Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to continue talks on military cooperation in Syria, a discussion that Kerry has said is nearing an end. Kerry and Lavrov will meet over Kerry’s two-day visit to Geneva, Switzerland, from Aug. 25-27, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said during a Wednesday briefing. The two leaders spoke by phone on Wednesday, with the Russian government saying the discussion came at the request of the US. The officials discussed “possibilities for coordinating Russian and US efforts to combat terrorism, building on earlier agreements,” the Russian foreign ministry said in statement. Kerry visited Moscow last month and met with Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kerry and Lavrov are also expected to discuss the ongoing situation in Crimea, according to the State Department.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.