Reuters - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the Air Force's top two officials on Thursday after mistakes involving their most sensitive mission -- the safety and security of America's nuclear weapons.

AFP - The US Air Force's chief of staff and civilian secretary resigned Thursday following a "scathing" report into the service's handling of nuclear weapons components, a senior defense official said.

Reuters - The U.S. military said it shot down an incoming SCUD-like missile in its last seconds of flight Thursday in a successful test off Hawaii, a step the contractors said reflected their hardware's versatility.

AP - As of Thursday, June 5, 2008, at least 443 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Saturday at 10 a.m. EDT.

AFP - A court martial has acquitted a US Marine for his role in the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha in Iraq in 2005, the sixth man to be exonerated in the affair.

AP - The Bush administration is not trying to set up permanent military bases in Iraq, even surreptitiously, the diplomat leading tense talks with Iraq said Thursday.

Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the U.S. Air Force's top two leaders after a series of embarrassing missteps that raised questions about U.S. nuclear security, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

AFP - The US Air Force's chief of staff and civilian secretary resigned Thursday following a "scathing" report into the service's handling of nuclear weapons components, a senior defense official said.

AFP - A court martial on Wednesday acquitted a US Marine for his role in the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha in Iraq in 2005, the sixth man to be exonerated in the affair, a military official said.

AFP - The US military said on Wednesday it has no plans for permanent bases in Iraq, a day after Baghdad said it was at odds with Washington over US troop deployments beyond 2008.

AFP - The Pentagon said Wednesday it is recruiting government public health workers to offset a shortage in mental care providers for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental problems.

AFP - The US military's estimate of the number of US troops that will be left in Iraq after all US "surge" brigades are withdrawn is now 142,000, up from 140,000, a senior US military official said Thursday.

AFP - A Denver, Colorado court has fined Dow Chemical Co. and Boeing Co. a combined 926 million dollars for property damages caused by plutonium contamination from a nuclear weapons plant.