News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
'Dr. Germ' Released in Iraq - U.S. Hostage 'Killed' on Tape
Iraq official rejects Sunni call for poll rerun Video
Ukraine Pulling Remaining Troops in Iraq
Protests erupt in Iraq after fuel hike

Operation Enduring Freedom
US to cut troop level in Afghanistan - report Video
First Afghan Parliament in Decades Convenes
Cheney to Afghans: We won't abandon you

Homeland Security / War on Terror
House Passes Torture Ban
Senators Work Toward Compromise on Patriot Act
Bush: Spy Leak 'Shameful'- Video: Oval Office Speech
Gunmen storm city hall in biblical Bethlehem
Man held over failed July 21 London attacks

Troops on Trial
Five U.S. Soldiers Sentenced in Abuse Cases

Politics
Bush ratings rise on Iraq election, economy: poll

Oddities
40 drunken Santas...six geese a-laying..
Riddle of "corpse bride" draws crowds

Military News
Colombia Fails to Find U.S. Navy Helicopter

Fox News
Vice President Cheney Visits Pakistan's Earthquake Zone
19 Dead Miami Plane Crash
Killer Resentenced to Life in Bible-Reading Juror Case
Rice Heads Anti-Castro Panel
Video: Israeli PM Recovering- Netanyahu Wins Likud Primary
ATF Probes Missing Military-Grade Plastic Explosives
Fake Firefighter Rape Suspect Braunstein OKs Extradition
Iran Bans Western Music
Transit Strike Cripples New York City
Seven million people walk, hitchhike or just stay home
NYC Transit Strike Talks in Last Hours
NYC Transit Union Calls Selective Strike
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
Pfizer debuts Viagra in India, eyes 15% of market
Wal-Mart is target of criminal probe over waste
Pfizer ruling leads to health care sector rotation
Cablevision cancels dividend, offering
Pfizer, other drug stocks jump on Lipitor ruling Video
Alcon shares fall 5 pct after patent ruling
Shares of GM, Ford down on market-share loss
Israel's Sharon leaves hospital after minor stroke
Failed Beagle 2 probe "found" on Mars - scientist
S.Asian experts vow to protect endangered elephants
House backs compromise digital TV plan
Icahn seeks to derail Google as partner of AOL
Arab American fights stereotypes with comedy
Indian prostitute mum sparks storm with book

AP World News
Mexican Official Calls Fence Plan 'Stupid'
Netanyahu Wins Primary, Sharon Recovering
France's Versailles Palace Unveils Facelift
Suspect in Sydney Riots Appears in Court
Chilean Court Upholds Pinochet Indictment
Europeans' Reactions Mixed on Bush Speech
Leftist Morales Claims Victory in Bolivia
Peru's Drug Kingpin Sentenced to 20 Years
N. Ireland Begins Granting Gay Unions
Israeli Army to Ease Access to Bethlehem
N. Korea Aims to Boost Nuclear Program
Flight Attendant Tried to Save Doomed Plane (Greece)

The Seattle Times
Second Republican to enter Alaska gov race
Arctic drilling forces tough choices
Bush, Democrats swap charges over his approval of wiretaps
Rise in unwanted births; debate over reason
Teens cut smoking, but pill use rises
House passes money, Arctic drilling bills
End to solstice, endless nights
Sharon expected to go home today
Bolivian leader inspires hope, U.S. worry
Ex-weapons experts freed from U.S. captivity
Iraqi Shiite alliance takes strong lead in early results
Schwarzenegger cuts ties with Austrian hometown
Vincent Gigante dies; was "last great Mafioso"
Nation's murder rate jumps 2 percent
Leader pleads not guilty to rape

Chicago Sun-Times
Ho, ho, whoa! Don't worry, Santa's OK
Daniels aide cooperating with federal government
Bush praises vote to cut deficit by $40 billion
'Pro-life shift,' or less access to abortions?
Man accused of blinding copter pilot with laser
Girls beat up on their Barbies, small study says
Pot farm 'like something out of James Bond'
Alleged pot-growing doc can get license back
Anti-U.S. feelings driving S. America left

