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About 1,000 "sky soldiers" from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and allied forces jumped out of U.S. and Italian C-130 aircraft behind a fictitious enemy’s lines during Saber Junction.

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In his winning video, Senior Airman Lane McCall shows dazzling footage of fighter jets, bombs and paratroopers, then he says: “But that doesn’t mean we’re all pilots, jumping out of planes, blowing stuff up. Get real.”

The U.S. Army on Wednesday demonstrated its newest armaments to representatives of 28 nations, including Russia and Afghanistan, as part of its obligation under an international arms control treaty.

The Kremlin reacted coolly to a condolence telegram from Syrian President Bashar Assad sent two days after his forces downed a Russian military plane, while Moscow toned down its initial criticism of Israel over the incident.

A high-level Israeli military delegation visited Moscow on Thursday to present detailed information related to the downing of a Russian warplane by Syrian forces that responded to an Israeli air raid.

Ukraine's president says the country needs to amend its constitution to make NATO membership its long-term goal.

Germany and France have launched a project fighting illicit firearms trafficking in the Western Balkans as part of preparations for those nations to seek European Union membership.

Jailed Catalan separatists, together with those who fled abroad to avoid prosecution by Spain, have become an emotional symbol of what many perceive as Spain's heavy-handed attempt to crush the independence movement in Catalonia.

U.S. Army Europe’s revised policy to allow more flexible housing allowances for civilian employees could be on a collision course with a Department of the Army review that seeks to add more restrictions.

The soldiers were taking part in the Slovak Shield exercise at Multinational Training Area Lest. An investigation is underway and no further information was available regarding the incident on Wednesday,

The U.S. Air Force and eight other nations will participate next month in independent Ukraine’s largest aviation exercise, which aims to promote regional security and improve that country’s cooperation with NATO members, the military said Tuesday.

Poland has long lobbied for larger numbers of U.S. troops in its country, where American soldiers currently carry out missions on a rotational basis. President Donald Trump says he's now considering creating a more permanent American presence there. Polish President Andrzej Duda says he would like to name the base Fort Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the military's combat experience gained in Syria has helped develop new weapons systems.

Germany's foreign minister says that Berlin is skeptical about the idea of a border correction in the talks between Kosovo and Serbia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Israel's offer to share detailed information on the Israeli airstrike in Syria that triggered fire by Syrian forces which downed a Russian reconnaissance plane, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

Pointing to shortfalls in Britain's position on keeping open the Irish border and on economic cooperation, European Council President Donald Tusk said that "the U.K.'s proposals will need to be reworked and further negotiated."

A Senate committee chairman, several committee lawmakers and a top Defense Department official on Tuesday said Russia is skirting several critical treaties with the United States to limit its stockpile of missiles and other weapons.

German doctors treating a member of Russian protest group Pussy Riot said Tuesday that claims he was poisoned are "highly plausible," but stressed they can't say how this might have occurred or who was responsible.

A Russian reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by a Syrian missile over the Mediterranean Sea, killing all 15 people on board. "The Israeli pilots were using the Russian aircraft as a shield and pushed it into the line of fire of the Syrian defense," said a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman.

Some 2,000 asylum-seekers will be moved out of a severely overcrowded migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos this month, a Greek official said Tuesday as charities slammed conditions at the camp, which has raw sewage running out of its main entrance.

Freddie Oversteegen took up arms against Nazi occupiers and Dutch "traitors" on the outskirts of Amsterdam. She helped sabotage bridges and rail lines with dynamite, shot Nazis while riding a bike, and donned disguises to smuggle Jewish children across the country and sometimes out of concentration camps.

Ukraine announced plans to establish a naval base along the Sea of Azov, a move that came a day after the U.S. said it is mulling more military assistance for Kiev to counter Russia’s actions.

The Suwalki Gap is a vulnerable corridor along NATO’s eastern flank, and some military analysts fear that U.S. and allied soldiers are badly exposed as they operate near the 45-mile corridor as part of NATO Battle Group Poland.

“NATO doesn’t have a tradition of naming buildings after politicians,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. After Sen. John McCain's death last month, there was a push to name the building after him.

British police said Monday that they don't know what made a man and woman sick at a restaurant near where former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned — but it wasn't the nerve agent Novichok.

