How T. Boone Pickens would get America out of the Middle East

Oil isn’t the only reason American boots keep leaving imprints in the Arabian dust. But it’s certainly the biggest one.

The United States has fought two wars in Iraq during the last 30 years, and it’s now embroiled in a low-visibility war with Islamic State terrorists in northern Iraq and Syria. The day may be coming, however, when the United States can meet its own oil needs with no reliance on the despots and faux-democrats of the Middle East.

A New Map For Business In Africa

by Jorge Camarate, Peter Hoijtink, and  Miles Puttergill

On the world’s most diverse continent, companies need a deep understanding of local context.

Only a few years ago, Africa was being dubbed “the next Asia,” and multinationals watched with mounting interest as local economies boomed across the continent. Although a decline in global commodity demand has since ushered in a slowdown, Africa remains a promising long-term growth market. Its GDP grew about 3.4 percent in 2015, a full percentage point above the global growth rate, and is expected to increase to 4.2 percent in 2016, according to World Bank forecasts (pdf). The African Development Bank (pdf) estimates that consumer spending will reach US$2.2 trillion by 2030 (up more than twofold from $680 billion in 2008). As home to seven of the world’s megacities, and with 29 million youths entering the labor force each year, Africa is fertile ground for investment in such areas as infrastructure and manufacturing.

Kenya's $13 billion railway project is taking shape

(CNN)It's been billed as the most ambitious project in Kenya since it gained independence in 1963.

Planned extent of railway

Now, the first section of the east African nation's $13.8 billion railway is nearly finished.

Kim Jong Un calls North Korea tractors 'handsome'

Kim Jong Un wore a suit to a North Korea exhibit of farming equipment, according to state media on Friday. Photo by Rodong Sinmun

SEOUL, May 13 (UPI) -- Kim Jong Un visited a public exhibition of North Korean-made trucks and tractors, where he stressed the importance of the state's guiding ideology.

Russia speaks of nuclear war as US opens missile defense system

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that a US antimissile deployment in Eastern Europe could prompt Moscow to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

MOSCOW — As US and allied officials celebrated the opening of a long-awaited missile defense system in Europe, the reaction in Moscow on Thursday was darker: a public discussion of how nuclear war might play out in Europe and the prospect that Romania, the host nation for the US-built system, might be reduced to “smoking ruins.”

Antonov An-225: World's largest plane takes off to transport yet another heavy payload

Antonov An-225 Mriya is preparing to take off from an airfield in Ukraine for its flight to the Australian city of PerthReuters

The world's longest and heaviest plane, the Antonov An-225 that has set numerous records in transporting payloads, has a new mission: transporting a 117-tonne power generation to Perth in Australia. The 600-tonne aircraft, powered by six turbofan engines, will pass through a number of refuelling stops across during its long journeyfrom Central Europe to Australia.

U.S. to switch on European missile shield despite Russian alarm

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Robin Emmott

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The United States' European missile defense shield goes live on Thursday almost a decade after Washington proposed protecting NATO from Iranian rockets and despite Russian warnings that the West is threatening the peace in central Europe.

Russia’s New Missile Means the Nuclear Arms Race Is Back On

Team Putin is talking up fearsome new hardware that could accelerate a nuclear contest not seen since the Cold War.

Russia has a new nuclear missile -- one that Zvezda, a Russian government-owned T.V. network, claimed can wipe out an area "the size of Texas or France."

Russia showcases Syria hardware in Red Square military parade

By Andrew Osborn and Jack Stubbs

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia rolled out an air defense missile system of the kind used to protect its base in Syria and some of the Russian jets flying missions there screamed overhead as it showcased its military war machine on Moscow's Red Square on Monday.

May 08, 2016 US Air Force will have first combat lasers on large C-17 and C-130s and then later miniaturized for F-16 and F-35 fighter jets

 US Air Force will have first combat lasers on large C-17 and C-130s and then later miniaturized for F-16 and F-35 fighter jets

Air Force Research Laboratory officials have said they plan to have a program of record for air-fired laser weapons in place by 2023.

Ground testing of a laser weapon called the High Energy Laser, or HEL, was slated to take place last year at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., service officials said. The High Energy Laser test is being conducted by the Air Force Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

Obama says U.S. race relations have improved, but work to be done

U.S. President Barack Obama smiles as he delivers the commencement address to the 2016 graduating class of Howard University in Washington, U.S., May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said in a commencement speech on Saturday that U.S. race relations have improved over the last three decades, but that significant work still needs to be done.

'They Expected Us to Support Them': Gingrich Reacts to Presidents Bush, Romney Not Supporting Trump

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s announcement that he is “not ready” to support Donald Trump “probably represents a fairly large block of people who are very anxiety-ridden,” says Newt Gingrich.

He broke down the latest challenge facing the GOP on America’s Election Headquarters,explaining how Ted Cruz’s withdrawal from the race on Tuesday “created a vacuum.”

“There were a lot of people who thought they would negotiate with Trump over the next two months as he tried to pull together enough delegates. And suddenly there on Wednesday, they were faced with the reality that he is the nominee,” explained Gingrich.

“And I think a number of them panicked.”

Now, Trump “has an obligation as the party nominee to find a way, a path to get to bringing the party back together,” the former House Speaker added.

While Gingrich said Ryan’s refusal to endorse Trump wasn’t something he would have done, he “was much more offended by Presidents Bush and Gov. Romney,” he told Uma Pemmaraju.

The former presidents have publicly said they won't be endorsing Trump or commenting on the presidential campaign.

Romney says he will not be attending this summer’s Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to be officially nominated.

“When those three were the nominees, they expected all of us to support them,” said Gingrich.

“They would have been deeply offended if we had said something like Paul Ryan said yesterday. And I think it’s a bit much for people who got to be President or got to be the nominee – because of the Republican Party – to now turn around and decide that they are smarter than millions and millions of Republican voters, and that they’re not going to be part of the team.”

China’s Crackdown on Christian Churches

China says one of its most popular preachers was embezzling millions—but was his arrest really just political revenge for speaking out against the destruction of crosses and churches across the country?

HONG KONG — When the Congyi Church in Hangzhou was finally complete in 2005, it was called the largest Chinese church in the world, able to hold a crowd of 5,500. Nearly $6.5 million was raised to fund its construction. Years later, as Congyi’s membership swelled, even the underground parking lot was reappropriated as a meeting place by younger worshipers, so they raised another million dollars to build a new parking lot.

Russia's New Mobile Air Defense System Has One Very Unique Feature

Russia is developing a new mobile air defense system for its elite airborne troops that will be based on the BMD-4M armored vehicle. The new weapon system—which is designed to be parachuted down to ground forces—will be able to protect paratroopers from enemy aircraft operating at high or medium altitudes.

Russia Announces New Military Divisions to Counter NATO Deployments in Eastern Europe

Moscow accuses NATO of challenging its security

Russia on Wednesday warned against NATO’s proposed military buildup in Poland and the Baltic region, saying it would retaliate by shoring up its western and southern flanks with three new divisions.