The United States is to deploy an armoured brigade combat team to eastern Europe next February as part of ongoing efforts to reassure allies over threats from an increasingly aggressive Russia.

The Pentagon is moving to increase the number of American troops in Iraq in the wake of new strikes that killed the Islamic State's finance minister and other top leaders of the terror group.

Several suspects are being quizzed across Europe as police investigations and recriminations continued over Tuesday’s terror attacks in Brussels.

President Barack Obama has announced plans to keep nearly 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan through most of next year and 5,500 when he leaves office in 2017, casting aside his promise to end the war on his watch and instead ensuring he hands off the conflict to a successor.

The US is abandoning its goal of training a new force of moderate Syrian rebels and will focus on equipping, arming and supporting established groups already fighting Islamic State (IS) inside Syria, officials said.

The White House is in the final stage of drafting a plan for closing the Guantanamo prison for foreign terrorism suspects, racing against time to resolve one of President Barack Obama’s most intractable problems.

The US plans to store heavy military equipment in the Baltics and Eastern European nations to reassure allies made uneasy by Russian intervention in Ukraine, and to deter further aggression, a senior US official said on Saturday.

Iraq’s military needs more intelligence and action from international allies against Islamic State (IS) extremists, the prime minister has said.

A military operation has been launched to drive Islamic State out of the western Anbar province of Iraq, where the extremists captured the provincial capital Ramadi earlier this month.

Tributes have been pouring in for RTÉ sports broadcaster Bill O’ Herlihy who passed away today at the age of 76; Averil Power has resigned from Fianna Fáil and the Westboro Baptist Church can’t work out the Irish tricolour. Just some of the latest and most read stories on irishexaminer.com.

Defence secretary critical of US bid to help Iraq fight Islamic State

Ghani seeks to improve relations with Obama after Karzai exit

The thing about impromptu moments in politics is that often they work, sometimes they fall flat, but occasionally they turn out downright awkward. Vice president Joe Biden learned that the hard way — twice.

Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis left a note saying he was driven to kill by months of bombardment with extremely low-frequency radio waves, the FBI said.