The Nov. 30, 2010 missive is part of a much larger trove of WikiLeaks emails, chat logs, financial records, secretly recorded footage and other documents leaked to The Associated Press.

The jet was shot down by a Soviet-made missile over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in July 2014, about 25 miles from the Russian border.

Hungary's prime minister claimed Monday that the European Union is seeking to take over the defense of the bloc's external borders from some countries in order to facilitate the entry of migrants.

The disagreement is so serious that Croatia is threatening to block Montenegro's efforts to join the European Union, and it's also reviving old tensions.

Neither the left-leaning bloc led by the Social Democrats nor the Moderates center-right bloc managed to secure a governing majority in the 349-seat parliament.

British police closed roads and called a hazardous response team Sunday night after two people became ill at a restaurant in the English city where a Russian ex-spy and his daughter were poisoned with a chemical nerve agent.

Russian naval forces have conducted a submarine search using an anti-submarine ship and a helicopter in the Sea of Okhotsk as part of Russia's largest-ever military exercises.

Maria Alekhina, a member of Russia's Pussy Riot protest group, says a severely ill fellow activist was being taken to Germany on Saturday for treatment of suspected poisoning.

wo journalists say the passport file of one of the suspects in the poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in England contains a telephone number that appears to belong to Russia's Defense Ministry.

Analysis

As what some allege to be Russian plots, conspiracies and crimes unfold against the West, Vladimir Putin or a circle of Kremlin insiders are routinely blamed. Not necessarily, say experts who see Putin and his entourage as possibly sending out signals about what he wants, and ambitious officials and individuals scramble to interpret and fulfill them to win his favor.

The United States special envoy for Ukraine said Saturday that Washington would consider providing more armaments to the country, whose army is fighting with Russia-backed separatist rebels in the east.

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A group of veterans, spouses and civilians based at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach opened three beehives on Friday. The Ansbach beekeeping club is taking care of what they call the Bee Haus, which is home to as many as 30,000 bees.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says sanctions on Russia will not be lifted until a real cease-fire is achieved in Ukraine.

Poland sees itself as a bridge in trans-Atlantic rifts between the European Union and the Trump administration and wants the EU to show "greater empathy" for U.S. sanctions on Iran, the country's foreign minister said Friday.

Germany's Foreign Ministry says the U.S. decision to shut down the Palestinians' de facto embassy in Washington could complicate trying to get Palestinians and Israelis back to the table to talk about a two-state solution in the Middle East.

When Germans are out and about, their water go-to is usually a bottle. But on a steaming late-summer afternoon in the nation's capital, Berlin Mayor Michael Müller set out to convert them to the tap.

europe quick trips

La Spezia, Italy, is billed as the gateway to Cinque Terre, a set of five coastal villages that has become ubiquitous on bucket lists and Instagram feeds in recent years. But the underrated town synthesizes a number of classic Italian charms and has plenty to offer in its own right.

An 8-ton marble monument to Guglielmo Marconi dedicated by American signal soldiers 45 years ago is to be hauled off base and handed over to local Italians for a planned museum.

Kosovo's government has prepared three draft laws on transforming the country's security forces into a regular army, though it is not clear whether it will get formal parliamentary approval.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday attended Russia's biggest-ever war games, which involved some 300,000 troops as well as a significant contingent of Chinese forces.

The two Russian men spun an unlikely tale of hapless tourists defeated by grim British weather: They traveled more than 1,000 miles to see England's famed Salisbury Cathedral but were turned back by slush and snow, then returned the next day and spent two hours exploring the "beautiful" city.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday formally recognized the responsibility of the French state in the death of a dissident mathematician in Algeria in 1957, admitting for the first time the French military's "system" that included torture during Algeria's independence war.

The European Union's foreign policy chief on Thursday added her voice to a string of western officials urging the people of Macedonia to vote in a referendum on a deal with Greece that could enable the former Yugoslav republic's NATO and EU accession.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop Thursday and authorized an investigation into allegations he sexually harassed adults, adding awkward drama to an audience with U.S. church leaders over the abuse and cover-up scandal roiling the Catholic Church.

