Navy

When the White House sent a last-minute invitation for Asif Ali Zardari to attend the two-day NATO summit, they were taking a highly public gamble. Would sharing the spotlight with President Obama and other global leaders induce the Pakistani president to allow vital supplies to reach alliance troops fighting in Afghanistan? But long before the summit ended Monday, the answer was clear: No deal. Zardari's refusal to reopen the supply routes left a diplomatic blot on a summit that NATO sought to cast as the beginning of the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - In the months after the U.S. militarymission that killed Osama bin Laden, Pentagon officials met with Hollywood filmmakers and gave them special access in an effort to influence the creation of a film about the operation, newly released documents show. Emails and meeting transcripts obtained from the Pentagon and CIA through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch suggest that officials went out of their way to assist the filmmakers, while trying to keep their cooperation from becoming public.

WHEN IT comes to sportswear logos, Fila's rounded "F" is only slightly less iconic than Adidas' triple stripes and the Nike swoosh. The '70s tennis star Bjorn Borg grand-slammed his way into sports history wearing the F-crest on his chest, and less than a decade later the logo resurfaced as an urban status symbol for New York's burgeoning hip-hop scene (there was even a group called the Fila Fresh Crew). The craze for new Fila gear died down in the late '90s, but vintage pieces remain in hot demand.

SAN DIEGO - The $1.3-billion ship is billed as the most technologically advanced of any in its class in the U.S. Navy, with stealth capability and a state-of-the-art communications system. But the commissioning ceremony Saturday that made the San Diego an official ship of the fleet was drawn from rituals more than two centuries old - from the days of John Paul Jones, when the Navy's first commissioned ship was a captured British schooner. And so with the classic order, "Man our ship and bring her to life," sailors and Marines sprinted aboard the 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship.

The Navy took the unusual step of abruptly canceling construction of its expensive new class of destroyers last month because the ships lack abilities that top commanders believe are necessary to protect U.S. interests, according to the service's senior officer. Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said the DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyer does not have crucial missile and air defense capabilities and defending it against submarines would be difficult. The last ship in the class will cost $2.6 billion.

"Battleship"is not the first major motion picture to be based on a board game - who could forget 1985's benighted "Clue"? - but it is surely the most expensive. With every superhero more celebrated than Amazing-Man or the Chameleon already spoken for (ditto for hot toys like Transformers), Hollywood has fallen back on popular games as likely fodder for action epics. If "Scrabble: The Movie" or "Qwirkle or Death" appears on a future marquee, don't say you weren't warned. As its north-of-$200-million budget indicates, "Battleship" has been expanded considerably from its origins as a pre-World War I pencil and paper game to include a major alien invasion that puts the very fate of the human race at stake.

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea -- To the South Korean military, this picturesque island is the perfect place to build a naval base: a strategic location guarding the country's southern flank from possible invasion. To its residents, its small-town feel, harbor and coral reefs make it close to perfect just the way it is. The conflict between the two visions has turned into a South Korean David and Goliath story, with Mayor Kang Dong-kyun of the town of Gangjeong leading the majority of its 1,930 people in fighting the giant.

For sale: An exotic, once top-secret radar-evading ship, dubbed the Sea Shadow, that was built by one of the world's largest defense contractors during the height of the Cold War. Specifications: about 68 feet wide, 164 feet long and around 563 tons. Price: $139,200 or best offer. If interested, please contact the General Services Administration at its website: gsaauctions.gov. That's the sales pitch from theU.S. Navy, which - after five years of trying and failing to donate the stealthy Sea Shadow to a museum - is now selling the ship for scrap metal in an online auction.

Reporting from Washington - Achieving complete autonomy in robotic submarines is crucial to the Navy's plans to use the technology for the future. This was the message of several speakers at the Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's robotic conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel who said that submarine drones could be useful in a variety of roles in science and national security. Unlike today's aerial drones, which are remotely controlled using GPS signals and data link, robotic submarines can't receive satellite commands as it scours the ocean floor.

TheU.S. Navyhas grounded a fleet of helicopter drones after two of the aircraft crashed overseas within a week. Known as MQ-8B Fire Scouts, the robotic spy choppers were developed by Northrop Grumman Corp.engineers in Rancho Bernardo, Calif. Armed with high-powered cameras, radars and sensors, they were first deployed to war zones in Afghanistan and Libya last year. On Tuesday, the Navy confirmed that it had temporarily suspended flight operations for its 14 remaining Fire Scouts while system performance and operational procedures are reviewed.

