Politics Trump supporters in Florida say the president needs a third term Marquise Francis National Reporter & ProducerYahoo News•Tens of thousands of President Trump’s supporters descended upon the Amway Center in Orlando on Tuesday to hear the president launch his 2020 campaign. Their positions were in sync. Many said they have enjoyed the president’s time in office thus far and tout the strong economy. Supporters also said that illegal immigrants have no place in the country and that if Trump can have a third term, they’re all for it. “Maybe the Democrats would get it right during the third term and leave him alone so he could do even more,” said one Trump supporter.Rally-goers waited on line for more than 30 hours ahead of the doors opening for the main event, dealing with heavy rain to secure a prime spot to hear the president speak. Outside the venue there was live music, food trucks and frequent chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A.” Inside, attendees bonded over their excitement about seeing the president.“Our patriotic movement has been under assault from the very first day,” Trump said in front of the energized crowd. “We accomplished more than any other president has in the first two and a half years of a presidency and under circumstances that no president has had to deal with before.”
Iran shoots down American drone in international airspace, US official confirms
PHOTO: The Triton unmanned aircraft system completes its first flight May 22, 2013 from the Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman photo by Alex Evers)The MQ-4C Triton is an unarmed surveillance aircraft powered by a jet engine, which is capable of operating at altitudes as high as 60,000 feet. It is the Navy’s version of the reconnaissance aircraft that the Air Force calls the RQ-4 Global HawkThe incident is not the first time in recent days that Iran has targeted an American drone off its coast.Last Thursday, Iran attempted to shoot down an MQ-9 Reaper that was surveilling the attack on one of two tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The United States has blamed Iran for being responsible for the attacks on the two tankers — a claim Iran has denied.
PHOTO: The Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft system completed its first flight from the company’s manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Bob Brown)
„According to our assessment, a modified Iranian SA-7 surface-to-air missile attempted to shoot down a U.S. MQ-9, at 6:45 a.m. local time, June 13, over the Gulf of Oman, to disrupt surveillance of the IRGC attack on the M/T Kokuka Courageous,” CENTCOM spokesperson Lt. Col. Earl Brown said in a statement to ABC News on Saturday.
(MORE: Iran attempted to shoot down US drone over tanker attack site in Gulf of Oman)
„Subsequent analysis indicates that this was a likely attempt to shoot down or otherwise disrupt the MQ-9 surveillance of the IRGC attack on the M/T Kokuka Courageous,” Brown said.
In early May, the Pentagon rushed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and a B-52 bomber task force to the Middle East to deter possible attacks by Iran or Iranian-backed groups on U.S. forces and U.S. interests in the region.
Iran shoots down U.S. military drone in Gulf region Reuters•Rep. Green reacts to Defense Department shakeup, US deploying troops amid Iran tensions By Parisa Hafezi and Phil Stewart DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran has shot down a U.S. drone which the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday was flying over southern Iran, raising fears that a major military confrontation could erupt between Tehran and Washington.
Guards website Sepah News said the „spy” drone was brought down over the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan, which is on the Gulf.
While Iran’s state news agency IRNA carried the same report, identifying the drone as an RQ-4 Global Hawk, a U.S. official said a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton had been shot down in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz..
The MQ-4C Triton’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, says on its website that the Triton can fly for over 24 hours at a time, at altitudes higher than 10 miles, with an operational range of 8,200 nautical miles.
Earlier, a spokesman for the U.S. military’s Central Command, Navy Captain Bill Urban, said no U.S. aircraft were flying over Iran on Wednesday.
The U.S. military has in recent days confirmed an attempt by Iran to shoot down a U.S. drone last week as well as the successful shooting down of one on June 6 by Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen.
A senior Iranian security official said on Wednesday Iran would „strongly respond” to any violation of its airspace.
„Our airspace is our red line and Iran has always responded and will continue to respond strongly to any country that violates our airspace,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security council as saying.
Tension between Iran and the United States has spiked since last year when President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers and reimposed sanctions on it.
Concern about a military confrontation has increased since attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week and on four tankers off the United Arab Emirates on May 12, both near the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for global oil supplies.
The United States and its regional ally, Saudi Arabia, blamed Iran for the incidents. Iran has denied responsibility.
Iran talking to Russia and China in case EU nuclear deal efforts fail: TASS Reuters•Peter Navarro says Americans do not want a conveyor belt of migrants coming into the USMOSCOW (Reuters) – Iran is in talks with Russia and China on a possible settlement mechanism in case discussions with EU over a nuclear deal fail, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security council, Ali Shamkhani, said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.Tehran said in May it would reduce compliance with the nuclear pact it agreed with China, Russia and other world powers in 2015, in protest at the United States’ decision to unilaterally pull out of the agreement and reimpose sanctions last year.Iran added that it would start enriching uranium at a higher level unless other European signatories to the deal protected its economy from the U.S. sanctions within 60 days.
