A keel-laying ceremony for the Navy's first Ford-class aircraft carrier, Gerald R. Ford, (CVN 78) was held at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va. Nov. 14. The ceremony celebrated not only the building of a new class of ship, but the life of the ship's namesake, former President Gerald R. Ford. Susan Ford Bales, Ford's daughter, was the ship's sponsor. Bales' initials were welded into a metal plate that will be permanently affixed to the ship. "Ladies and gentlemen, as the ship's sponsor, and on behalf of President Gerald R. Ford," said Bales.

A new U.S.-led Kosovo Forces task force, made up of Soldiers from 37 states, officially took over responsibility of Multi-National Task Force-East on Saturday, joining units from five other NATO nations, all of which are maintaining a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement in Kosovo. At a mid-day transfer-of-authority ceremony, Brig. Gen. Alan S. Dohrmann, 141st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade of the North Dakota National Guard, and the Soldiers who make up his task force, accepted responsibility of MNTF-E from Brig. Gen. Keith D.

Accuracy in Media's blogs have already acknowledged Lou Dobbs' resignation from CNN, but the story here requires a little more delving.  Reading about the situation, I cannot help but remember someone else's recent resignation-which turned out to have a lot more behind it. As it turns out, leftist organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and

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The dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over a visit to Phnom Penh by Thailand's former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is drawing Thais to the streets. The visit has prompted an anti-Thaksin rally in Bangkok, and there are expectations of more protests. A crowd of around 15,000 people listens to nationalist songs and speeches attacking former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. They gathered in a Bangkok park Sunday to protest Mr. Thaksin's arrival in Cambodia last week, and Phnom Penh's rejection of Bangkok's request to extradite him. Mr.

Kosovo is holding elections Sunday for the first time since its ethnic Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia in 2008. More than 1.5 million people are eligible to cast ballots for mayors and council members in 36 municipalities, including the capital, Pristina. Hours after the polls opened, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci urged minority Serbs not to boycott the vote as called for by authorities in Belgrade and by Serbia's influential Orthodox Church. Western journalists say some Serbs appeared at polling station

Kenya's livestock minister says cattle rustlers have killed 11 people near the central town of Isiolo. Mohammed Kuti, who is also the member of parliament for Isiolo, says the rustlers raided in a village in the area early Sunday. The state-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation puts the number of attackers at 300 and says they stole an unknown number of livestock. Kuti condemned the raid and blamed Kenya's government for failing to provide security in the area.  Cattle rustling is common in Kenya, and the extended drought has heightened competition for scarce sour

Two Soldiers working deep inside aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) serve as liaisons between the aviators of Carrier Air Wing 11 and coalition forces on the ground in Afghanistan. Army Maj. Johnnie Gallegos and Army Sgt. 1st Class Percy Patterson joined Nimitz Carrier Strike Group as ground liaison officers when Nimitz entered the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Operations. Their work directly supports a tactical directive issued in July by Army Gen. Stanley A.

The Emergency Response Brigade (ERB), the counter-terrorism unit here comprised of elite Iraqi Police officers, continues to act proactively against Iraq's insurgent groups to foster a safe and secure region. "The Emergency Response Brigade had a very small change in their operations," said ERB Commander, Staff Brig. Gen. No'aman Jewad, about his brigade’s mission following the June 30 withdraw of U.S. forces from Iraqi cities.

About 1,500 U.S., Romanian and Bulgarian Soldiers enhanced their combat skills with the Deployable Instrumentation Systems Europe (DISE) at the Babadag Training Area in eastern Romania and the Novo Selo Training Area in Bulgaria from the beginning of August to the end of October as part of Joint Task Force-East's (JTF-East) 2009 exercise. DISE is a high-tech monitoring and training system that brings realism and combat similarity to Soldiers and units wherever they may be to enhance their warfighting skills. The Joint Multinational Training Command (JMTC) is the Army's largest training c