Tag: Austin

Biden in dark over defense chief’s cancer for month

By W.G. DUNLOP WASHINGTON, Jan 9, 2024 (AFP) – President Joe Biden was kept in the dark over his defense secretary’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalizations for about a month, the White House admitted Tuesday, as details of Lloyd Austin’s deeply unusual disappearance raised questions about leadership of the world’s top military. The 70-year-old’s failure to disclose his hospitalization has prompted an extraordinary row in Washington and could be embarrassing for Biden, who faces multiple […]

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US, UK, Australia defense chiefs tout deep space radar, AI in joint deal

By Josh EDELSON MOUNTAIN VIEW, United States, Dec 2, 2023 (AFP) – The defense chiefs of the United States, Australia and Britain met in California on Friday, touting high-tech co-operation on deep space radar, AI and quantum computing systems aimed at bolstering their armed forces in the face of growing global threats, including from China. The three men huddled in Silicon Valley — the heart of the US tech sector — to build on the […]

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Blinken, Austin visit Australia on last leg of Pacific blitz

BRISBANE, Australia, July 28, 2023 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin visited Australia Friday on the final leg of a Pacific tour designed to reinforce Washington’s standing in the region. The United States has been ramping up efforts to re-engage in the South Pacific, where China has emerged as a rising diplomatic and military power. Blinken’s trip to Brisbane caps a diplomatic blitz in which he has also […]

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China declines meeting with US defense chief: Pentagon

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2023 (AFP) – Beijing has declined a US invitation for a meeting in Singapore between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu, the Pentagon said Monday. “Overnight, the PRC informed the US that they have declined our early May invitation for Secretary Austin to meet with PRC Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu in Singapore this week,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement, refering to […]

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US ships artillery to Ukraine to destroy Russian firepower

by Paul HANDLEY Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The push by the United States to send artillery to Ukraine aims to degrade Russian forces — not only on the immediate battlefield but over the longer term, according to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and military experts. The United States, France, Czech Republic and other allies are sending scores of the long-range howitzers to help Ukraine blunt Russia’s mounting offensive in the eastern […]

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Pres. Duterte decides to continue VFA after meeting with US Defense chief Austin

Austin is first Biden cabinet member to meet with Pres. Duterte   (Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte decided to continue the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States government, recalling his earlier decision to terminate or abrogate the VFA. Delfin Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced that President Duterte decided to continue the VFA after his meeting on Thursday, July 29, with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Because of this, he said that the “VFA […]

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Texas bomb suspect blows himself up after police move in

by Mark Henricks © Agence France-Presse AUSTIN, United States (AFP) — A man suspected of carrying out a series of parcel bombings in the Texas capital Austin blew himself up Wednesday as police closed in, easing tensions in a city that had been on edge for weeks. Police said they surrounded Mark Conditt, a 23-year-old white male, outside a hotel in city suburbs, where a series of bombings that began on March 2 killed two people […]

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