Stars and Stripes Daily Headlines

February 22, 2017     Pentagon: US troops under fire in battle for Mosul U.S. troops embedded with Iraqi forces have been engaged in combat as they move closer to the front lines in the battle for Mosul, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said Wednesday.   Air Force: Full costs on Air Force One not yet known Despite President Donald Trump’s claim that the cost of Air Force One has been cut by $1 billion, the Air Force said Wednesday that the price tag for the program has yet to be determined.   Hiring freeze causes cutbacks in military child care programs Officials have been forced to indefinitely suspend some child care programs at U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden and Fort Knox, Ky., to compensate for staffing vacancies they can’t fill because of the measure.   Rieckhoff denies claims IAVA misused grants Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America founder and CEO Paul Rieckhoff has denied allegations that he had pressured the staff to misuse grant money and mislead donors.   Plan to compete jets 'doesn't make sense,' lawmaker says President Donald Trump wants Boeing's Super Hornet fighter to compete against Lockheed Martin's next generation F-35 jet. But that idea "doesn't make sense" to a key Republican lawmaker who would need to approve big changes in defense spending.   Iraqi suicide bomber was former Gitmo detainee A suicide bomber who attacked a military base in Iraq this week was a former Guantanamo Bay detainee freed in 2004 after Britain lobbied for his release, raising questions about the ability of security services to track the whereabouts of potential terrorists.   Marines, airmen eat venomous critters while training in Thailand Servicemembers expanded their palates during jungle-survival training, as part of the multinational Cobra Gold exercise underway in Thailand.   Air Force delivers 4 Apaches to Germany Transported in the wide bellies of the largest aircraft in the U.S. Air Force, four Apache attack helicopters arrived here on a wind-whipped Wednesday morning, the first of what will likely be many stops as the choppers begin a 9-month deployment in Europe.   Search continues for lost US skier in Japan Japanese police, helped by American volunteers, scoured an avalanche-prone valley in the Japanese Alps on Wednesday for a Navy civilian who went missing while skiing.