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Twenty-five army, navy and coast guard men -- the entire crew and passenger list of a converted Flying Fortress carrying the homeward-bound servicemen from Gander, Newfoundland -- were killed last night when the plane crashed against 1200-foot Mount Tom. Salvage crews summoned to the scene of New England's worst air disaster

The largest multinational training exercise on Fort Bragg in 20 years has begun. The 82nd Airborne Division is training alongside the British Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade all week. The 3rd Special Forces Group and 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune also are participating in the Combine Joint Operational Access Exercise. This evening, paratroopers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division and their British counterparts, mostly from 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, will jump onto an airfield at Holland Drop Zone to simulate the seizing of an airport.

Yesterday, a train derailed in West Virginia — and exploded. It was carrying more than 100 tons of crude oil, and it burst into flames after going off the rails outside of Charleston. Miraculously, no one was killed, though hundreds were evacuated and one man was hospitalized. Social media users were understandably alarmed by the magnitude of the fire, and photos of the incident quickly spread — looking more like a scene from an action film than anything else. The crash, which could contaminate the entire local water supply, is more than just a West Virginia-specific disaster: It's a reminder...

The number of children growing up as Muslims in the UK has almost doubled in a decade in what experts have described as an “unprecedented” shift in Britain’s social make-up. One in 12 schoolchildren in England and Wales are now officially classed as Muslim after a decade which saw the number of followers of Islam surge by just over 1.1 million, according to the most detailed study of its kind ever published. Landmark study shows number of children under five being brought up as Muslim rose 80 per cent in a

Two female Marine officers who volunteered to attempt the Corps’ challenging Infantry Officer Course did not proceed beyond the first day of the course, a Marine Corps spokesperson confirms to the Free Beacon. The two were the only female officers attempting the course in the current cycle, which began Thursday in Quantico, Virginia. With the two most recent drops, there have been 29 attempts by female officers to pass the course since women have been allowed to volunteer, with none making it to graduation. (At least one woman has attempted the course more than once.) Only three female officers have...

sociologists are worried that a lack of black officers leading its combat troops will have detrimental effect on minorities and lead to fewer black officers in top leadership posts. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/11/army-concerned-with-number-of-white-men-leading-co/#ixzz3DV4KWZEr Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center adopts a five-year-old porcupine that someone had been keeping as a pet. Because of his gentle nature and love for human contact, everyone treats the porcupine like a prickly puppy dog.

- The U.S. Military Academy expects to welcome a record-high number of women when the incoming class reports next week. West Point announced Monday that of the 1,200 cadet candidates expected to arrive July 2 for Reception Day, 263 will be women, or 22 percent. Females had made up 16 percent of all West Point cadets this spring.

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TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) -- (This feature is part of the "Through Airmen's Eyes" series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story.) Between sips of an iced coffee, Airman 1st Class Leslie Wilson, a 60th Dental Squadron dental technician here, talks about her life. She talks about her childhood in Tennessee, going to college on a soccer scholarship and following in her father's footsteps by joining the military. However, she also discusses candidly that she is a lesbian, serving in the U.S. Air Force.

You probably won’t hear this news story mentioned on CNN. Or MSNBC. Or PBS. Or ABC, CBS or NBC News. But you just may hear it talked about on the Fox News Channel or the Fox Business Network. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/look-whats-happened-to-women-of-fox-news/#GppBFflRygoSV0a6.99

Dancing, partying and drinking; national holidays wouldn't exist without them. The top 10 drinking holidays by country are: 1. St. Patrick's Day (United States, Ireland), 2...

"People don't have a clue, they just want to condemn me," Herold says while wiping away tears. "My friends told me anyone who wants to look into whether I have a history of abusing animals will come up empty. Travis was my son and if they want to say I'm crazy or nuts for calling him that, go ahead."

Than Htay (pronounced Thon Tay), 24, who arrived in Hartford in June, is one of about 23,000 Burmese refugees who have legally immigrated to American cities in the past two years under a United Nations resettlement program. It is the U.N.'s largest such effort.

"It's not about terrorism or hatred. It's about love," she said. "Being a Muslim is just like being a Christian or a Jewish person. We are all called to treat each other with respect." The convention, which has taken place in Hartford for the last four years, is expected to draw more than 15,000 people by the time it winds down later today, said Muhammad Rahman, the convention's co-chairman. He said most of those who have shown up this weekend are Muslims from the East Coast stretching from New England to the Carolinas, though many have traveled from Canada and...

Racism is so entrenched in the Connecticut State Police that basic hiring practices ensure only a few minority troopers will even enter a training class, never mind be promoted in the ranks, an attorney representing a black troopers' coalition said Thursday.

If appearance matters, Hassan Abu-jihaad is an improbable holy warrior. His demeanor has been painfully meek during the legal proceedings leading up to his trial Monday in federal court in New Haven, where he is charged with transmitting military secrets to terrorists. Mostly, he has been a bewildered-looking man in an oversize prison jumpsuit. Little is known about him. He was born Paul R. Hall and lived in Southern California. He converted to Islam, changed his name and joined the Navy. Later, he would be recorded by the FBI laughing with a friend at an al-Qaida propaganda video showing an...

Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg, famed for the soaring vocals and elegant instrumentation of tunes such as "Longer" and "A Love Like This," died on Sunday, three years after being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. He was 56.

CAIR passes itself off as a "civil rights" organization, though no informed observer will mistake it for the NAACP. CAIR is seeking, by intimidation, to marginalize and then end discussion of the dangers inherent in Islam, the Islamic community’s tolerance of terrorism, and anything that stands in the way of Islamic hegemony.

NORWICH - It's quiet outside, but Terry Rathbun walks to the window of his condo again. He scans the street in front of the building. He's not sure why he keeps doing it, what he's looking for. There's nothing there now, no threat. He finishes his scan and sits back down, all of it as automatic as breathing. He feels he has a special sense of when things aren't right - not that things have been genuinely right for a long time, or can be counted on to be right again. Staff Sgt. Rathbun has been away from Iraq for...