Boston Globe: World
Photos cast new doubt on cloning
Without homes to call their own, Zimbabwe's poor struggle
UN high court rules Uganda was responsible for Congo abuses
Beijing increases size of economy in report
Rebuked North Korea fires back
Japanese diners welcome return of US beef
Mubarak: Democratic reforms will continue
Sydney police find pistol, knives in raid after riots

Military.com
Twenty Killed in Plane Crash
U.S. Air Power Strikes Iraq Targets Daily
Pentagon to Kill Alternate JSF Engine
Wrestling Program Features Tribute to Troops

Department of Defense
Bush: Retreat From Iraq 'Wrong Strategy' - Story
Bush: Offense Key to Defeating Terrorism Transcript
Cheneys Attend Afghan Parliament Session - Story
Cheney Thanks Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan
Cheney Visits Iraq, Lauds Historic Vote

ON THE GROUND
Ceremony Bids Farewell to Ukrainian Troops - Story
Bulgarians Thanked During Farewell Ceremony - Story
Estonian Soldiers Help Secure Iraq's Future - Story

IN IRAQ
Iraqi Voters Say 'On Democracy Way'
Bases Serve as Home During Deployment

IN AFGHANISTAN
Unit Uses Special Skills to Pursue Enemy
Afghan Students Receive Donated Supplies

FACE OF DEFENSE
Louisiana Cousins Share Strong Bond in Iraq - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Wrestling Pays Tribute to Troops - Story

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Marine Killed, Iraqis Begin New Op
Iraqis Support Anti-Terror Ops
Iraq to Have Say in Troop Levels
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
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Review for Intel-Gathering System
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Military Always Has Banned Abuse
Chairman Gives Holiday Message
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
0069 - General Vespasianus occupies Rome
1046 - Synod of Sutri: German king Henry III removes Popes Gregory VI, Benedictus IX & Silvester III & names Bishop Siutger, Pope Clemens II
1192 - Richard the Lionheart captured in Vienna
1585 - English fleet & earl Robert Dudley van Leicester reach Vlissingen
1606 - Virginia Company settlers leave London to establish Jamestown, VA
1626 - Emperor Ferdinand II/Transylvanian monarch Gábor Betlen signs Peace of Pressburg
1661 - Corporation Act enforced in England
1669 - 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection & sentenced to flogging, branding & slavery
1688 - Prince Willem III's troops pull into London
1694 - Frederik van Brandenburg flees Schweiben
1699 - Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed - from Sept 1 to Jan 1
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army meets de Esk
1780 - England declares war on Netherlands
1803 - Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to US for $27 million
1820 - Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 & 50
1830 - England, France, Prussia, Austria & Russia recognize Belgium
1850 - Hawaiian post office established
1860 - South Carolina votes 169-0 for Ordinance of Secession, 1st state to secede
1861 - Battle of Dranesville VA
1862 - Battle of Holly Spring, MS; Battle of Kelly's Ford, VA; Confederate Brigadier-General Nathan Bedford Forrest occupies Trenton, KY; Vicksburg campaign
1864 - Battle of Fort Fisher, NC
1879 - Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park
1880 - Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten
1883 - International cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls
1892 - Pneumatic automobile tire patented, Syracuse NY
1893 - 1st state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia
1900 - Giacobini discovers a comet (will be 1st comet visited by spacecraft)
1906 - Venezuela (under Vice-President Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet
1907 - Explosion at Yolande, AL, coal mine kills 91
1915 - Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia
1917 - Russian secret police in Czechoslovakia forms under Felix Dzerzjinski
1919 - US House of Representatives restricts immigration
1920 - Bob Hope becomes an American citizen
1922 - 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR); Polish parliament selects Stanislaw Wojcieckowski as president
1924 - Adolf Hitler freed from jail early
1928 - 1st international dogsled mail leaves Minot ME for Montréal, Québec
1933 - Bolivia & Paraguay sign weapon cease fire
1938 - Vladimir K Zworykin (Pennsylvania) receives patent on the Iconoscope TV system
1941 - Free France under Admiral Muselier occupies St-Pierre et Miquélon; Japanese troops lands on Mindanao
1942 - 1st Japanese bombing of Calcutta
1944 - Battle of Bastogne, Nazis surround 101st Airborne (NUTS!)
1945 - Rationing of auto tires ends in US
1956 - Military coup under colonel Simbolon in Sumatra; Montgomery, AL, removes race-based seat assignments on its buses
1957 - Elvis Presley given draft notice to join US Army for National Service
1960 - Auschwitz-commandant Richard Bär arrested in German Federal Republic
1963 - Berlin Wall opens for 1st time to West Berliners; Massemba-Debate elected President of Congo-Brazzaville; Trial against 21 camp guards of Auschwitz begins
1964 - Levi Eshkol forms Israeli government
1966 - Brussels: Nuclear Planning Group established
1967 - 474,300 US soldiers in Vietnam
1970 - Edward Gierek succeeds Wladyslaw Gomulka as Poland's party leader
1971 - Pakistan President Yahya Khan resigns
1973 - Dutch Antillean government of Evertsz forms
1974 - Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state
1976 - Israel's PM Yitzhak Rabin resigns
1977 - 1st Space walk made by G Grechko from Salyut
1978 - H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's White House chief of staff released from jail
1980 - USSR formally announces death of Alexei Kosygin
1983 - El Salvador adopts constitution
1985 - Howard Cosell retires from television sports after 20 years with ABC; Position of American Poet Laureate established (Robert Warren is 1st)
1987 - Worst peacetime shipping disaster, Dona Paz ferry sinks after collision with oil tanker Vector; 1,749 confirmed deaths (probably closer to 3,000)
1988 - Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's department store in London; Premier Ranasinghe Premadasa elected President of Sri Lanka
1989 - US troops invade Panamá & oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him
1990 - Pentagon warns Saddam Hussein that US air power is ready to attack on 1/15; Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze resigns
1991 - Paul Keating installed as premier of Australia
1992 - Slobodan Milosevic re-elected President of Serbia
1995 - American Flight 965 crashes in Colombia, 159 die, 5 survive
1999 - Portugal returns Macau to China

