Pentagon chief Mark Esper plans to shift US focus to China and Russia
Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday he still plans to shift the American military's focus to competing with China and Russia, even as security threats pile up in the Middle East.
Esper outlined his strategic goals and priorities in a speech at the Reagan National Defence Forum, an annual gathering of government, defence industry and military officials.
Esper, who became Pentagon chief in late July, said he is sticking to the national defence priorities set by his predecessor, Jim Mattis, who was sitting in his audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Since Mattis resigned one year ago in protest of President Donald Trump's push to withdraw from Syria, the Middle East has become even more volatile.
Naval base shooter watched videos of mass shooting before attack: US official
The Saudi student who fatally shot three people at a US naval base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a US official told The Associated Press on Saturday.
One of the three students who attended the dinner party videotaped outside the building while the shooting was taking place at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity after being briefed by federal authorities.
Two other Saudi students watched from a car, the official said.
Joshua Watson 'died a hero' in Pensacola naval base shooting: Brother
Joshua Watson had just graduated from the US Naval Academy and looked forward to a military career as a pilot.
On Saturday, he was being hailed a hero, as his family recounted how the 23-year-old - in the last minutes of his life - led first responders to an active shooter at the Pensacola naval base.
"After being shot multiple times he made it outside and told the first response team where the shooter was and those details were invaluable," Adam Watson wrote on Facebook.
French murder suspect emerges from coma after swallowing pesticide
The suspect for the rape and murder of a young woman in northern France almost two decades ago was slowly emerging from a coma while under guard in hospital on Saturday after he swallowed pesticide in an apparent suicide bid following his conviction.
Willy Bardon, on trial over the murder of Elodie Kulik in 2002 in a case that has attracted strong interest in France for years, ingested the substance at the courthouse in the northern city of Amiens late on Friday.
He is "progressively emerging from a coma" but is still in critical condition, prosecutor Alexandre de Bosschere told AFP.
Football: Liverpool romping clear as City lose at United
Liverpool took a giant step towards their first title since 1990 on Saturday when their 3-0 win at Bournemouth combined with Manchester United's 2-1 victory at Manchester City to leave the champions 14 points adrift of the Premier League leaders.
With second-placed Leicester, who play on Sunday, 11 points behind Liverpool, Juergen Klopp's side are quoted as odds-on to finally secure the silverware that has eluded them for so long.
On a dramatic league day, individual honours went to Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min, who dribbled almost the length of the pitch to score in his side's 5-0 rout of Burnley, and Everton caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson who inspired a 3-1 win over Chelsea in his first game in charge.
