News of Note
Mayhem at Midway
Plane accident claims young life
Video: Plane Skids Off Runway in Chicago

Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraqi Sunnis Appeal for Hostages' Release
Iraq defendant gripes about cigarettes, food (oh, boo hoo)
Security tops Iraq election manifestos
4 percent growth projected in Iraq
U.S. military to probe video of Iraq car chase, shooting
Bomber attacks bus, killing 32 Iraqis
20,000 troops expected home soon, Rumsfeld says
Kerry wants 100,000 home from Iraq by '07 (why are we still listening to this guy???)

Operation Enduring Freedom
Afghans welcome NATO expansion, Taliban threaten Video
Afghan Insurgent Tactics Show Weakness Video

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Bangladesh Bomb Kills Six
Witnesses: Miami Passenger Scared, Didn't Say 'Bomb' (I can't believe we're even discussing this. Bravo to the Air Marshals! They did their jobs.I wonder if all of these critics would feel the same if this guy had been on THEIR flight)
Shooting shows how air marshals must think fast
White House: Air marshals acted properly in shooting
Islamic Leaders at Summit Pledge to Fight Extremism (Talk is cheap. I'll believe it when I see it.)
Saudi: Iraq War Breeds Terror (Right. 'Cause there were no terrorists before we got to Iraq, right? Need we review the list?)
Senate presses for paring terrorism insurance
Manila police traces US embassy bomb threat call
Spanish Police Arrest 7 in Terrorism Sting
Feds may try to deport ex-professor
Bomber attacks bus, killing 32 Iraqis
Qaeda link said made up by detainee

Welcome Home!
Ohio Guard Battalion Returns From Deployment

U.N. Scandals
Peacekeepers Likely Tied to Haiti Shooting (and the public outcry would be...where? Oh, wait - it wasn't the U.S., so it's ok)

Politics
Rice wins European reprieve on detainee treatment
House approves $56 billion tax cut
Despite accord on Patriot Act, Congress braces for a floor fight
Second Abramoff plea deal is near

Oddities
Deputy's sons die in wrecks minutes apart (this is such a sad story)
Let's just call it even, okay?
Cop allegedly Tasers partner over soda
Twice lucky: Lost $25k lottery ticket returned
Nebraska judge says 128 mph isn't reckless
25 days in jail, 3 minutes in the clear

Other News of Note
Iran's president expresses doubts Holocaust occurred (This guy isn't just a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. He's missing the blanket, the food, and the basket. I'm not even sure he knows where the park is)
War-dog story close to a happy ending
Marine's family scoffs at Bermuda Triangle

Fox News
Sex Teacher Plea Deal Nixed
Feingold Talks Filibuster
Vioxx Study Data Concealed?
Thai Boy Dies from Bird Flu
Islanders Flee Pacific Volcano
House OKs $56B Tax Cut Bill
Menendez Becomes Senator
Tookie's Fate in Gov.'s Hands
DeLay Trial After Christmas
Capitol Xmas Tree Set Aglow
Stocks to Watch: Merck, Intel
U.S. Life Expectancy Up
DNA Test Frees Inmate
Snowstorm Moves Up Northeast
Video: Cold Front Grips U.S.
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
John Lennon remembered
Alltel to spin off unit in $9.1 bln deal
Paramount prepping competing bid for DreamWorks: WSJ
MEDIA: U.S. court voids attempt to strip Pooh license
CenterPoint deal boosts industrial property sector
Electronic Arts to buy JAMDAT in $680 mln deal
Airline M&A to be fed by hedge funds: USAir CEO
Poland was main CIA detention base in Europe: HRW
Israel calls Iran's president "very dangerous" Video
China says stressed 'peace strategy' in US talks
Schwarzenegger ponders high-profile death row case
Ecosystem changes a threat to human health: WHO
Climate talks near Kyoto renewal road map
Anger drives Muslim insurgents in Russia's South
Britain grapples with gruesome 'honor' crimes
Kellogg touts soy oil alternative to trans fats
Pacifiers reduce risk of cot deaths - study

