Nation & World Glance
Tillerson says U.S. could punish Pakistan if no cooperation
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plan to end America’s longest war and eliminate Afghanistan’s rising extremist threat involves sending up to 3,900 additional U.S. troops, senior officials said Tuesday. The first deployments could take place within days.
In a national address Monday night, Trump reversed his past calls for a speedy exit and recommitted the United States to the 16-year-old conflict, saying U.S. troops must “fight to win.” He warned against repeating what he said were mistakes in Iraq, where an American military withdrawal led to a vacuum that the Islamic State group quickly filled.
Trump would not confirm how many more service members he plans to send to Afghanistan, which may be the public’s most pressing question about his strategy. In interviews with television networks Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence similarly wouldn’t give any clear answer, but he cited Pentagon plans from June calling for 3,900 more troops.
“The troop levels are significant, and we’ll listen to our military commanders about that,” Pence said.
Although the Pentagon’s plans are based on 3,900 additional troops, the exact number will vary as conditions change, senior U.S. officials said. Those officials weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the figures and demanded anonymity.
3 of 10 missing U.S. sailors identified after warship crash
DETROIT — Sailors with ties to Michigan, Illinois and Ohio are among 10 who are missing after a U.S. warship collided with an oil tanker in Southeast Asia.
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis said he was informed by Logan Palmer’s family that the central Illinois man is missing. In Michigan, April Brandon said the military informed her that her son, Ken Smith, is also missing.
The family of Jacob Drake, 21, was told that the western Ohio man was among the missing, the Columbus Dispatched reported Tuesday.
The USS John McCain collided with an oil tanker off Singapore on Monday. Adm. Scott Swift said some bodies have been found in a flooded compartment of the warship. No other details have been released.
Brandon said Smith’s father, stepmother and grandfather served in the Navy. She said Smith, 22, grew up in Novi, Michigan, and moved to Norfolk, Virginia, as a teen with his father.
North Korea photos suggest new solid-fuel missile designs
TOKYO — North Korea’s state news agency released photos Wednesday that appear to show the designs of one or possibly two new missiles.
Concept diagrams of the missiles were seen hanging on a wall behind leader Kim Jong Un while he visited a plant that makes solid-fuel engines for the country’s ballistic-missile program.
One of the photos clearly showed a diagram for a missile called “Pukguksong-3,” which appears to be the latest in its Pukguksong, or Polaris, series. The other was harder to discern, though it carried a “Hwasong,” or Mars, designation name.
The photos were released by the Korean Central News Agency just two days after the United States and South Korea began annual military exercises that the North claims are a rehearsal for war. Tensions on the peninsula generally ratchet up during the maneuvers and a series of larger exercises held each spring.
The KCNA report said Kim called on workers at the plant to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips.
Studies: Automated safety systems are preventing car crashes
WASHINGTON — Researchers say safety systems to prevent cars from drifting into another lane or that warn drivers of vehicles in their blind spots are beginning to live up to their potential to significantly reduce crashes.
Two studies released Wednesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that vehicles with lane-keeping and blind spot monitoring systems had lower crash rates than the same vehicles without the systems. Some lane-keeping systems even nudge vehicles back into their lanes for drivers.
Lane-keeping systems lowered rates of single-vehicle, sideswipe and headon crashes in which there were injuries by 21 percent.
But the institute’s research also raises concern that drivers may be less vigilant when relying on automated systems or become distracted by dashboard displays that monitor how the systems are performing.