Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth favorably contrasted Rocket Lab with “the comfortable old guard” during remarks at the space company’s facility in Long Beach, Calif., as part of his nationwide tour of defense industrial base sites. www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...

A visitor education center near the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial is set for a Sept. 10 groundbreaking. By the time of its expected opening in 2029, more than a quarter of the U.S. population will have been born after the 9/11 attacks. www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...

Japan’s defense minister, on his first visit to Okinawa in his new role, repeated a promise to reduce the U.S. military’s footprint there and expand joint exercises near Japan’s southwestern islands.

FROM THE ARCHIVES | A row of snow covered AH-64 Apache helicopters sit silently on the Eagle Base flight line in Bosnia and Herzegovina in this Dec. 16, 1997, photo from the Stars and Stripes archive. www.stripes.com/history/arch...

EUROPE TRAVEL | Specialists and those in the know can help travelers find just the right destinations. Here are a few specific ideas for the upcoming year. www.stripes.com/living/europ...

EUROPE TRAVEL | Pirmasens, Germany, has an official designation of “shoe city” in recognition of its longtime status as a footwear industry hub and it wears its shoemaking heritage proudly. www.stripes.com/living/europ...

PACIFIC EATS | You’re overdue for the macarons served inside a Marine Corps library on Okinawa www.stripes.com/living/pacif...

The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the findings and sentence for Lt. Craig R. Becker, who was found guilty by a military court in 2022 of one specification of premeditated murder in the death of his 32-year-old wife, Johanna Hove-Becker. www.stripes.com/branches/nav...

Russia on Thursday strongly condemned the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker, heralding a new chill in relations between Moscow and Washington www.stripes.com/theaters/eur...

Pacific Scoreboard: Jan. 9, 2026 www.stripes.com/scoreboards-...

Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack, officials said Friday, killing at least four people in the capital. www.stripes.com/theaters/eur...

When the North American International Auto Show opens, tens of thousands of visitors will see a unique vehicle among the 500 on display. And it only comes in one color: Army green.

ANALYSIS: Labeling the extraction of Nicolás Maduro as a “law-enforcement” operation has sparked a debate over whether the designation could put service members across the globe at risk of not being treated as prisoners of war if captured. A closer examination:

The federal agent who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis has been identified as 43-year-old Jonathan Ross. Ross deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 with the Indiana National Guard and then spent nearly two decades in immigration enforcement. Here's what we know about him:

The Army shuttered its Security Force Assistance Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., closing the one-star headquarters that oversaw its brigades of soldiers specially trained to advise foreign military forces.

The National World War II Memorial, in Washington, D.C., will be closed for the next five months to allow for a $3.7 million renovation project to update lighting and other aging infrastructure. www.stripes.com/theaters/us/... #Flashes

A former Navy officer who is serving a life sentence for pushing his drugged wife out the window of their seventh-floor apartment in Belgium more than 10 years ago failed in his bid to have his murder conviction overturned.

A Missouri man will spend 13 years in prison and pay the government $1.8 million after pleading guilty to abusing his uncle, a disabled Army veteran, hiding his body after the veteran’s death and then collecting his government benefits for years.

UPDATE: U.S. forces boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, as the Trump administration continues to target sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

An Italian air base in Sicily will host the first F-35 Lightning II pilot training facility outside the U.S., an indication of NATO’s increasing demand for the fifth-generation fighter jet.

SPORTS | Basketball summaries from DODEA-Pacific teams in action Jan. 9. Catch up on what you missed:

Kaiserslautern is celebrating its 750th anniversary with a limited-edition zero-euro souvenir banknote featuring city landmarks and a portrait of Rudolf von Habsburg, who granted the city charter in 1275.

KTOWN NOW | Police are still looking for witnesses after a man allegedly exposed himself Sunday afternoon at a playground in a town near Ramstein Air Base.

Japan’s defense minister, on his first visit to Okinawa in his new role, repeated a promise to reduce the U.S. military’s footprint there and expand joint exercises near Japan’s southwestern islands. www.stripes.com/theaters/asi...