AP World News
Putin Proposes Softening NGO Measure
ElBaradei: World Losing Patience With Iran
Doctor Suspected of Raping Quake Survivor
Botched Stock Trade Costs Japan Firm $225M
Bill Clinton to Surprise U.N. Conference
Calderon Reshapes Mexico Presidential Race
Envoy to China: Treat Defectors Better
Red London Routemasters Get a Send-Off
Castro Remembers Victims of 1976 Bombing
Iraqi Insurgents Claim Death of American
Canada, U.S. Meet to Discuss Polygamists
Rebuilding Kashmir a Huge Job After Quake
Spain Holding Croatian War Crimes Suspect
American Nabbed in Singapore Drug Sting
Iranian President Jabs at Israel Again

The Seattle Times
Boomers may put brakes on longevity
Baby boomers learn that with age comes responsibility
Imagine all the people influenced by Lennon
Bird flu could cost U.S. $625 billion
Studies favor breast-cancer drug
Israel expands arsenal to deal with Iranian nuclear threat
Zoos perfect the art of panda breeding
Signature British buses rumble into retirement
Tulane University paring back in wake of Katrina
Severe eruption on Ambae Island is called unlikely

Chicago Sun-Times
Midway International Airport reopens
State may declare '85 Bears greatest team ever
Lawmakers' image hits low amid scandals
Lawmaker urges SIU to resist feds' challenge of diversity programs
Scientists warn Great Lakes near 'collapse'
Thong display near mall Santa riles parents
Queen Elizabeth meets Irish leader for 1st time in N. Ireland
2-century-old house owned by Polaroid founder burns
Egypt vote results may let 'Islamist genie' out

Boston Globe: World
Syrians raid farm; 8 reported killed
Pakistani journalist has been kidnapped, his family says
Muslim group wins 20 percent of Egypt's parliament
Police fire at rioters in China
Rights activist buried at plaza of the missing
Air raid kills 2 Palestinians; Israeli slain in the West Bank

Military.com
General Says Bin Laden Is Alive
Stress, a Lingering Hazard
U.S. IDs Remains From 1968 Vietnam Attack
US to Hand Reconstruction Over to Iraqis
MiG-29 Crash
Visit Shock & Awe
2006 VA Budget is a Mixed Bag
Air Force Officer Scholarships
Army Adjusts Re-enlistment Policy
The Army in the Pacific

CENTCOM: News Releases
BUSY DAY IN NORTH CENTRAL IRAQ
IRAQI GIRLS SCHOOL RECEIVES NEEDED SUPPLIES
AFGHANS DELIVER BLANKETS, CLOTHES TO DISPLACED CITIZENS

Department of Defense
Officials Have Great Hopes for Elections - Story
Security Situation Dominates Iraq Discussions - Story
Terrorists Won't Quit After Dec. 15 Vote - Story Video
Fighting Terrorists Prevents Attacks on U.S.

ON THE GROUND
New Zealand Troops Help Clean Up Diesel Spill - Story
USS Austin Assists Saudi Boat in Arabian Gulf - Story
Doctors Give Iraqi Baby New Lease on Life - Story

IN IRAQ
Marines Relax with Bratwursts, Burgers
Logistics Marines Transport Iraqi Police Recruits

IN AFGHANISTAN
MP Unit Tackles Variety of Duties at Salerno

FACE OF DEFENSE
Army Couple Home from Duo-Deployment - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Scholarships Help Families of Fallen - Story
Photos: LAPD Visits Injured Troops

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Casey Outlines Iraq Plans
IED Kills Troop; Bus Bomb Kills 19
Bush Cites Rebuilding Video
Iraqi Crew Indicator of Progress
Forces Wrap Up Operation Rams
Bomb Explodes at Coffee Shop
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq (pdf)
Multinational Force Iraq
Eye on Iraq Update (pdf)
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (pdf)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Coalition Forces Kill, Nab Militants
SEDM Approves Afghan Deployment
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Cheney Praises Troops Video
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Rumsfeld Dismisses Rumors
Center Goal: Reduce IED Threat
Deploying Marines to Train Iraqis
Course Improves EOD Training
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Army Casualty - Story

Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo

National Hurricane Center

Today in History
0536 - Byzantines Libya occupies Rome on Ostrogoten
0656 - Battle of Kameel: Kalief Al ibn Abu Talib beats rebellion
1212 - Frederik II crowns himself Roman Catholic king
1625 - Netherlands & England sign military treaty
1640 - Settler Hugh Bewitt banished from Massachusetts colony when he declares himself to be free of original sin
1658 - Dutch troops occupy harbor city Quilon (Coilan) India
1688 - King James II's wife & son flee England for France
1738 - Jews are expelled from Breslau Silesia
1747 - England & Netherlands sign military treaty
1762 - British parliament accept Treaty of Paris
1783 - 1st execution at English Newgate-jail
1793 - Noah Webster establishes New York's 1st daily newspaper, American Minerva
1805 - Comet 3D/1805 V1 (Biela) approaches within 0.0366 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth
1824 - Battle of Ayacucho (Candorcangui), Peru defeats Spain
1854 - Lord Tennyson's poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade" published
1861 - Battle of Bird Creek, Indian Terr (High Shoal, Chusto-Talasah)
1868 - 1st British government of Gladstone forms
1878 - Joseph Pulitzer buys St Louis Dispatch for $2,500
1883 - New Brunswick adopts Eastern Standard Time (until 1902)
1884 - Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate
1900 - Dutch President Paul Kruger & Queen Wilhelmina have a triumphant procession
1903 - Norwegian parliament vote unanimiously for female suffrage
1905 - French Assembly National votes for separation of church & state
1906 - New York American reports Belgian King Leopold II bribed US Senate commission on the Congo
1907 - 1st Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington DE post office)
1909 - 1st US monoplane flown (Henry W Walden, Long Island NY)
1910 - French troops occupy Morrocan harbor city Agadir
1917 - British forces under General Allenby capture Jerusalem
1918 - French troops occupies Mainz
1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz elected Polish President
1924 - Dutch & Hungary trade treaty signed; Michael Hainisch re-elected Austrian President
1931 - Spain becomes a republic; Japanese army attacks Chinese province of Jehol
1933 - Romania disallows fascist Iron Guard
1939 - Russian air raid on Helsinki
1940 - Illegal Jewish immigrants to Haifa are deported to Mauritius; British assault on Banghazi, Libya - first major British WWII offensive in North Africa
1941 - 1st US WWII bombing mission in the Far East, Luzon, Philippines; China declares war on Japan, Germany & Italy; Citizen Register reports "Hostile planes reported nearing Westchester"; Hitler orders US ships torpedoed
1948 - UN General Assembly unanimously approves Convention on Genocide
1949 - Dutch 2nd Chamber accept Indonesian sovereignty
1951 - Voters approve merger of 3 states to form Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
1953 - General Electric announces all Communist employees will be fired
1957 - 1st Japanese ambassador to Israel
1958 - Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., & 11 other men meet in Indianapolis to form the anti-Communist John Birch Society
1961 - SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in Israel; Tanganyika gains independence from Britain takes name Tanzania
1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth
1963 - Frank Sinatra, Jr., is kidnapped; Zanzibar gains independence from Britain
1965 - Nikolai Podgorny replaces Anastas Mikoyan as President of Presidium; "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premieres
1967 - Nicolae Ceausescu becomes President (dictator) of Romania
1968 - Doug Engelbart demonstrates first computer mouse at Stanford
1970 - Dutch Antilles: Government of Petronia falls
1971 - Lewis F. Powell, Jr., appointed to the Supreme Court
1973 - Sunningdale Agreement in Northern Ireland
1978 - Pioneer Venus 2 drops 5 probes into atmosphere of Venus
1983 - Attorney General Edwin Meese says people go to soup kitchens "...because the food is free and that's easier than paying for it"
1984 - Iranian commandos end capture of Kuwaiti plane
1987 - Palestine uprising begin in Israeli-occupied West Bank
1990 - Lech Walesa wins presidential election in Poland
1992 - Prince Charles & Princess Diana's separation announced by British PM, John Major; Operation Restore Hope - US Marines land in Somalia
1993 - Ivory Coast Premier Ouattara resigns
1994 - 5 meter meteor 1994 XM1 passes within 100,000 km of Earth; Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders resigns after masturbation comments

