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Pirates attack and rob Italian ship in the Gulf of Mexico
A pirate attack on an Italian ship in the Gulf of Mexico that left two sailors wounded isn't the first such incident, and with Mexico struggling to address rising insecurity, it's not likely to be the last.
About eight armed pirates arrived in two small ships and boarded the vessel, an Italian-flagged supply ship named Remas, in the evening on Nov. 11, 2019, and robbed the crew, according to reports about the incident.
The ship was being operated by the Italian firm Micoperi, which services offshore oil platforms. The incident took place about 12 miles off the coast of Ciudad del Carmen in the state of Campeche in southeast Mexico.
Fantasy Football After Action Report: Week 10
Separate yourself from the pack as fantasy playoffs loom.
The waiver wire is drying up. Teams are solidifying. Playoff positions are cementing. Do you have what it takes to make the final push? Jump into this week's after action report for the edge you need.
The harrowing true story of a US soldier who was shot 13 times
U.S. Army Specialist Jay Strobino was with his team in Rushdi Mullah, a small farming village in Iraq's infamous Triangle of Death, on Feb. 1, 2006. They were there on a mission to grab a suspected enemy insurgent. Everything was going according to plan as they searched the house — no surprises.
That all changed when a truck full of insurgents rolled into the opposite side of town and pinned down a corner of their outer cordon. Strobino was about to be in the firefight of his life.
Here's why the heart doesn't need to rest like other muscles
Mindy N. asks: After a long run my leg muscles are tired, but my heart is not. Why doesn't the heart need any rest?
An average of around 60 to 100 times every minute of every day of every year of your ultimately meaningless life, your heart beats… until it doesn't. Not long after it stops, all knowledge of your having existed is rapidly forgotten. Unlike the other muscles in your body, however, your heart steadfastly rages against the dying of the light, refusing to ever get tired. But how does it manage this and why are your other muscles such slackers in comparison?
To begin with, the human body is broadly composed of three types of muscles: skeletal, smooth and cardiac. Skeletal muscles are striated (banded), and are what most of us think of when we envision a muscle — controlling pretty much all voluntary, and some involuntary, body movement.
Nuclear investigators found uranium at a secret facility in Iran
Nuclear investigators have found uranium particles at a facility that had not been declared by Iranian government, Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press (AP), and the BBC reported, suggesting the country's further departure from the 2015 nuclear deal.
"The agency has detected natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at a location in Iran not declared to the agency," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, said in a confidential report published Nov. 11, 2019, according to AFP.
The particles had been mined and had undergone initial processing, but not enriched, AFP reported.
Here's who will face the new Marine Corps PFT rules first
Marines will soon get the option to swap crunches on their physical fitness test with a plank. Officer candidates reporting to training in January 2020 will be the first to see the change.
The Marine Corps updated its graduation requirements Nov. 8, 2019, for candidates reporting to Officer Candidates School in 2020. Members of Officer Candidate Course No. 233 will be the first to have the option to perform a plank on their PFT.
Candidates will have to hold a plank for at least a minute and three seconds to get the minimum score required on that portion of the PFT to be admitted to and graduate from OCS.
NATO is trying to up its game in the waters around Europe
Shrinking ice coverage in the Arctic has drawn the attention of NATO, Russia, and other countries to the high north, where the promise of more accessible waterways means potential military and commercial competition.
Since Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea and incursion in Ukraine, however, NATO members have been concerned about Moscow's actions closer to home, and developments in recent weeks indicate the alliance is focusing on securing waterways around Europe, in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas and the eastern Atlantic — all areas that could be contested in a conflict with Russia.
Below, you can see what NATO is being warned about, and what the alliance is and isn't doing to address it.
How iconic actor James Dean will star in the latest Vietnam War movie
If silver screen legend James Dean hadn't died in a 1955 car accident, he would be 88 years old, much too old to portray a Vietnam War-era soldier in the upcoming film Finding Jack. But he did die in that car crash, and he's not actually being resurrected to star in the new movie – but his image and likeness are.
Everyone lost their minds when a Marine general relieved an Army general
If it weren't for the Japanese, the Marine Corps' biggest enemy in the Pacific theater of World War II might well have been the U.S. Army. On at least five occasions, Army commanders were relieved of command for what the Corps deemed was a lack of proper aggression. Those commanders were given the benefit of being relieved by their Army commander. When one brigadier was relieved by his Marine commander, it caused a grudge the branches held on to for years.
