HUEY LIFT — A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter, assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466, moves into position to externally lift a UH-1N Huey helicopter at Al Qaim, Iraq, Oct. 25, 2005. The chopper will be returned to Al Asad, Iraq for repairs. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. James P. Aguilar

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Troops Thwart Militant Attack On American Base in Iraq
Brother of Iraq vice president killed

Operation Enduring Freedom
U.S. soldiers charged with assaulting Afghan detainees

Homeland Security / War on Terror
'Dastardly Acts' (bombings in India)

Hurricane Season
Beta Hits Nicaragua
Storm injures 30 in Colombia
Wilma Death Toll Rises to 38

Other News of Note
Political Storm

Fox News
Teen Goes on Shooting Spree
Pakistan, India to Open Kashmir Border
Israelis, Palestinians Make Deal to Halt Fighting
Leader Threatens Islamic Jihad
Some U.S. Missionaries Kicked Out of Venezuela
Crowds View Parks' Body
Collector Buys Pope's Old Car for $690,000 at Auction

Reuters: Top News
Pumpkins and "Voodoo" fight New Orleans fires
Rove in focus amid calls for White House shakeup
Tug-of-war begins on Bernanke's political voice
Iraq president urges treatment for Saddam half-brother
Suicide bomb and shootings raise Iraqi death toll
Fed to maintain measured rate hike tactic
US military estimates Iraqi toll from insurgency

AP World News
N. Korea Pledges to Stick With Nuke Talks
Voters Turn Out for Zanzibar Election
Divers Search for Train Survivors in India
Pope Makes Appeal for More Earthquake Aid
U.K. Considers Banning Drinking on Buses
UK Discourages Military Response vs. Iran
Pakistan, India to Open Kashmir Border
Israeli Leader Threatens Islamic Jihad
UNICEF: Thousands May Die in Quake Zone

Military.com
Detecting Gunfire at the Speed of Light
Three Ex-Tuskegee Airmen Visit Unit in Iraq
Fighting Across Afghanistan Kills 18
Rumsfeld Won't be Part of all Flu Plans
U.S., Japan Study Realignment of Troops
AFPC to Conduct Force Shaping Board
Air Combat Command Family Days for 2006
Air Combat Command Website for Civilians

Department of Defense
America's Security Linked to Freedom — Story Remarks
Bush: U.S. Won't Stop Short of Victory Remarks
Marines to Relocate from Okinawa to Guam — Story Photos Report Map
Cheney Thanks Troops on Robins Air Base — Story

ON THE GROUND
Former Al Qaeda Site Resembles Ghost Town — Story
Stryker Soldiers Patrol Streets of Mosul — Story Photos
'Makos' in Sky Support Warriors on Ground — Story
Afghan Troops Help Meet Local Medical Needs — Story

IN IRAQ
UXO Disposal Reclaims Land, Saves Lives
Departing Troops' Legacy: Patrols, IED Finds
Tuskeegee Airmen Visit Troops in Iraq
Project to Provide Potable Water, Hydrants
U.S. Troops Stay in Background During Vote

IN AFGHANISTAN
EC-130s Support Ground Units in Afghanistan
Army's Top Sergeant Advises Afghan NCOs

FACE OF DEFENSE
Kuwaiti-born Marine on Third Deployment in Iraq — Story

TOP NEWS
SPECIAL REPORTS
Hurricane Coverage
Iraq Transition of Power

IRAQ
North-Central Iraq Makes Progress
Security Forces Improve
Three U.S. Soldiers Killed
Iraqi Police Officers Graduate
4 Troops Killed in Operations
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps
Iraq Daily Update
Multinational Force Iraq
Eye on Iraq Update (pdf)
Iraq Progress Fact Sheet (pdf)
Weekly Progress Report (pdf)

AFGHANISTAN
U.S. Forces Stop Potential Attacks
Afghans Help Earthquake Victims
Afghan Police Complete Course
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Official Releases Intel Blueprint
Gitmo Visit Impresses Medical Pros
'Overmatch': Watchword for Future
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Airmen Train Troops for Duty
Hospital Deploys Medics to Kuwait
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Casualties — 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
1270 - The 8th - and final - Crusade is launched.
1888 - The first ballpoint pen is patented.
1905 - With the "October Manifesto," Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties.
1918 - Slovakia asks for the creation of a Czechoslovakian state.
1919 - Baseball league presidents call for the abolishment of the spitball.
1922 - In Italy, Mussolini forms his cabinet.
1930 - Turkey and Greece sign a treaty of friendship.
1938 - Orson Welles panics a nation with the broadcast of "War of the Worlds."
1939 - The U.S.S.R. and Germany agree on partitioning Poland.
1941 - The Germans torpedo the USS Reuben James, despite the fact that the U.S. is not involved in the war.
1944 - Anne Frank is deported from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen.
1945 - The U.S. government announces the end of shoe rationing.
1948 - In Donora, Pennsylvania, smog kills 20 and sickens 6,000.
1953 - Dr. Albert Schweitzer and General George C. Marshall win the Nobel Peace Prize.
1954 - The Defense Department announces the elimination of all segregated regiments.
1956 - Israel captures the Egyptian militay post at El-Thamad.
1961 - The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approves a resolution removing Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb in Red Square.
1961 - The Soviet Union tests a 58-megaton hydrogen bomb.
1965 - Fireworks explosions kill 50 in Cartagena, Colombia.
1967 - The U.S.S.R.'s Kosmos 186 and 188 make the first automatic docking & Venmera 13 launch.
1975 - Juan Carlos assumes power in Spain; the NY Daily News runs the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead."
1976 - Jane Pauley becomes the news co-anchor of the Today show.
1979 - NASA launches the space vehicle S-203.
1980 - Honduras and El Salvador settle their boundary dispute; NASA launches Satcom-4.
1985 - The 22nd Space Shuttle Mission (61-A; Challenger 9) is launched.
1991 - A Middle East peace conference begins in Madrid, Spain.

Birthdays
1735 - John Adams, Declaration of Independence signer, second U.S. President (1797-1801)
1821 - Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoevski, Russian novelist / short-story writer
1830 - Confederate Major-General John S. Bowen
1873 - Francisco Madero, Mexican revolutionary, president (1911-13)
1893 - Charles Atlas, body builder
1918 - Ted Williams, Baseball great (Red Sox - AL MVP '46, '49; Triple Crown '42, '47)
1939 - Grace Slick, rock vocalist (Jefferson Airplane-White Rabbit)
1946 - Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson, USN/astronaut (STS 41B, 61C, 27)
1969 - Brittany Gae Thompson, Miss Oregon-America (1991)

Passings
1893 - Sir John Abbott, PM of Canada (1891-92)
1991 - William Shea (Shea Stadium namesake)

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Page, Jasper N., USAF (MS); first to escape out of SVN, November, 1965 - alive and well as of 1998

1973
Sakamoto, Hideako (Japan); released January, 1974