While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 30
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General Mark Milley, outgoing Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivers remarks during a military farewell in his honour.
PHOTO: AFP
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Top US general takes apparent jab at Trump as he retires
Top US general Mark Milley retired on Friday after a four-year tenure, saying in a speech that US troops take an oath to the Constitution and not a “wannabe dictator”, an apparent swipe at former president Donald Trump.
Gen Milley was hailed by President Joe Biden as a warrior who served in war zones from Afghanistan and Iraq to Panama and Haiti.
Gen Milley’s tenure included the killing of Islamic State head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in 2019 and providing military assistance to Ukraine’s defence against the invasion by Russia in February 2022. But it also included the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago and a rocky relationship with Trump.
Gen Milley said that troops take an oath to a constitution and not a “wannabe dictator”, in an apparent reference to Trump that drew an audible reaction from some in the audience.
Kyiv forum aims to increase Ukraine weapons production
NYT
Ukraine’s government on Friday opened a forum for international weapons manufacturers, encouraging them to see a business opportunity in reviving Ukraine’s domestic arms industry in ways that would diminish the country’s reliance on military aid.
Ukraine will still need Western weapons to defend and attack along the vast front line in the current phase of the war, and perhaps for years to come, as its military swops its arsenal of Soviet-legacy armoured vehicles, howitzers and airplanes for US and European weapons.
Some of the challenges of ramping up domestic production were evident in the conference itself: Intended to promote investment opportunities to a broad audience of weapons makers, it was also held at a venue whose location could not be disclosed, for security reasons.
Afghan woman sprinter sends message of defiance
REUTERS
Sprinter Kimia Yousofi said she was “here to represent Afghan girls” as she competed at the Asian Games on Friday in defiance of the Taliban.
Yousofi, who resettled in Australia last year after fleeing persecution in her homeland, is one of 14 women athletes listed in Afghanistan’s team in Hangzhou.
“The most important thing for me is to represent our girls in Afghanistan,” she said.
Inspired Europe seize control of Ryder Cup
A dominant Europe carved out a commanding 6.5-1.5 lead in the 44th Ryder Cup as the United States were left reeling by a foursomes wipe-out on a spectacular opening day at a sun-drenched Marco Simone Country Club on Friday.
Roared on by massive raucous galleries, Luke Donald’s team were unstoppable as they enjoyed a ‘bluewash’ in the opening session, sweeping every match to take a 4-0 lead in their quest to regain the trophy after suffering a drubbing in 2021.
It was the first time in the history of the competition that a European team had won every match of an opening session, but Zach Johnson’s Americans found some inspiration and fight in the later fourballs to retain some hope heading into the weekend.
Ex-gang leader charged with rapper Tupac’s 1996 murder
REUTERS
A former gang leader was charged on Friday with the 1996 murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur, whose shooting death rocked the music world and exposed the violent underbelly of the popular gangsta rap genre.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested around a decade after he began to speak publicly about his involvement in the slaying, boasting that he was the “on-site commander” of the effort to murder Shakur and Death Row Records boss Suge Knight.
“The presumption is great that he is responsible for the murder of Tupac Shakur, and he will be found guilty of murder with use of a deadly weapon,” prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo told a court in Nevada.
