the fourth US citizen released by the Taliban since January, as part of agreements brokered by Qatar. “American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home,” Khalilzad, who has…