CAMP BUCCA, Iraq (AFPN) -- Staff Sgt. Jay Westerterd and Airman 1st Class Christopher Miranda provide security while squadron members conduct security operations. More than 750 Airmen are deployed here providing security for convoys and the base. Sergeant Westerterd and Airman Miranda are with the 586th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo)

IED DETONATOR — A U.S. Marine Corps explosive ordnance disposal technician prepares to deploy a device that will detonate a buried improvised explosive device near Camp Fallujah, Iraq, Nov. 27, 2005. The Marine is assigned to Combat Logistics Brigade 8, 2nd Marine Logistics Group. U. S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Bobby J. Segovia

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Trial Plot Foiled - Authorities thwart court attack
Five Killed in Iraq Attacks
Former Iraqi PM Attacked in Shrine
'Look Into Their Hearts' - Mom seeks hostages' release
Secretive Iraqi Cleric Launches Campaign
U.S. Soldiers Rescue Kidnapping Victims
Forces Conclude Operation Shank in Ramadi
More Iraqi Security Forces Being Fielded Video


Operation Enduring Freedom
Suicide Bomber in Kandahar Kills Civilian

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Musharraf: Top Al Qaeda Dead
Obscure al-Qaida Chemist Worries Experts

Politics

U.N. News
Annan Fires U.N. Election Assistance Chief

Hurricane Season
Epsilon at Hurricane Strength
Revealing E-Mails - Post-Katrina government swamped

Supreme Court


Other News of Note
Russia, Iran Defend Weapons Deal, Say Sale Within Laws

Fox News
Autopsies ID Gehring Kids
Toxic Spill Threatens Water in Second Chinese City- Chinese Mine Death Toll at 169
One Dead in Casino Shootout
Cardiologist Accuses Merck of Scientific Misconduct
Death Penalty Sought in 'Precious Doe' Case
Ukraine Bird Flu Outbreak

Reuters: Top News
Angry Shi'ites pelt Iraq ex-PM Allawi
Compromise urged by G7 nations
Ukraine ready to battle bird flu
Bush hopes for lift from upbeat reports
Greenspan bows out of G7 with a flourish
Britain to offer EU rebate cut - papers
UN expresses deep concern over Saddam trial
Schwarzenegger clemency review has political risks
Congress to return in search of common ground
Europe won't pick fight with Rice on CIA tactics
Venezuelan congressional election faces boycott

AP World News
Iraqi Politician, Police Commander Slain
Israeli Aircraft Fire on Gaza Rocket Lab
Iran President Nominates Another Oil Chief
Oil-Rich Kazakhstan Votes for President
Measles Outbreak in Quake Zone Kills Boy
Thousands March for Democracy in Hong Kong
Iran Optimistic About Renewed Nuke Talks
Chavez: Boycott Won't Taint Election
Activists Demand Action on Global Warming
Palestinians Probe Rafah Violation Report
Remains of 37 Bodies Exhumed in Lebanon

Military.com
Navy Beats Army 42-23
Democrats Divided Over Iraq
Kidnappers Threaten to Kill Hostages
Deadliest Attack in Four Months
N. Korea Nuke Talks Sidetracked

CENTCOM: News Releases
TWO CH-47 CHINOOKS MAKE EMERGENCY LANDINGS IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN; SIX INJURED

Department of Defense
ON THE GROUND
Soldiers Provide Critical Support in Kuwait - Story
Troops Teach Job Skills to Afghan Villagers - Story
Medical Visit Focuses on Women, Children - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Summit Connects Organizers - Story
Magician Entertains Troops

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
U.S. Marines Killed Outside Fallujah
Four Soldiers Killed in Two Incidents
Pace Responds to Critics
Pace Seeks Future Leaders' Views
Chairman Defines Victory in Iraq
Info Ops Allegations Investigated
Officials Outline Iraq Strategy
Operation Goal: Disrupt Terrorists
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
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
Gardez Airstrip Renovated
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

