U.S. Navy ships transiting the Panama Canal aren’t entitled to a free ride just yet despite the State Department’s announcement this week saying they would transit the waterway without paying fees, according to the canal’s governing authority. The Panama Canal Authority said Wednesday on an official social media account that it had not made any adjustments to the tolls or fees charged for canal use. The authority also emphasized its sovereign governance of the passageway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The post on X, formerly Twitter, did express a...

The U.S. Military Academy has banned organizations centered primarily on ethnic and gender affiliation as part of what it says is compliance with the effort to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government. The move, outlined in a memorandum issued Tuesday by West Point, told 12 campus clubs to immediately shut down all activities, formal and informal. Soon after being issued, the memo was posted on Reddit and circulated elsewhere on social media. The academy wasn’t immediately available for comment. The Washington Post on Wednesday said it had verified...

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle was revealed Wednesday as the recipient of the NFL’s 14th annual Salute to Service award, which honors members of the NFL community for their contributions to the U.S. military community. Kittle will be recognized on stage at NFL Honors on Thursday. The Salute to Service initiative raises funds for partner organizations that work on issues related to veterans and military families. The award kicked off with the announcement of 32 nominees in November, most of them NFL players, who were narrowed down to...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he has empowered the National Guard to make immigration arrests, the latest move by the Republican ally of President Donald Trump to help crack down on immigration and secure the border. Abbott announced the agreement in a social media post, saying it would take effect immediately. A memorandum of understanding released by the governor’s office said that Texas troops must be accompanied by a Customs and Border Protection officer when enforcing immigration policies and notes that the state will pay for all costs tied to...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected Monday to visit troops deployed the U.S. border with Mexico about a week after the Pentagon boosted its six-year mission to the region by 1,600 active-duty service members. Hegseth will stop in El Paso, Texas, home to Fort Bliss, which is serving as an entry point for troops to receive training before moving to a location along the border selected by Customs and Border Protection, according to Joint Task Force-North, a joint headquarters at the Army base. He is expected to visit “the local...

WASHINGTON – Troops seeking reproductive health care, including abortions, not covered by the Defense Department will no longer receive travel stipends to do so after the Pentagon revoked its travel policy Thursday. Announcement of the policy being revoked was published by the Defense Travel Management Office and went into effect immediately. Canceling the policy is in line with an executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump that bars the use of federal taxpayer dollars for abortion services. The policy allowed service members to take up to three weeks...

Jan 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said it killed a senior operative of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group in an airstrike in northwest Syria on Thursday. The airstrike, part of an ongoing effort to disrupt and degrade militant groups in the region, resulted in the death of Muhammad Salah al-Za'bir of the Hurras al-Din group, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The U.S. Navy has prohibited sailors from using technology from the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek over security concerns, according to a media report Tuesday. The ban, issued via email to sailors on Friday, directed them to avoid using the DeepSeek AI Assistant “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns” since the AI model originates from China, CNBC reported. Japan-based sailors queried by Stars and Stripes said they had not received the memo as of Wednesday afternoon.