An inquiry into the crash of a British aircraft in Afghanistan three years ago calls the accident "preventable," citing a loss of focus on safety in an effort to save money for the armed forces, the defense secretary said Wednesday.

China plans to make "every effort to rescue" a merchant ship and crew hijacked in the Indian Ocean, the country's state news agency reported on Tuesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, speaking to reporters, said the government was monitoring developments and has developed an emergency response procedure, the news agency Xinhua reported. Monday's hijacking is the first of a Chinese ship this year, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau. Ma said the ministry warned ships and ...

Marylisa Miller has spent much of her two decades as an Army wife bracing for the worst. But now the pressure is higher, as both her husband and their 20-year-old son are serving together in Afghanistan. It's rare, but not unheard of: Sgt. 1st Class Martin Miller and his son Pfc. Martin Miller have deployed as part of the same squadron of about 500 soldiers. Their brigade -- based at North Carolina's Fort Bragg -- is among the ...

The United States fears recent weapons purchases by Venezuela could fuel an arms race in South America, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday. "They outpace all other countries in South America and certainly raise the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region," Clinton said about Venezuela's arms deals, after a meeting with Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez. The Russian government Monday extended $2.2 billion in credit to Venezuela to finance arms purchases, ...

The Air Force spent years fighting to keep building the $350 million F-22 fighter, an airplane crammed with so much gee-whiz technology there's a law barring it from being sold to any other nation. But since no other nation is building such a plane to challenge it, the F-22 has become a costly investment with an uncertain payoff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates just killed it. That sent an unmistakable message to the two new top Air Force officials Gates ...

A man who crashed his plane in the Florida Panhandle in an apparent attempt to fake his death was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in federal prison, officials said. Marcus Schrenker, 38, of McCordsville, Indiana, pleaded guilty in June to charges of destruction of an aircraft and causing the Coast Guard to respond when no help is needed. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison Wednesday, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in the ...

Investigators probing last weekend's fatal aircraft collision over New York's Hudson River focused Friday on an air traffic controller, though union leaders angrily said the controller could have done nothing to prevent the crash. In a report, the National Transportation Safety Board said that the controller at New Jersey's Teterboro airport did not advise a pilot of potential traffic when he handed off radar monitoring of the plane to the tower at Newark airport at 11:52:20 a.m. Saturday. But, union ...

Investigators have located the body of a fourth victim in the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed after colliding with a plane over the Hudson River in New York, a source close to the investigation said. Rescue workers have not yet recovered the body, believed to be among nine victims of the collision, the source said late Saturday night. So far, only three bodies, including that of a child, have been recovered -- all of them from the Piper PA-32 ...

Severe turbulence shook a Continental Airlines flight Monday, injuring 26 passengers -- four seriously -- and forcing the aircraft to divert to Miami, Florida, an airport fire official said. There were 168 passengers on Flight 128, which was originally headed from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Houston, Texas, according to Lt. Elkin Sierra of the Miami-Dade Fire Department. Ambulances and other vehicles were lined up on the runway to treat and transport the injured passengers when the plane landed at ...

Passengers on a British Airways flight to Barcelona, Spain, were forced to evacuate the aircraft on the airport runway after landing Sunday when fumes were apparently detected in the aircraft's cabin. There were no serious injuries, British Airways officials told CNN. Flight BA478, from London's Heathrow Airport, had landed in Barcelona at 9:45 a.m. local time (3:45 a.m. ET). Emergency slides were deployed, and emergency authorities were called to attend the aircraft. The Boeing 757 aircraft was carrying 176 ...