News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Pentagon study faults US body armor in Iraq deaths

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Padilla Hearing Delayed
Al-Qaida Touts U.S. Troop Cuts in Iraq

Politics
Replacing DeLay - Petition may force new vote

Supreme Court
Alito Faces Snag
Nominee loses testimonies
Alito's Fellow Jurists to Testify

U.N. Scandals
South Korean arrested in Iraq oil-for-food scandal

Oddities
Is it too late to change to a different army?
Ocean view -- as soon as the poison works

Fox News
Miner Suffered Inflamed Lung
Feds Search Mine
Video: 'We Need Support'
Farmer Kills Four in Homicide Bombing in Chinese Court
Famed Chicago Church Burns
'Katrina' Students Head Back to New Orleans Colleges
Protests Hit New Orleans- Dolphins Moved to Bahamas
Zawahiri: Islam Won in Iraq
Bush Touts Economy- Economy Adds 108,000 Jobs
11 GIs Killed in Iraq
Misprinted $20 Bill Sells Big
Fittest, Fattest Cities Named
Offensive Links Shut Down Wal-Mart Web Suggestions
U.S. Sailor Held in Japanese Woman's Slaying
Sharon in Stable Condition
Rice Cancels Trip Amid Uncertainty
Video: Future of the Middle East Stable but Serious
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
Sharon critical but stable after surgery
Krispy Kreme reinstates franchisee's license
W.Va. miner's last note: "I just went to sleep" ] Video
NSA chief not concerned by congressional inquiries
New Orleans kicks off post-Katrina Carnival season
Scientists in uphill battle to fight bird flu
Zeta unravels, 2005 hurricane season ends
Poverty and fear dominate life for Iraq's Gypsies
Roche, Glaxo: US OKs new use for osteoporosis drug

AP World News
Doctors Wait to Assess Sharon's Condition
Iraq Violence May Provoke Shiite Backlash
8 Pakistani Troops Slain in Rocket Attack .
At Least 76 Die in Collapse in Mecca.
Suspected Rebels Kill 13 in Sri Lanka
Russia Celebrating Orthodox Christmas
Venezuela to Expand Fuel Discounts to U.S.
Supporters Register Fujimori for Race
Quake Survivors Force Way Onto Choppers
Female Mexican Zapatista Leader Dies at 47
Police Stalled in London Bombings Probe
Study: Congo Humanitarian Crisis the Worst
U.N., OAS Urge Vote in Haiti by Feb. 7
Former Syrian VP Calls for Regime Change
British Pol's Alcoholism Admission Unusual
Syrian Ex-Official Urges Assad Ouster

Military.com
Recent Violence Blamed on Al-Qaida
U.S. Sailor Confesses to Murder in Japan
DOD Adds Air Force Money, Delays Laser
Al-Qaida Touts U.S. Troop Cuts in Iraq
Murtha Says He's not to Blame
Four U.S. Troops Killed by Insurgents

CENTCOM: News Releases
SECURITY BERM UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Department of Defense
Cheney Vows Victory in War on Terrorism - Story Video
General Cites Strides in Anbar Province - Story Video Transcript
MotoMail Links Deployed Marines, Loved Ones - Story

ON THE GROUND
Airmen Tackle Convoy Duty to Move Supplies - Story
Georgia Guard Troops Help Ailing Iraqi Teen - Story
Soldiers, Iraqis Build Berm to Protect Village - Story

IN IRAQ
U.S., Iraqi Crews Share Airspace, Mission
Ellsworth Airmen Provide Security in Iraq
Marine Battalion Landing Team Patrols Hit
Marine Air Delivery Supplies From Above
Rhode Island Senator Visits Tal Afar

IN AFGHANISTAN
Engineers Complete Eastern Afghan Road
U.S. Paratroopers Complete Operation Pizmah

FACE OF DEFENSE
Helmet Protects Soldier from Sniper Fire - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
VFW, Wal-Mart Team Up on Books - Story
Anheuser-Busch Extends Tribute

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Units Prepare for Transfer
Six U.S. Troops Killed
Pace: Bombs Reflect Desperation
Troops Nab Terror Suspects
Iraqis Undeterred by Bombing
Capable Police Vital to Security
Casey: '05 Was 'Monumental' Year
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
U.S. Forces Airdrop Winter Supplies
Army Establishes Justice System
Border Police Open New Facility
Paktika Citizens Welcome Road
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Bush, Former Secretaries Confer
Bush: 2006 to Build on Progress
Cheney: U.S. Resolve Will Continue
USS Ronald Reagan Deploys
CJTF Troops 'Waging Peace'
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
JFCOM Provides Force Sourcing
Technology Aids Recovering Troops
Bush Kicks Off Language Initiative
President Announces Appointments
Pace Encourages Military Service
Navy Secretary Visits Wounded
5th Corps Unit Returning to Iraq
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