"Battleship"is not the first major motion picture to be based on a board game - who could forget 1985's benighted "Clue"? - but it is surely the most expensive. With every superhero more celebrated than Amazing-Man or the Chameleon already spoken for (ditto for hot toys like Transformers), Hollywood has fallen back on popular games as likely fodder for action epics. If "Scrabble: The Movie" or "Qwirkle or Death" appears on a future marquee, don't say you weren't warned. As its north-of-$200-million budget indicates, "Battleship" has been expanded considerably from its origins as a pre-World War I pencil and paper game to include a major alien invasion that puts the very fate of the human race at stake.

TEL AVIV - With the acquisition this month of a sixth German-made submarine, Israel is seeking to position itself as the region's undisputed naval powerhouse. From spying on enemies to intercepting illegal arms shipments to blockading the Gaza Strip, Israel's naval capabilities are playing a more prominent role in the nation's security. The latest advanced German sub, with a price tag of more than $500 million, is Israel's most expensive piece of military equipment. The subs - which are believed to be fitted with nuclear weapons - also provide Israel with a second-strike capability designed to discourage surprise enemy offensives.

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea -- To the South Korean military, this picturesque island is the perfect place to build a naval base: a strategic location guarding the country's southern flank from possible invasion. To its residents, its small-town feel, harbor and coral reefs make it close to perfect just the way it is. The conflict between the two visions has turned into a South Korean David and Goliath story, with Mayor Kang Dong-kyun of the town of Gangjeong leading the majority of its 1,930 people in fighting the giant.

WASHINGTON — In his final months padding around the dark third-floor room in his cinder-block Pakistan hide-out, the world's most notorious terrorist mastermind spent a lot of time in his own head. He fretted about his public image and the legacy of his organization. He wondered whether he had misnamed it Al Qaeda. He fired off orders, handed out promotions, denied requests for help from the battlefield and sought to direct publicity for the looming 10th anniversary of the Sept.

For sale: An exotic, once top-secret radar-evading ship, dubbed the Sea Shadow, that was built by one of the world's largest defense contractors during the height of the Cold War. Specifications: about 68 feet wide, 164 feet long and around 563 tons. Price: $139,200 or best offer. If interested, please contact the General Services Administration at its website: gsaauctions.gov. That's the sales pitch from theU.S. Navy, which - after five years of trying and failing to donate the stealthy Sea Shadow to a museum - is now selling the ship for scrap metal in an online auction.

U.S. Coast Guard  and Navy forces have been dispatched to the scene of a plane crash off the coast of Florida. So far there is no word about the fate of the pilot believed to have become incapacitated at the controls. The small aircraft circled aimlessly in the skies for hours over the Gulf of Mexico as anxious air traffic controllers watched helplessly. Air traffic controllers apparently tried for hours to make contact with the pilot, but all attempts failed, pointing to the likelihood that the pilot had perhaps fallen unconscious at the controls, or perhaps suffered a heart attack.  FlightAware.com released the above image of the path of the plane, including the erratic and repetitive circular patterns it made over the Gulf of Mexico.

Paul "Red" Fay, who met John F. Kennedy when they were both in the Navy, joined his administration as undersecretary of the Navy and then wrote a bestselling book about their friendship, has died. He was 91. Fay, who had Alzheimer's disease, died Sept. 23 at his home in Woodside, Calif., said his son, Paul Fay III. Fay met the future president in 1942 in Rhode Island. Their first meeting, in a story befitting the Kennedy legend, was during a touch football game that Kennedy joined in progress.

                                        Drone aircraft have played a central role in modern warfare, taking out targets with missile strikes in the skies above battles in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. But the same robotic revolution hasn't taken place on the world's oceans. Textron Inc., maker of the RQ-7 Shadow spy drones used by the  Army and Marine Corps, has developed a ship drone for the Navy that the company envisions carrying out a variety of missions, including minesweeping, submarine spotting, surveillance and reconnaissance.

TheU.S. Navyhas grounded a fleet of helicopter drones after two of the aircraft crashed overseas within a week. Known as MQ-8B Fire Scouts, the robotic spy choppers were developed by Northrop Grumman Corp.engineers in Rancho Bernardo, Calif. Armed with high-powered cameras, radars and sensors, they were first deployed to war zones in Afghanistan and Libya last year. On Tuesday, the Navy confirmed that it had temporarily suspended flight operations for its 14 remaining Fire Scouts while system performance and operational procedures are reviewed.