Birthdays
1561 - Edwin Sandys, a founder of Virginia colony
1569 - Martinus de Porres Peru, saint (patron of social justice)
1594 - Gustavus II Adolphus, king who made Swedenden a major power (1611-32)
1842 - Pjotr A. Kopotkin, Russian ruler/anarchist (how can you be a ruler AND an anarchist??)
1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, US journalist (created Uncle Remus stories)
1868 - Fritz Haber German, phycist-chemist (Nobel 1918)
1883 - Alexander Papagos, Greek fieldmarshal/supreme commander
1884 - Antonin Zapotocky, Czechoslovakian President (Ceskoslovensky Spisouatel)
1886 - Clarence Birdseye, frozen vegatable king (Birdseye)
1902 - Margaret Hamilton Cleveland OH, actress (Wicked Witch-Wizard of Oz); Richard A. Butler, Dutch Minister of Finance/Foreign affairs
1910 - Stephen Jurika, Jr., US pilot/captain (WWII, Santa Cruz, Navy Cross)
1912 - Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill (Representative-MA 1977-86)/Speaker of the House
1918 - Kirk Douglas, (Issur Demsky), actor (Gunfight at the OK Corral, 7 Days in May)
1922 - Redd Foxx, comedian (Sanford & Son, Redd Foxx Show)
1925 - Dina Merrill, actress (Operation Petticoat, Butterfield 8)
1928 - Dick Van Patten, actor (Tom Bradford-8 is Enough)
1929 - John Cassavetes, actor (Dirty Dozen, Rosemary's Baby); Robert J.L. Hawke (Lab), PM Australia (1983-91)
1934 - Dame Judi Dench, British stage & film actress (Goldeneye-"M", Her Majesty Mrs Brown-Queen Victoria)
1938 - Elizabeth H. "Rina" Venter, South African minister of Health care
1952 - Michael Dorn, actor (Worf-Star Trek Next Generation)
1957 - Donny Osmond, singer (Osmond Brothers, Donny & Marie)
1958 - Nancy J. Currie, Major, US Army/astronaut (STS 57, 70, sk: 88)
2340 - Worf Klingon character on Star Trek Next Generation (oddly enough)

Passings
1165 - Malcom IV, king of Scotland (1153-65), dies at 24
1437 - Sigismund, German Emperor/king of Hungary/Bohemia, dies at 70
1565 - Pius IV (Gianangelo de' Medici), Italian Pope (1559-65), dies at 66
1669 - Clement IX (Giulio Rospigliosi), Italian Pope (1667-69)
1674 - Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon English PM (1660-67), dies at 65
1706 - Pedro II, King of Portugal (1683-1706), dies at 58
1940 - Maletti, Italian general, dies in battle
1970 - Artem Mikoyan, Russian aircraft designer (MIG), dies at 65
1971 - Ralph J. Bunche, UN delegate/Nobel Prize winner, dies at 67
1982 - Leon Jaworski, Watergate special prosecutor, dies in Texas at 77
1993 - Muhammad Reza Golpayegani, Ayatollah of Iran
1994 - Kim II Sung, President of North Korea (1945-94), dies at 82
1995 - Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan, aviator
1996 - Alain Emile Louis Marie Poher, French President of European Parliament (1966-69), dies at 87; Mary Douglas Nichol Leakey archaeologist/anthropologist, dies at 83

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Lira, Jose T., US Army; AWOL

1968
Ford, Edward, US Army (AL);Killed by mine, body not recovered

Minor, Carroll, USN (SC); KIA in rocket attack on LCM-873

Shimek, Samuel D., US Army (PA); KIA by RPG or rocket fire, body not recovered

1972
Acosta, Hector M., USAF (TX); RF4C shot down (navigator, w/Williams), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive as of 1998

Williams, Billie J., USAF (MO); RF4C shot down (pilot, w/Acosta), remains returned, ID'd December, 1990