Today in History
0754 - Stefanus II arrives in Ponthion
1325 - Afonso IV succeeds Dionysius as king of Portugal
1558 - Calais, last English possession in France, retaken by French under Francois, Duke of Guise
1566 - Antonio Michaele Ghislieri is elected Pope Pius V
1579 - England signs an offensive & defensive alliance with the Netherlands
1598 - Boris Godunov seizes the Russian throne on death of Feodore I
1601 - Robert, Earl of Essex leads revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth
1608 - Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia
1610 - Galileo discovers 1st 3 Jupiter satellites, Io, Europa & Ganymede
1618 - Francis Bacon becomes English lord chancellor
1622 - Germany & Transylvania sign Peace of Nikolsburg
1654 - Fire after heavy storm destroys 2/3 of De Rijp Netherlands, 1 dies
1698 - Russian Czar Peter the Great departs Netherlands to England
1714 - Typewriter patented by Englishman Henry Mill (built years later)
1761 - Battle at Panipat India Afghan army beats Mahratten
1782 - 1st US commercial bank, Bank of North America, opens in Philadelphia
1784 - 1st US seed business established by David Landreth, Philadelphia
1785 - 1st balloon flight across English Channel (Blanchard & Jeffries)
1789 - 1st national (Presidential) election in US
1822 - Liberia colonized by Americans
1830 - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co begins carrying revenue traffic - 1st US Railroad Station (Baltimore MD)
1835 - HMS Beagle anchors off Chonos Archipelago
1861 - Florida troops takeover Fort Marion at St Augustine
1862 - Battle of Manassas Junction, VA; Romney Campaign-Stonewall Jackson march towards Romney WV
1868 - Arkansas constitutional convention meets in Little Rock; Mississippi constitutional convention meets in Jackson
1890 - W.B. Purvis patents fountain pen
1892 - Mine explosion kills 100, Krebs OK-blacks trying to help rescue white survivors, driven away with guns
1896 - Fanny Farmer publishes her 1st cookbook
1911 - 1st airplane bombing experiments with explosives, San Francisco
1913 - William M. Burton patents a process to "crack" petroleum
1914 - 1st steamboat passes through the Panamá Canal
1916 - German troops conquer Fort Vaux at Verdun
1923 - Baltimore Sun warns of Ku Klux Klan
1927 - Commercial transatlantic telephone service inaugurated between New York & London; Harlem Globetrotters play 1st game (Hinckley IL)
1929 - "Buck Rogers", 1st sci-fi comic strip, premieres; "Tarzan", one of the 1st adventure comic strips, 1st appears
1934 - "Flash Gordon" comic strip (by Alex Raymond) debuts
1942 - WWII siege of Bataan starts
1944 - Air Force announces production of 1st US jet fighter, the Bell P-59
1945 - Lord Haw-Haw reports total German victory at Ardennen
1946 - Cambodia becomes autonomous state inside French Union
1948 - US President Truman raises taxes for Marshall-plan
1949 - 1st photo of genes taken at University of Southern California by Pease & Baker
1950 - Mental health wing of Mercy Hospital burns, kills 41 (Davenport IA)
1952 - French Plevin government falls
1953 - President Truman announces development of the hydrogen bomb
1958 - USSR shrinks army to 300,000
1959 - US recognizes Fidel Castro's Cuban government
1962 - Assassination attempt on Indonesian president Sukarno fails
1964 - Bahamas achieves internal self-government & cabinet responsibility
1968 - Surveyor 7 lands on the Moon
1969 - US Congress doubles presidential salary
1972 - Iberian Airlines crashes into 800' peak on island of Ibiza, 104 die; Lewis F. Powell, Jr., becomes a Supreme Court Justice; William Hubbs Rehnquist, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice
1974 - Dutch rations gasoline
1977 - Human Rights Charter '77 established in Prague
1978 - Angola revises its constitution
1979 - Vietnamese forces capture Phnom Penh from Khmer Rouge
1983 - Reagan ends US arms embargo against Guatemala
1985 - Japanese space probe Sakigake launched to Halley's comet
1986 - STS 61-C mission scrubbed at T -9m because of weather problems; US President Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya
1987 - French airplanes harass Libyan positions in Duadi Doum
1989 - British Midland Boeing 737 crashes on Motorway; Akhito becomes emperor of Japan
1990 - Tower Of Pisa closed to the public after leaning too far
1991 - Haiti coup defeated; Soviet paratroopers sent to Baltic Republics
1992 - AT&T releases video-telephone ($1499)
1994 - United Express commuter plane crashes in Ohio, killing 5
1997 - Newt Gingrich, narrowly re-elected speaker of the House

