North Korea has said the United States must halt plans for military exercises with South Korea, if it wants to see a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. The warning came on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Vietnam, which U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has severed diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia after Bogota accused his country of harboring leftist guerrillas.

In western Afghanistan the incidence of civilian casualties due to combat operations is at an all time low. In every instance where a civilian casualty was caused by combat operations, it can be attributed to the violence of insurgents, according to statistics gathered by the U.S. Marine Special Operations Forces assigned to Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan. The numbers show fewer than 10 incidents of ISAF caused civilian casualties occurred in western Afghanistan since January 2010.

United States Division-South handed over several locations to the government of Iraq recently as the 1st Infantry Division Headquarters continues the drawdown of U.S. forces in southern Iraq.

By 8:30 a.m., it is 98 degrees Fahrenheit under the tarpaulin. A group of eager Iraqi Army soldiers huddle around Sgt. Jasen Sumner as he explains how to conduct preventive maintenance checks and services on the track pads of the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank.

It is day two of a U.S. forces-led, in-depth tank refresher course held for members of the Iraqi Army at Joint Security Station Al Rashid. This session's students include 12 soldiers and one officer from 1st Platoon, 1st Company, 4th Tank Regiment, 35th Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division.

NATO says an Afghan soldier shot and killed two U.S. civilian trainers and one Afghan recruit at a training facility in northern Afghanistan.

RETURN OF THE SOMALI BUCCANEERS
After the Easter, 2009 takedown of Somali pirates who held Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama hostage, one would have thought that the pirates of the Somali region would have avoided attracting the attention of the United States Navy. After all, three dead pirates and one facing federal trial in New York would tend to be behavior modification.

Yet, in the spring of 2010, what is happening? Violent encounters with pirates have gone down – not just between American ships and the pirates, but also from other countries.