Birthdays
1720 - Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie/Young Pretender)
1805 - Thomas Graham, father of colloid chemistry
1807 - Richard Lucian Page, Confederate Brigadier-General
1808 - Thomas Tinsley Craven, Union Navy Commander
1813 - Samuel Jordan Kirkwood, Governor-IA/US Secretary of Interior (1881-82)
1819 - John Geary, 1st San Francisco postmaster, 1st mayor (May 1, 1850)
1825 - Romeyn Beck Ayres, Union Brevet Major General
1833 - Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, convicted of giving medical aid to John Wilkes Booth
1841 - Ferdinand-Èdouard Buisson, French educator (Nobel Peace Prize 1927)
1865 - Maude Gonne, Irish nationalist (Irish Joan of Arc)
1868 - Harvey S. Firestone, industrialist
1876 - Walter S. Adams, US astronomer/director of Mount Wilson (1923-46)
1884 - Marius H.L.W. "Max" Blokzijl, Dutch Nazi collaborator/traitor
1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, Australian PM (1939-41, 1949-66)
1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, US physicist (Mobility of Gaseous Ions)
1902 - Max Lerner, columnist (New York Post); Sidney Hook, anticommunist philosopher (Paradoxes of Freedom); George, English prince/earl of St. Andrews
1906 - Dick White head of British secret service (MI-5/MI-6)
1924 - Errol John, actor (PT-109, Assault on a Queen)
1925 - Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mohamad, premier of Malaysia (1981-2003)
1929 - Milan Panic, premier of little Yugoslavia
1932 - John Hillerman, actor (Higgins-Magnum PI)
1933 - Gordon Getty
1946 - Uri Geller, psychic (bends forks)