Nine crew members were hoisted to a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter off a commercial crab boat amid near gale force winds, strong downward drafts from a nearby cliff and rough seas after the fishing vessel grounded on an Alaska island in the Bering Sea. www.stripes.com/branches/coa...

An elementary school on this U.S. base near Tokyo has revived a program paused during the COVID-19 pandemic that turns service members into classroom volunteers for two hours a month. www.stripes.com/theaters/asi...

A property long associated with fairways and wooded trails, Tama Hills Recreation Area in western Tokyo has added a new way for U.S. troops and their families to unplug, one arrow at a time. www.stripes.com/theaters/asi...

The Pentagon is conducting a six-month review of women serving in combat positions. www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...

Medevac units fly in thick of battle www.stripes.com/history/2008...

A complex duty status system for Reserve and National Guard forces would be reduced from about 30 duty statuses to four under a bipartisan bill introduced in the House to ensure equitable benefits and pay. Learn more:

The Navy Race Organization, a new N92 program at Navy Region Southwest, is proud to announce the inaugural Navy Ten-Miler. When: Sunday, February 22, 2026 Where: San Diego, California To sign up for the race or to find more information, please visit: bit.ly/3Z2cURV

Begin the year mission-ready with trusted reporting from Stars and Stripes. Stay informed wherever duty calls. 📰 🎯 🔓 Code: KICKSTART 🔗 www.stripes.com?view=registe...

The top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee is raising concerns about a rise in allegations of sexual harassment and assault at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.

Several Senate Republicans broke with President Donald Trump to advance a resolution requiring the president to seek explicit congressional approval before taking any further military action in Venezuela as the U.S. seeks to exert control over the country.

An Oregon man, who caused a fatal car crash that killed a Navy veteran while drinking and driving in 2024, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Ingalls Shipbuilding hosted the Secretary of the Navy and other top military leaders Wednesday and showed them the shipyard has the capacity and workforce to build a share of the nation’s Golden Fleet.

Protesters gathered outside of a federal building in Minneapolis that’s serving as a major base for the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown, following the deadly shooting of a woman by an ICE agent.

GALLERY | The USS Fitzgerald returned to its homeport at Naval Base San Diego after a seven-month deployment to the U.S. 3rd, 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operation. Loved ones greeted the sailors on the pier as they returned. See photos:

The Army in Europe took a major step toward a more agile, tech-savvy force this week as it deactivated one storied cavalry squadron and activated a parachute infantry battalion in its place.

Mokapu Elementary School marked a major milestone with the grand opening of its newly rebuilt campus, completing the first phase of a full reconstruction of the decades-old school on Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

UPDATE: The Army will resume hiring religious support workers for the chaplain corps after canceling their contracts last year as part of a financial review.

Looking to warm up during this cold snap? ❄️🥶 Whether you’re in the mood to toss a Christmas tree, sip your way through a gin lineup or take in a classic ballet, there’s something for you this weekend in the KMC:

Hegseth military aide LaNeve confirmed as next Army vice chief

FROM THE ARCHIVES | Steve C. Masylar, one of the two teachers on Hamamatsu Air Base in Japan, helps one of his pupils solve a problem March 23, 1956.

The vast majority of Americans oppose a US military takeover of Greenland, according to a new poll that also found limited public interest in buying the Arctic island. www.stripes.com/theaters/eur...

China and Japan have few options available to resolve increasing acrimony over the Japanese prime minister’s remarks about her country’s response to a potential attack on Taiwan, academics said. www.stripes.com/theaters/asi...

China and Japan have few options available to resolve increasing acrimony over the Japanese prime minister’s remarks about her country’s response to a potential attack on Taiwan, academics said. www.stripes.com/theaters/asi...

Military exercises with US will proceed as usual, says South Korea’s defense minister

President Donald Trump is now on board with a hard-hitting sanctions package meant to economically cripple Moscow as his administration continues to negotiate a deal to end the war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. military personnel delivered roughly 188 tons of relief supplies to Sri Lanka in the week following the devastating Cyclone Ditwah in late November, the Air Force said in a news release.