Spain will go ahead with a shipment of precision bombs to Saudi Arabia, officials said Thursday, reversing on a previous decision and angering activists who claim the weapons could harm civilians in Yemen.

Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested Wednesday that Germany must be prepared to respond if chemical weapons are used in war zones, remarks that come amid a debate over possible military involvement in the Syrian conflict.

The last time Britain accused two Russians of an assassination, one of them ended up in the Russian parliament.

Hundreds of thousands Russian troops swept across Siberia on Tuesday in the nation's largest ever war games also joined by China — a powerful show of burgeoning military ties between Moscow and Beijing amid their tensions with the U.S.

Thunderous booms joined the crackle of machine guns echoing over the rolling Bavarian hills, as U.S. paratroopers shifted this week to the live-fire portion of Saber Junction, a multinational annual exercise aimed at demonstrating American commitment to its allies.

The foreign ministers of the three NATO members on the eastern flank issued a statement condemning "the repeated violation of NATO airspace, the continued military buildup in Crimea and Kaliningrad" and "continued violation of obligations and commitments on arms control."

Pope Francis summoned the presidents of the world's bishops' conferences Wednesday to a summit on preventing clergy sex abuse and protecting children, responding to the greatest crisis of his papacy with the realization that Vatican inaction on the growing global scandal now threatens his legacy.

Russia and China intend to regularly conduct joint war games similar to the massive ones being held this week, the Russian defense minister said Wednesday.

A servicemember based in Germany shares how he dealt with being the unwitting subject of a viral post.

They only went out to play a calm game of petanque and enjoy some late summer warmth by a Parisian canal. By the end of the evening, the three friends had neutralized a knife-wielding attacker who had stabbed seven people, with an unlikely weapon: the game's clanking — and hefty — metal balls.

Germany stayed out of previous U.S.-led airstrikes but voiced its support.

The Serbian president's praise of Slobodan Milosevic as a "great" leader has triggered outrage in neighboring states where his nationalist policies in the 1990s caused bloodshed and destruction.

England's chief coroner has begun an inquest into the death of five people last year in an extremist attack on Britain's Parliament, saying it was "82 seconds of high and terrible drama."

A Romanian official said Monday that the U.S. needs to have a strong presence in Eastern Europe before a summit on boosting development in the region.

Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the new force will be based in Siedlce and will consist of three brigades, two existing ones and one to be formed from new troops.

The man's motives were unknown and nothing was being ruled out, regional government press officer Christelle Monteagudo said.

Seven people were injured in a knife attack in central Paris late Sunday but police said that terrorism was not suspected.

The potential of an immigration backlash to result in a big boost for the far-right Sweden Democrats inspired fear among many Swedes before the election.

Some 77,000 people have been arrested and around 130,000 others have been dismissed from state jobs since the coup.

The 17th annual Italian-American Friendship Festival drew hundreds Saturday to a celebration and memorial in the largest city nearest Aviano Air Base.

Just weeks after Emmanuel Macron took office last year, his team went over the French state's most sensitive activities. What it found provided a wake-up call. The team learned that the country's intelligence agency – which, among other things, tracks French citizens for homegrown terrorism or anarchist activities – uses software from a CIA-backed startup.

The U.S. Army announced a plan Friday to add more firepower in Germany by creating new short-range air defense and rocket artillery units, in one of the largest troop boosts in Europe since the end of the Cold War.

Army Staff Sgt. Bryan McQueen has a minor brain injury following an attack in Afghanistan, but he will head home to his high school sweetheart wife and newborn son in a few days — a fate his mother said is an answer to her prayers.

A Russian spy satellite may have targeted France's secret communications in space last year, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said.

Maj. Gen. John Wood assumed command on Friday of 3rd Air Force, where he’ll direct U.S. air operations in Europe and Africa.

europe quick trips

Vicenza is off the beaten path for most tourists doing obligatory tours of grand basilicas and duomos in Milan, Florence, Siena and Rome. Yet the city has a couple of churches that, though more humble, are beautiful, culturally significant and contain masterpiece art.

The soldier killed Tuesday in a motorcycle accident in Italy has been identified as Sgt. Nathan Teregeyo, 25, attached to the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne).

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe is known as a GOP company man, but the new head of the Senate Armed Services Committee had a mini-maverick moment back in 2011, and it was all about Africa.

