Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

An Army aviator who concealed his identity behind a fake dating app profile to get dates was sentenced to 31 years in prison after a military jury convicted him of raping two women, according to authorities who are now seeking additional possible victims. Warrant Officer Dawson Van Manen, 27, was convicted April 29 on charges including rape and abusive sexual contact involving two women, according to the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel. He was formerly assigned to the 1st Aviation Brigade at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Prosecutors said Van Manen in August 2024 used the alias “2nd Lt. David Johnson”…

This is the fourth part of our series (I, II, III) looking at how Carthage’s complex, multi-ethnic armies were raised and structured. Last week, we looked at Carthage’s unusual system for raising vassal forces: long-serving Carthaginian generals could inhabit positions within the personalist, non-state mobilization systems of Numidia and Iberia, enabling them to access military resources (mostly manpower) as a non-state ‘Big Man’ would, through kinship and patronage networks. Merging Carthage’s state-based conscription system with the non-state mobilization systems of Numidia and Iberia would already be a remarkable achievement and would have given Carthage an ‘all call’ peak mobilization somewhere…

What began as rumors last year has now become reality: Rheinmetall has formally moved forward with the purchase of German Naval Yards Kiel (GNYK). By Lars Hoffman / Hartpunkt Rheinmetall’s new naval division, formerly NVL, has submitted a non-binding offer for GNYK, as Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger announced yesterday at an analyst conference held by the defense company. A due diligence process has been initiated, the results of which are expected in the coming weeks. Based on this, a binding offer can be submitted. The aim is to increase Rheinmetall’s own production capacity, Papperger said. In addition to Rheinmetall, Germany’s…

Raiden has been a main staple of the Mortal Kombat series since the first entry back when it was released into the arcades on October 8, 1992. Although Raiden was absent from Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, not to mention how he became a hidden character in Mortal Kombat: Deception in the form of Dark Raiden, he’s otherwise been present in every other Mortal Kombat entry. Of course, Raiden is even iconic enough to the…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A tenuous ceasefire appeared to be holding Saturday after the United States struck two Iranian oil tankers, while the country that hosts the U.S. Navy’s regional headquarters said it arrested dozens of people it alleged were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Attacks Friday cast doubt on the month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect. Washington is awaiting an Iranian response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. The U.S. military said Friday that…

After time in storage and two years of “intensive” maintenance efforts, a B-1B Lancer is back in action, deemed combat capable.The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base regenerated the aircraft following its time in the “boneyard,” according to a Thursday Air Force release.The “boneyard,” held at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, refers to Type 2000 storage that keeps aircrafts available to reclaim certain parts for active fleets.As the Air Force works to modernize its bomber fleet and nurture legacy platforms considered significant to current operations, this revival highlights the necessity of depot maintenance in extending an aircraft’s…

UFC 328 goes down this Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, headlined by a middleweight title fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland. Chimaev is making the first defense of his title, while Strickland looks to reclaim the belt that was once his.So, let’s take a look at how each man can leave New Jersey as the king of the middleweight division.CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 16: Khamzat Chimaev of the United Arab Emirates grapples with Dricus du Plessis of South Africa during their middleweight title bout in UFC 319 at the United Center on August 16, 2025 in…

WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley will face off against former WBA and IBF titleholder, Daniel Dubois, TODAY (May 9, 2026) inside Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England in what is sure-to-be a hard hitting championship bout between two of the heaviest hitters in the game.Wardley (20-0-1) will make his first official defense of the title after he was elevated to champion and shed the interim tag following Oleksandr Usyk’s decision to vacate the strap last year. With 19 knockouts on his resume, Wardley has proven to be must-see T.V. As for Dubois, he lost the IBF heavyweight title to Usyk…

Some federal workers this week have expressed reluctance to participate in the Office of Personnel Management’s latest phase of a long-running bipartisan initiative, something experts say could mark an unintended consequence of the Trump administration’s campaign against federal workers it perceives as disloyal.This week, OPM deployed its federal workforce competency initiative survey to roughly 550,000 employees. The questionnaire, which has previously been fielded both in 2021 and 2024, queries feds about the skillsets needed to perform their jobs, a key piece in the ongoing effort to shift away from degree- and qualification-based jobseeker evaluations and toward skills-based hiring, long a…

For years, Bert Kreischer built an empire around chaos. The shirts-off storytelling, late-night partying, and “Machine” persona transformed him into one of comedy’s most recognizable figures. But heading into this year’s 2 Bears 5K alongside fellow comedian Tom Segura, Kreischer says something feels completely different. Ironically, the event itself started almost accidentally. “To be honest with you, the funniest part is we had nothing to talk about that day,” Kreischer says laughing. “Tom decided to run a 5K back in his hometown, and I’d already done marathons, Tough Mudders, you name it.” What began as podcast banter eventually evolved into…