-- U.S. Army Ranger Handbook

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Pol: Shiites won't OK changes to constitution
Shiites, Sunnis celebrate feast, want peace
Bush to critics: Don't 'comfort our adversaries'

Operation Enduring Freedom
Afghan leader's remarks trigger more threats

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Guantanamo prisoner rejects US war tribunal Video

Military News
Navy Jet Disappears

Supreme Court
Dems Slam Alito's Alumni Group
Sparks Fly on Third Day of Alito Confirmation
Videos: Fiery Exchange Kennedy Brownback

Politics
Bush: NSA Wiretapping Hearings Good for Democracy

Oddities
When good things happen to good cows..
Naked News breaking in Japan market
Green Bay man accused of theft, lack of imagination

Fox News
Iran May Face U.N. Over Nuke Program
Cheney: Iran Sanctions Possible
Iran Pops Seals on Nuke Plants
Ex-Teacher Nabbed in Mexico with Student, 14
New Orleans Plans Unveiled
Volcano Erupts in Alaska
Stocks to Watch: Johnson & Johnson, Guidant
Dow Rallies Beyond 11,000
Super Bowl's Sin City Ready
7-Year-Old Leads Car Chase
Bush Attacker Gets Life
Forecast: Gas Prices to Rise
Americans OK With Obesity
Miners Tried to Escape
Sharon Coming Off Sedatives
No Business With Pat Robertson
Colo. Fire Forces Evacuation
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
EU powers to set stage for U.N. sanctions on Iran
FTC chief concerned about drug patent deals
Video: No Pension Crisis Yet?
Fellow attorney general defends Spitzer
3Com CEO to retire
Fed must take asset prices into account on policy
Symbol unveils rugged handheld for Nextel network
Solar power shares gain ahead of Calif. energy vote
Stocks rise on Apple; Nasdaq up for 7th day
Airline stocks take biggest tumble in 11 weeks
Mamma.com not aware of reason for jump
Mine blast may have been in sealed-off area
Bush tries to shape Iraq debate in election year
World's biggest polluters create clean energy fund
Hubble shows Orion Nebula's "bustling cauldron"
Iraqi widows feel lost in land that cannot provide
Berlin relives assassination of top Nazi in Prague
Bird flu pandemic threat growing but stoppable: WHO

AP World News
U.S. Wants Quick Resumption of Nuke Talks
Iraq Pol Warns Against Constitution Change
Doctors Aim to Wean Sharon From Sedatives
Iran Defiant As Sanctions From West Likely
Korean Scientist Accepts Blame for Fraud
North Korean Leader's Whereabouts Unknown
Canada Election Campaign Growing Nasty
Housing Shortage Grows Tense in Caracas
Bodies of 24 Haitians Found in Dominican
Congo Voters Approve New Constitution
Morales Extends Conciliatory Hand to U.S.
Israel Suspends Contact With Pat Robertson
Hamas Capitalizing on Voter Frustration
Gitmo Detainee Says Will Boycott Hearing
Rabbi's Son Nabs Slasher in Synagogue
Quake Survivors Celebrate Muslim Holiday
Pinochet Stripped of Legal Immunity
Proposed Condom Law Irks Colombia Priests

The Seattle Times
Powerful Shiite warns Sunnis not to tamper with constitution
Pakistan's quake survivors mark Muslim holiday with simplicity, prayer
Face-transplant recipient said to be doing well
Mount Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupts
Florida standoff ends when police shoot suspect
Ukraine's PM, Cabinet fired

Chicago Sun-Times
Blair: I feel 'deep dismay' over nuclear move

Military.com
Navy T-39 Sabreliner Goes Missing
Blair Says West Likely to Sanction Iran
DoD Plans for Life After the QDR
Pentagon Releases Iraq Crash Details

CENTCOM: News Releases
TERRORISTS BLOW THEMSELVES UP, GUNMEN LOSE BATTLES
NEW EQUIPMENT ALLOWS AFGHAN NATIONAL ARMY TO COMMUNICATE BETTER, FASTER
Department of Defense
Democratic Iraq Will Help Defeat Terror - Story Remarks
Casey Awaits Results of Info Ops Review - Story
Khalalzid Views Iraqi Health Care Improvements - Story
Changing Face of War Impacts Reserves - Story

ON THE GROUND
Horn of Africa Task Force Sponsors Clinic - Story
Iraqi Forces Commemorate Armed Forces Day - Story
New Primary School Will Help Mold Iraq's Future - Story

IN IRAQ
Engineer's Efforts Bring Hope to Iraqi Kids
New Equipment Helps Wounded Soldiers in Iraq
Vigiliant Marines Secure Roads, Watch for IEDs
Civil Affairs Effort Benefits Young Soccer Players
Artillery Troops Adapt to Infantry Role in Iraq