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

MILITARY NEWS
National Guard, Reserve Update




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
0771 - Karel, the Great, becomes king of all France
1110 - The Syrian harbor city Saida (Sidon) surrenders to Crusaders
1197 - Crusaders wound Rabbi Elezar ben Judah
1259 - English King Henry III and French King Louis IX sign the Treaty of Paris.
1489 - At the Battle of Baza, the Spanish army captures Baza from the Moors.
1534 - Turkish sultan Suleiman occupies Baghdad.
1563 - The Council of Trent holds its last session, after 18 years.
1619 - America's first Thanksgiving Day.
1655 - Middelburg, Netherlands forbids the building of a synagogue.
1674 - Father Marquette builds the first dwelling in what is now Chicago.
1680 - A hen in Rome lays an egg imprinted with a comet not seen until December 16th.
1691 - Emperor Leopold I takes control of Transylvania.
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charles reaches Derby.
1783 - General Washington bids his officers farewell at Fraunce's Tavern, in NY.
1791 - Britain's "Observer," the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, is first published.
1798 - Rebellious Flemish farmers occupy Hasselt.
1812 - Peter Gaillard of Lancaster, PA patents a horse-drawn mower.
1816 - James Monroe is elected as the 5th U.S. President.
1829 - Britain abolished "suttee" in India (widow burning herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre).
1832 - The French army begins bombing the citadel of Antwerp.
1833 - The American Anti-Slavery Society is formed by Arthur Tappan in Philadelphia.
1843 - In Massachusetts, Manila paper (made from sails, canvas and rope) is patented.
1844 - James K. Polk is elected as the 11th U.S. President.
1851 - French President Louis Napolean Bonaparte's forces crush a coup d'etat.
1864 - Romanian Jews are forbidden to practice law; Battle of Waynesborough, Brier Creek, GA.
1867 - The Grange is organized to protect farm interests.
1875 - William Marcy "Boss" Tweed (NYC-Tammany Hall) escapes from jail.
1889 - Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo, in the Indian Ocean.
1890 - Willem III, Dutch king, is buried.
1899 - The 56th U.S. Congress (1899-1901) convenes.
1905 - The British government of Balfour resigns.
1908 - Haiti's President General Alexis Nord flees from a military coup.
1915 - F.F. Fletcher is the first admiral to receive a Congressional Medal of Honor; the Ku Klux Klan receives a charter from Fulton County, GA.
1918 - The Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) is proclaimed; President Wilson sails for the Versailles Peace Conference in France, becoming the first chief executive to travel outside the U.S. while in office.
1922 - Lucille Atcherson becomes the first woman officer in the U.S. foreign service.
1930 - The French government of Tardieu falls.
1933 - FDR creates the Federal Alcohol Control Administration.
1935 - At St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, 1,200 enroll in an anticommunism class.
1941 - Nazi ordinances place the Jews of Poland outside the protection of the courts.
1942 - James Hoey becomes the first alien on foreign soil to be granted U.S. citizenship; FDR orders the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration; U.S. bombers strike the Italian mainland for the first time in WWII.
1943 - FDR, Churchill, and Turkish President Inönü meet for the second Conference of Cairo; the Yugoslavian resistance forms a provisionary government under Dr. Ribar.
1944 - Germans destroy Rhine dikes, flooding Betuwe.
1945 - The Senate approves U.S. participation in the U.N.
1951 - Superheated gases roll down Mount Catarman in the Philippines, killing 500.
1952 - Killer fogs begin in London England, and "Smog" becomes a word; Walter P. Reuther is chosen as chairman of the CIO.
1957 - At St. John's, England, two commuter trains collide in heavy fog, killing 92.
1958 - Dahomey (Benin), and the Ivory Coast become autonomous within the French Community; the Finnish government of Fagerholm resigns.
1961 - Tanganyika becomes the 104th member of the U.N.
1963 - Aldo Moro forms the Italian government.
1965 - Gemini-7 is launched with two astronauts aboard (Borman and Lovell); two passenger planes collide above Danbury, CT, killing 4.
1974 - A Dutch DC-8 charter plane crashes in Sri Lanka, killing 191 Muslim pilgrims.
1975 - Six South Molukkans occupy the Indonesian consulate in The Hague, killing one person.
1977 - Jean-Bedel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Empire, crowns himself.
1978 - Dianne Feinstein is named as San Francisco's first female mayor; Pioneer Venus-1 goes into orbit around Venus; Dutch War criminal Pieter Menten is freed.
1981 - According to South Africa, Ciskei gains independence - it is not recognized as an independent country outside South Africa; President Reagan allows the CIA to engage in domestic counter-intelligence (Order No. 12333).
1982 - China adopts its constitution.
1983 - U.S. jet jet fighters strike Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon.
1984 - Hijackers commandeer a Kuwaiti airliner.
1985 - President Reagan appoints Vice Admiral John Poindexter as security adviser.
1986 - NASA launches Fltsatcom-7.
1990 - Iraq announces it will release all 3,300 Soviet hostages.
1991 - Muslim Shiites release the last U.S. hostage Terry Anderson (held for 6½ years); Pan American World Airways ceases operations.
1992 - U.S. Troops land in Somalia.
1996 - NASA's first Mars rover is launched from Cape Canaveral.