Passings
0069 - Aulus Vitellius, Roman commandant of Rhine & 7th emperor, murdered
0910 - Alfonso III, Great king of Asturias
1073 - Domingo Spanish, monastery founder/abbot/saint
1355 - Stefanus IX, Uros IV, Dusan king (1331-46)/Serbia (1346-55), dies
1679 - Johan Maurits, count of Nassau-Siegen, dies at 75
1749 - Pakubuwono II, susuhunan of Mataram Java
1812 - Sacagawea, Shoshone interpreter for Lewis & Clark (or April 9, 1884)
1876 - Hannah Omish, at 12 is youngest ever hanged in US
1929 - Emile Loubet, French premier (1892)/President (1899-1906), dies at 90
1936 - Baron De Borchgrave, Belgian ambassador, murdered in Madrid
1937 - Erich Ludendorff, German general (WWI), dies at 72
1939 - Hans Langsdorff, German captain (Graaf Spee), commits suicide
1944 - Abbas Hilmi II, viceroy of Egypt (1892-1914), dies at 70
1968 - John Steinbeck, author (Grapes of Wrath, Nobel 1962), dies in New York at 66
1973 - Bobby Darin, singer (Mack the Knife), dies of heart failure at 37; Luis Carrero Blanco, PM of Spain (1973), assassinated by ETA
1976 - Richard J. Daley, Chicago mayor, dies at 74
1988 - Max Robinson, 1st Black network (ABC) TV anchor, dies of AIDS at 49
1991 - Sam Rabin, Speaker of the House, dies at 88
1993 - W. Edwards Deming, US economist (helped Japan after WWII), dies at 93
1994 - Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State (1961-69), dies at 85
1996 - Amata Kabua, President of Marshall Islands (1979-96); Carl Sagan, scientist (Contact), dies at 62
1997 - Vincent Ciccone, inventor (Blow-Pops candy), dies at 81

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Hudson, Henry M., Civilian; rescued

Jeffrey, Robert D., USAF (CA); F4C shot down (w/Mims), released by DRV February, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

Johnson, Guy D., USN (WA); RA5C shot down (w/Nordahl) - remains returned March, 1977

Jones, Edwin D.; rescued

Mims, George I., Jr., USAF (SC); F4C shot down (w/Jeffrey)

Nordahl, Lee E., USN (MT); RA5C shot down (w/Johnson), presumed KIA

Pitchford, John J., USAF (MS); F100F shot down (w/Trier), released by DRV (injured) February, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - alive as of 1998

Trier, Robert Douglas, USAF (TN); F100F shot down (w/Pitchford); KIA resisting capture - remains returend October, 1982

Wax, David J., USAF (MA); C130E shot down, remains ID'd August, 1993

1966
Lucas, Larry F., US Army (WV); OV1A shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Lum, David Anthony, USAF (HI); F4C shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1967
Craner, Robert R., USAF (NY); F100F shot down, released March,1973 - deceased October, 1980

Gruthers, Guy D., USAF (FL); F100F shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - alive as of 1998

1968
Bouchard, Michael L., USN (MT): A6A shot down

Kent, Robert Duane, USMC (TX); F4B shot down (w/Morin)

Morin, Richard Girard, USMC (MA); F4B shot down (w/Kent)

1969
Long, Carl Edwin, USMC (TX); OV10A shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1972
The following USAF personnel reported MIA when their B52D was shot down:
Arcuri, William Y. (FL); released by DRV February, 1973 (injured) - alive and well as of 1998

Geloneck, Terry M. (AL); released by DRV February, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive as of 1998

Granger, Paul L. (CA); released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Klomann, Thomas J. (IL); released by DRV February, 1973 (injured) - retired as a Captain - alive and well as of 1998

Lerner, Irwin S. (CT); believed KIA

Madden, Roy, Jr., (CA); released by DRV February, 1973 (injured) - retired as a TSgt - deceased as of 1997

Martini, Michael R., (CA); released by DRV February, 1973 - alive as of 1996

McLaughlin, Arthur V., Jr., (MA); possibly KIA

Paul, Craig A., (OH); remains returned by SRV September, 1977

Perry, Randolph A., Jr., (MT); possibly KIA

Spencer, Warren R., (CA); remains returned by SRV September, 1977

Stuart, John F., (IN);

Also reported MIA in 1972
Wieland, Carl T., USN (FL); A7C shot down, released March, 1973 - deceased - murdered in 1987