Reuters, Sydney
Australia and the United States began their biggest ever joint military exercises today, a show of force, largely at sea, aimed at sending a message both to allies and potential foes, including China.
The exercises involving 33,000 US and Australian troops on board battleships equipped with strike jets, comes as tension over China’s more assertive activity, particularly in the disputed South China Sea, has raised fears of confrontation.
Trump will be in France for Bastille Day
AP, Washington
President Trump has accepted French President Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to attend July 14 celebrations in France, the White House announced Wednesday.
The Bastille Day national holiday has additional significance this year: It will also serve to mark the 100th anniversary of U.S. troops entering World War I, a critical contribution to victory in a conflict that cost 1.4 million French lives.
German prison to be evacuated after bomb found
AP, Berlin
A prison in the southern German city of Regensburg needs to be evacuated after an unexploded World War II-era bomb was found during construction work nearby. The dpa news agency reported Thursday that bomb disposal experts are expected to dispose of the 225 kilogram (500 pound) aerial bomb on Saturday, and inmates will have to be taken to safer quarters during the work.
NATO agrees to send more troop trainers to Afghanistan
AP, Brussels
Two years after winding down its military operation in Afghanistan, NATO has agreed to send more troops to the war-ravaged country to help train and work alongside the Afghan security forces. The move comes in response to a request from NATO commanders to provide around 3,000 troops. Speaking ahead of NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels Thursday, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that “15 nations have already pledged additional contributions” and that he expected more pledges later in the day.