If history is anything to go by, Europe's most volatile region is headed into another precarious period, and the repercussions could again be felt around the world.

In 1846, Sir John Barrow, an English statesman who midwifed the Victorian age of Arctic exploration, described the North Pole as "the only thing in the world about which we know nothing." Long after its true nature has been unveiled, it has continued to bedevil and torment many who have dared to impinge on it.

The United States may increase drills and rotate more troops through bases in Greece, which offer logistic support for U.S. forces within range of hot spots in northern Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, America’s top military leader said.

A soldier with the 173rd Airborne Brigade was killed Tuesday when he apparently lost control of his motorcycle on the road to Asiago, military officials said.

When a tiny hole was discovered inside the International Space Station last week, U.S. and Russian authorities initially suspected a micrometeoroid strike. More than 170 million pieces of space debris circle in the earth's orbit and a collision with the ISS appeared to be inevitable. But Russian officials who examined the hole concluded that it had been drilled.

NATO has proven its substantial value and remains a critical investment for U.S. national security, senators and experts said Wednesday during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

Ken Spatz never met his father, a B-17 aircraft waist gunner with the same name, who died in World War II. But last week he visited the site where the B-17 crashed and collected a memento — his father’s long-lost high school ring.

A 29-year-old U.S. soldier and two other Americans were hurt in an accident Saturday near Grafenwoehr when the soldier’s car struck a car he was attempting to pass and then hit a second car coming from the opposite direction, police said.

Central European University – founded and funded by Hungarian-American investor George Soros – has become the prime target of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's campaign to dismantle Europe's multicultural, tolerant liberalism and cement a culture that is unapologetically Christian, conservative and nationalist.

Russia pushed back against U.S. attempts Wednesday to rally the U.N. Security Council against Nicaragua, with Russia’s ambassador to the U.N. accusing the Trump administration of resuming “colonial traditions” in its call for more robust international oversight of the Central American nation.

Few today know about the grim accident — the worst in Grafenwoehr’s history — that took the lives of 16 soldiers serving on this base on Sept. 2, 1960.

Amsterdam police shot and wounded the suspect, a 19-year-old Afghan citizen, after a double stabbing Friday at Central Station.

Alexander Kneginich, a former Serbian militia member in the Bosnian War, was turned over to Bosnian authorities in Chicago after being sentenced to federal prison for lying about the murder charges on his immigration papers in 2001. Kneginich is believed to have shot and killed a Muslim couple, in their home on April 11, 1994.

Russia has delayed the transit of hundreds of commercial ships near a key Ukrainian port, a move that some analysts say amounts to a de facto blockade in an increasingly volatile region.

Belgian and German fighter pilots are now responsible for patrolling over the Baltics as part of a regular NATO rotation focused on protecting alliance airspace.

Crackdown on those illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border brings back fears for Holocaust survivors.

The heads of 6th Fleet and the newly reborn 2nd Fleet convened Thursday at the Navy’s European headquarters to discuss how they will monitor an increasingly assertive Russian navy, which is now massing warships in the Mediterranean Sea for large-scale exercises.

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Air cavalry soldiers teamed their Apache helicopter weapons systems with spotter drones to pinpoint targets, a first test for a 4th Combat Aviation Brigade unit that arrived in Europe last month.

Anti-migrant groups seized on Sunday's slaying of Daniel Hillig, a carpenter from Chemnitz, mobilizing thousands to a protest the following day. At least 18 people were injured when far-right extremists in the crowd clashed with counter-protesters Monday.

NATO had no greater supporter than John McCain, said Sen. Marco Rubio, who called on the alliance, which is based in Brussels, to support the resolution.

Europe Quick Trips

I have always admired the Japanese and their culture’s emphasis on incorporating nature into daily life. This can be found in everything from carpentry to pottery, from clothing to food. For me, the height of this expression is the Japanese garden, where horticultural concepts have been refined and elevated to a spiritual level.

NATO is considering a proposal to name the alliance’s new Brussels headquarters after the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, an idea that has support from three former leaders of the security pact.

In his sixth week of detention, Cafer Topkaya stopped counting the days in his prison diary, realizing he wouldn't be going home anytime soon.