Washington building ‘Pentagon’ in Kabul

The United States is spending $92 million to build Afghanistan a new “Pentagon,” a massive five-story military headquarters with domed roofs and a high-tech basement command in the capital of Kabul.

“Once it’s finished, it will be a permanent and a very significant illustration of the United State’s support for Afghanistan,” Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said in an interview, the Washington Post reported.

The United States is still working its way through a $10 billion menu of construction projects aimed at bolstering the Afghan security forces. Of the 1,150 buildings planned, more than 600 have been completed, with a total value of $4 billion.

In addition to new headquarters for the Defense Ministry, the United States is building headquarters in Kabul for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the Afghan police, at a price tag of $54 million.

They are also building a $102 million base for the military’s 201st Corps in eastern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a man wearing an Afghan police uniform shot dead three British soldiers at a checkpoint in Afghanistan on July 1, Britain’s Defense Ministry said yesterday. The assailant was injured and detained, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. Their deaths take the number of British military personnel killed in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 to 422.

NATO-led forces have suffered a string of attacks by members of Afghanistan’s security services on foreign troops and their mentors, adding to pressure on some countries to withdraw.

Apple’s Proposed ‘Spaceship’ Campus Comes Alive in New Floor Plans

By Christina Bonnington

Apple has grand plans for a secondary campus in Cupertino, California. The city just released a treasure trove of floor plans, technical drawings, and renderings, so now we can see exactly what Apple has planned.

Construction on Apple’s Campus 2 is expected to begin later this year (pending final approval from Cupertino’s City Council) with construction completing by 2015. The four-story, 300,000 square-foot circular structure, which according to the late Steve Jobs looks "a little like a spaceship landed," will eventually host 13,000 employees.

Apple isn't ditching its corporate headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop, though: The new campus will act as a separate, supplemental research facility to the company’s current campus.

In May, Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer sent area residents a brochure detailing what to expect from the proposed campus. Besides not replacing 1 Infinite Loop, the structure will be LEED certified, with a huge solar array on the main roof.

Campus 2 won’t be open to the public, but it will feature a variety of amenities for its employees, like a fitness center and an auditorium for product events.