Birthdays
1528 - Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarra/mother of French King Henry IV
1685 - Gerard George Clifford, Dutch director of East India Company
1799 - Daniel Tyler, Union Brigadier General
1800 - Millard Fillmore, 13th US President (1850-53)
1808 - Jacob Ammen, Union Brigadier General
1816 - Stephen Miller, Union Brigadier General
1821 - Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell, Confederate Brigadier General
1824 - James Morrison Hawes, Confederate Brigadier General
1830 - (Samuel) Emerson Opdycke, Union Brevet Major General
1844 - Marie-Bernarde Soubirous (St Bernadette of Lourdes), saint/visionary
1845 - Louis III, last king of Bavaria (1913-18)
1879 - St Bernadette (Marie-Bernarde Soubirous), religious visionary
1883 - Andrew Browne, Irish/British admiral (WWII)
1918 - Alessadro Natta, Italian political leader (Communist Party)
1931 - Mack Mattingly (Senator-GA, 1981-86)
1935 - Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov, cosmonaut (Soyuz 6, 19, 36/35, Apollo-Soyuz)
1941 - Frederick Drew Gregory, Colonel USAF/astronaut (STS 51-B, 33, 44)
1951 - Talgat Amangeldyyevich Musabayev Russian Major/cosmonaut (TM-19, TM-27)
1966 - Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, model/wife of John Kennedy, Jr.

Passings
1285 - Charles I of Anjou king of Naples/brother of King Louis IX, dies at 58
1325 - Dionysius the justified, King of Portugal (1279-1325)
1451 - Amadeus VIII, last anti-pope Felix V (1439-49), dies at 67
1529 - Peter Vischer the Old, German count of Sebaldus
1536 - Catherine of Aragon, 1st wife of England's King Henry VIII
1537 - Alessandro de' Medici. Italian monarch of Florence, assassinated
1598 - Theodorus I (Fedor Ivanovitch), czar of Russia (1584-98), dies at 40
1655 - Innocentius X (Giambattista Pamfili), pope (1644-55), dies at 80
1695 - Mary II Stuart, queen of England, dies at 32
1890 - Augusta Maria L. Katharina, wife of German emperor Wilhelm I, dies at 78
1892 - Tewfik Pasja, viceroy of Egypt, dies at 39
1942 - Henry, Count of Baillet-Latour, president of IOC (1925-42), dies at 63
1944 - J. Verleun Dutch, resistance fighter, executed
1958 - Dr. Petru Groza, Premier of Romania, dies at 74
1961 - Clarice Baright, 1st woman admitted to American Bar Association, dies at 74
1983 - August Cool Belgian, trade union leader, dies at 79
1989 - Hirohito Japan`s emperor (1922-89), dies of duodenal cancer at 87 after 62-year reign (1/2 Million line Tokyo streets)
1994 - Lewis Boddington, aerospace Engineer, dies at 85; Phoumi Vongvichit President of Laos (1986-91), dies
1995 - Viktor Vorobyov Russian General Major, dies in battle
1996 - Karoly Grosz, PM of Hungry (1987-88), dies at 65

Reported: Missing in Action
1966
Callanan, Richard Joseph, USAF (CA); C130B shot down (w/Greenley), KIA, body not recovered

Greenley, Jon Alfred, USAF (ND); C130B shot down (w/Callanan), KIA, body not recovered

1968
Brewer, Lee, US Army; escaped January, 1968

Nelson, Steven N, USMC.; escaped January, 1968

Roha, Michael R., USMC (CA); escaped January, 1968 - deceased, March, 1997

Stone, James M., US Army (FL); KIA, body not recovered

Trujillo, Robert S., US Army (NM)

1969
Welsh, Larry D., US Army (KS)

1970
Hoff, Michael G., USN (FL); A7A shot down

Ochab, Robert, USAF (NY); F4E shot down, KIA, body not recovered