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NATO chief demands plans to reach defense spending targets

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday demanded that members put forward “clear, concrete and credible plans” to reach the organization’s defense spending targets at its annual summit in Ankara. Rutte spoke in the Turkish capital ahead of the two-day summit ...

Almanac for July 7, 2026

Today is Tuesday, July 7, the 188th day of 2026. There are 177 days left in the year. Today in History: In 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Also on this date: In 1865, four people were hanged in Washington, D.C., for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln: Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the federal government. In 1898, President William McKinley signed the ...

Reflecting on July 4, 2026

"Which is better — to be ruled by one tyrant 3,000 miles away or by 3,000 tyrants one mile away?" — the Rev. Mather Byles (1706-1788) Does it really matter if the instrument curtailing liberty is a monarch or a popularly elected legislature? This conundrum, along with the witty version of ...

Trump headlines DC celebration of America’s ‘joyous’ 250th

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump mixed partisan politics with patriotic appeals Saturday as he commemorated the 250th anniversary of American independence, a moment he declared “one of the most joyous and glorious milestones of all time.” Speaking in Washington after storms ...

Almanac for July 6, 2026

Today is Monday, July 6, the 187th day of 2026. There are 178 days left in the year. Today in History: In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first Black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title as she defeated fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2. Also on this date: In 1777, during the American Revolution, British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga. In 1885, French scientist Louis Pasteur tested an anti-rabies vaccine on 9-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by an infected dog; the boy did not develop rabies. In 1933, the first All-Star baseball game was played at ...

Sacrifices that are remembered in cloth

On this cherished ground, hushed silence accompanied the breeze that ever so gently stirs the hundreds of flags. Suddenly, it increases, and the flags begin waving in unison. This serves as a reminder to all of us to never forget the sacrifices our military personnel endured for the cherished ...