Birthdays
1443 - Pope Julius II, (1503-13), patron of Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael
1584 - John Cotton, Puritan clergyman in Massachusetts Bay colony
1812 - Elias Smith Dennis, Union Brevet Major General
1818 - William Wing "Old Blizzards" Loring, Confederate Major General
1865 - Edith Louisa Cavell, British nurse (WWI)
1881 - Erwin von Witzleben, German fieldmarshal (July 20th plot)
1892 - Francisco Franco (y Bahamonde), general / dictator of Spain (1936-75)
1905 - Emilio Médici, President of Brazil (1969-74)
1908 - A.D. Hershey, U.S. biologist, worked with bacteriophages (Nobel 1969)
1910 - Ramaswamy Venkataraman, President of India (1987-92)
1928 - Russell L. Rogers USAF / astronaut (X-20)
1932 - Roh Tae Woo Taegu, President of South Korea (1988-93)
1933 - Horst Buchholz, German actor (Magnificent 7, Raid on Entebbe, Sahara)
1934 - Wink (Winston Conrad) Martindale Jackson, TV host (Tic-Tac-Dough, Can You Top This)
1936 - Larry Davis, blues singer / guitarist
1938 - Andre Marrou, Libertarian presidential candidate (1992)
1944 - Dennis Wilson, drummer/vocalist (Beach Boys)
1948 - Roberta Lynn Bondar, astronaut (STS-42)
1952 - Ronald Michael Sega, Ph.D. / astronaut (STS-60, 76)
1973 - Tyra Banks, model/actress (Fresh Prince of Bel Air)

Passings
0771 - Karloman II, French king of Burgundy
0811 - Charles, eldest son of emperor Charles the Great
1137 - Emperor Lotharius III of Supplinburg (1125, 33-37)
1182 - Henry, Earl of Gelre/Zutphen (1141/79-82)
1334 - John XXII (Jacques Duèze), Pope (1316-34)
1371 - Reinald III (the Fat Duke), Duke of Gelre (1343-61); Stefanus X, Uros V, King of Serbia (1355-71)
1514 - Richard Hunne, English "heretic," suicide (?)
1807 - Prince Hall, activist / Masonic leader
1923 - (Auguste-) Maurice Barrès, French writer / parliament leader
1943 - Carlo Mierendorff, German politician / antifascist
1948 - Karl Bonhoeffer, German psychiatrist / neurologist
1952 - Karen Horney German/U.S. neo-freudian psycho analyst
1967 - Bert Lahr (Irving Lahrheim), comic (Cowardly Lion - "Wizard of Oz")
1969 - Fred Hampton, U.S. Black-Panther leader, murdered
1975 - Hannah Arendt, German/U.S. sociologist
1976 - Benjamin Britten, British composer (Beggar's Opera, War Requiem)
1978 - Samuel Abraham Goldsmith, Netherlands / U.S. physicist
1980 - Francisco Sá Carneiro, PM of Portugal (1980) in an air crash
1984 - John Rock, American co-developer of the birth-control pill
1993 - Frank Sturgis, watergate burglar; Frank V. Zappa, musician / composer (Mothers of Invention, Thingfish)
1994 - Jakob Kaplan, French head rabbi (1955-81)
1995 - Itzhak Rabin, PM of Israel (1968-73), assassinated
1996 - Basil Nield, judge/politician; Muriel Monkhouse, Red Cross worker

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Collins, Arnold, USMC (NY); KIA, body not recovered

1970
Green, George C., Jr., US Army SF (IN); recon team attacked at LZ, KIA, body not recovered