US joint chiefs chair to visit base amid Venezuela tensions, European leaders welcome ‘steps in right direction’ in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, D-Day veteran honored at his home in Normandy.
1. General Dan Caine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet service members of the U.S. Southern Command on Monday in Puerto Rico, where the American military presence has swelled as the Trump administration weighs military action against Venezuela. The Pentagon said in a statement that Caine and David L. Isom, a Navy SEAL and senior advisor to Caine, will visit the U.S. territory where most of the 10,000 U.S. troops in the Caribbean theater are thought to be stationed. The trip comes amid growing concerns about potential U.S. strikes against targets in Venezuelan territory. The U.S. has carried out lethal attacks on alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean Sea and deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford — the world’s largest aircraft carrier — to the region and criticized Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro for his ties to drug cartels that use Venezuelan territory to ship drugs.
2. European officials welcomed Monday what they said were steps in the right direction at talks in Geneva on U.S. peace proposals seen as heavily favoring Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, but they offered few details and warned the discussions still have a long way to go. “The negotiations were a step forward, but there are still major issues which remain to be resolved,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on social platform X about Sunday’s meeting in Switzerland. The talks went over a 28-point peace proposal presented last week by the United States that triggered alarm in Kyiv and European capitals by heavily favoring Moscow’s demands. The plan pressed Ukraine to consent to handing over some of its territory to Moscow and slashing the size of its army, leaving it vulnerable. The proposal also sought Europe’s agreement that Ukraine will never be admitted into the NATO military alliance, though the alliance has previously said Ukraine is on an “irreversible path” to membership.
3. Sudan’s top general rejected a ceasefire proposal provided by U.S.-led mediators as “the worst yet,” in a blow to efforts to stop a devastating war that has gripped the African country for over 30 months. In video comments released by the military late Sunday, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan said the proposal was unacceptable, accusing the mediators of being “biased” in their efforts to end the war. Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country. The devastating war has killed more than 40,000 people, according to U.N. figures, but aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher. It created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with over 14 million people forced to flee their homes, fueled disease outbreaks and pushed parts of the country into famine.
4. Charles Shay, a D-Day veteran who now calls Normandy home, was recognized by Army leadership during a recent bedside ceremony not far from the beach he stormed over 80 years ago. Shay, who served as a combat medic during World War II, was inducted Wednesday into the Order of Military Medical Merit at his Bayeux home, where U.S. Army Europe and Africa leaders presented him with a corresponding medal. “His extraordinary courage as a combat medic on D-Day and his unwavering commitment to saving lives under extreme danger embody the highest ideals of Army medicine,” Brig. Gen. Roger Giraud, leader of U.S. Army Medical Readiness Command, Europe, said during the ceremony. Shay’s actions saved the lives of countless soldiers, Giraud added.
5. A plan to station surface-to-air missiles on an island within sight of Taiwan is “steadily progressing,” Japan’s defense minister said Sunday amid heightened tensions with China. Over the weekend, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited Japanese army bases on Yonaguni and Ishigaki, islands east of Taiwan, for the first time since assuming the post last month, according to the Ministry of Defense. The ministry in 2022 announced plans to expand Camp Yonaguni to accommodate a new medium-range surface-to-air missile unit. Koizumi repeated those plans during a news conference at the camp, though he did not state when the new unit will stand up. “We believe that this deployment will reduce the possibility of armed attacks on Japan, and we believe that the view that you suggested that it will heighten regional tension is not accurate,” he said in response to a reporter’s question, according to a transcript of the news conference on the ministry’s website.
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