The new U.S. sanctions have forced countries around the world to boycott Iranian oil or face sanctions of their own.
Shamkhani said that Iran could solve the issue of exporting oil, according to TASS.
(Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva)
The Latest: Witness says he saw Navy SEAL stab prisoner Associated Press•Man charged in connection with fire that targeted Brooklyn rabbi’s home SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a decorated Navy SEAL charged with killing an Islamic State prisoner in his care (all times local):
5:35 p.m.
A Navy SEAL has testified that he saw a comrade stab a wounded and captive Islamic State fighter in Iraq in 2017.Then-Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Craig Miller, who has since been promoted to chief, testified Wednesday that Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher plunged his knife twice into the neck of the teenage prisoner after providing medical care.
Miller says blood spurted out of the militant’s neck and he reported what he saw to an officer.
A defense lawyer pointed out inconsistencies between Miller’s testimony and previous statements and suggested he pressured other sailors to fabricate statements.
Miller denied that accusation during Gallagher’s court-martial.
Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder.
Defense lawyers say Gallagher treated the wounded prisoner. They accuse disgruntled SEALs of lying to prevent him from being promoted because they didn’t like his demanding leadership.
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This story has been corrected to fix the Miller’s title.
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12:10 p.m.
A former Navy SEAL has testified at a court-martial about several occasions when a fellow sniper fired at Iraqi civilians.
Dylan Dille (Duh-LAY) told jurors Wednesday that he believed Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher shot an old man and fired at women walking along a river and a group of people getting water.
The defense objected to the testimony, saying descriptions of the alleged shootings were „wildly vague.” But the judge allowed most of the testimony from Dille, who was a first class special warfare operator.
Dille says he was near Gallagher during the shootings but didn’t see him pull the trigger.
Dille says Gallagher radioed that he thought he had missed after seeing the old man shot in Mosul in 2017.
Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder in the death of a war prisoner and shooting of two civilians.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39955793@N07/5880998048/sizes/o/ Robert Farley Security, Europe Simple.Naval Expert: Why Russia Never Built Lots of Aircraft CarriersThe aviation capability of the Russian navy is dangling by a thread. Kuznetsov is old and in poor condition, and no carrier is even close to be laid down.Historically a land power, the Soviet Union grappled with the idea of a large naval aviation arm for most of its history, eventually settling on a series of hybrid aircraft carriers. Big plans for additional ships died with the Soviet collapse, but Russia inherited one large aircraft carrier at the end of the Cold War—that remains in service today. Although many of the problems that wracked the naval aviation projects of the Soviet Union remain today, the Russian navy nevertheless sports one of the more active aircraft carriers in the world.Recommended: Air War: Stealth F-22 Raptor vs. F-14 Tomcat (That Iran Still Flies)
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History of Russian Naval Aviation
U.S.Shanahan’s Pentagon rise upended by painful family pas AFP•
Patrick Shanahan, whom President Donald Trump had picked to become his second defense secretary, has withdrawn from the process as incidents from his family’s past resurfaced (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)Washington (AFP) – Patrick Shanahan — a onetime Boeing engineer who spent the last two years at the Pentagon — seemed set to lead the world’s most powerful military, until a history of violent incidents in his family derailed his plans.The 56-year-old Shanahan stepped down as acting defense secretary on Tuesday and withdrew his name from consideration to permanently fill the post to protect his children’s „safety and well-being.”It was a surprising end to Shanahan’s quick rise to the top spot at the Department of Defense in just two years.At issue are two incidents: a 2010 altercation between Shanahan and his then-wife Kimberley at their home in Seattle that left him with a bloody nose and her in custody — amid claims that he also hit her.The second involves his son, who was arrested as a teen after brutally hitting his mother with a baseball bat in 2011, Shanahan himself revealed in an interview with The Washington Post.”Bad things can happen to good families… and this is a tragedy, really,” Shanahan told the newspaper in interviews conducted late Monday and Tuesday.- Mr Fix-It -Before joining the Pentagon, Shanahan — an engineer by training — spent 30 years at Boeing, holding management roles on multiple commercial jet programs as well as on missile defense systems.The MIT graduate earned the nickname „Mr Fix-It” for having put the problem-saddled 787 Dreamliner program back on track.
Shanahan later was responsible for all US Army aviation programs with the aerospace giant — experience that undoubtedly helped smooth his way into government service.
In mid-2017, then Pentagon chief Jim Mattis tapped Shanahan to help modernize the Pentagon’s procedures for its trillion-dollar acquisition program.
But Shanahan quickly drew criticism that he had violated ethics rules with his support for Boeing as a Pentagon supplier while denigrating its competitors, notably Lockheed Martin.
Once he was cleared of those allegations, and Mattis stepped down as Pentagon chief at the end of last year, President Donald Trump gave the nod to the business-savvy Shanahan.
Since taking over as acting defense secretary on January 1, Shanahan had maintained a low profile, notably avoiding clashes with the mercurial commander-in-chief.
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