IN AFGHANISTAN
Better Equipment Connects Afghan Troops
U.S. Soldiers, Afghans Complete Road Project
U.S. Soldiers Train Afghans to Run Health Clinic

FACE OF DEFENSE
Airman Saves Career through Yoga - Story

HOMECOMING
USS Chosin Returns to Pearl Harbor Photos

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Celebs Rally for Calendar Poster - Story
Calling Cards Provide Sports Info
Convention Focuses on Families

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Soldiers Find Bodies, Weapons
Iraqi Soldiers Capture Terrorists
Iraqi Police Training on Fast Track
Bush Outlines 2006 Success Plan
Iraqi Unit Takes Over FOB Bernstein
U.S., Iraqi Forces Kill Terrorists
Four Civilians Died in Copter Crash
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
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
Security Force Members Demobilize
Afghan Troops Aid Bomb Victims
Troops Learn Vehicle Maintenance
U.S. Medics Treat Wounded Afghans
U.S. Forces Airdrop Supplies
Army Establishes Justice System
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Missile Defense Moves Forward
Lawyers Address Hearings Issues
Detained Terrorists Out of Action
Gitmo Proceedings to Resume
Coalition Commanders Confer
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Army Improves Body Armor
Abell Talks Recruiting, Retention
Program Aids Army Recruiting
Budget Increases Pay, Benefits
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Marine 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

Today in History
1493 - Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily
1552 - Dutch west coast hit by heavy storm, 100s killed
1598 - Pope Clement VIII seizes duchy of Ferrara on death of Alfonso
1684 - French king Louis XIV marries Madame Maintenon
1701 - Parts of the Netherlands (Frisia & Groningen) adopt the Gregorian calendar (others 1 year later)
1773 - 1st US public museum established (Charleston SC)
1777 - Mission Santa Clara de Asis founded in California
1806 - French evacuate Vienna
1807 - Gunpowder-ship explodes in Leiden Netherlands, 150 die
1809 - British take Cayenne (French Guiana) from the French (until 1814)
1816 - France decrees Bonaparte family excluded from the country forever
1836 - Battle of Wetumka, FL; HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reach Sydney Australia
1839 - Anthracite coal 1st used to smelt iron, Mauch Chunk PA
1861 - FL state troops demand surrender of Fort Pickens
1863 - President Davis delivers his "State of the Confederacy" address
1865 - Union fleet bombs Fort Fisher, NC
1879 - British Zulu War begins - Lieutenant-General Chelmsford invades Zululand
1896 - 1st X-ray photo in US (Dr Henry Smith, Davidson NC)
1900 - Freeland Colony founded in US
1903 - Rhodes Opera House burns in Boyertown, PA, killing 170; Harry Houdini performs at Rembrandt theater, Amsterdam
1904 - Southwest-Africa uprising under Samuel Maherero against German garrison
1907 - Britain grants responsible government to former colony of Transvaal
1915 - House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote
1916 - Britain proclaims Gilbert & Ellice Island colony in the Pacific
1932 - Hattie W. Caraway elected 1st woman senator (AR)
1933 - Uprising of Guardia Civil in Spain, 25 die; US Congress recognize independence of the Philippines
1937 - Plow for laying submarine cable patented
1942 - National War Labor Board created; British troops reconquer Sollum; Dutch troops on Tarakan surrender
1943 - Frankfurters replaced by Victory Sausages (mix of meat & soy meal)
1944 - Churchill & de Gaulle begin a 2-day wartime conference in Marrakesh; Failed resistance raid on distribution office of Borgerstraat, Amsterdam
1945 - German forces in Belgium retreat in Battle of the Bulge; US Task Force 38 destroys 41 Japanese ships in Battle of South China Sea
1948 - Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi begins his final fast; 1st Supermarket in UK opens
1949 - Dutch court affirms death sentence against SS chief Hanns Rauter
1950 - Swedish tanker rams British submarine Truculent in Thames, 64 die; USSR re-introduces death penalty for treason, espionage & sabotage
1952 - University of Tennessee admits its 1st black student
1953 - 9 "Jewish" physicians arrested for "terrorist activities" in Moscow
1954 - Austria's worst avalanche-kills 200; 9 hours later 2nd one-kills 115; Queen Elizabeth II opens New Zealand parliament
1961 - UN genocide pact goes into effect
1964 - Revolution overthrows Sultan of Zanzibar, 1 month after independence
1966 - "Batman" with Adam West & Burt Ward premieres on ABC TV; LBJ says US should stay in S Vietnam until communist aggression ends
1967 - Louisville KY, draft board refuses exemption for boxer Muhammad Ali
1970 - Biafran War ends, Biafra surrenders to Nigeria; Boeing 747 makes its maiden voyage
1971 - Fed grand jury indicts Reverand Philip Berrigan & 5 others, including a nun & 2 priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger; "All in the Family" premieres on CBS featuring 1st toilet flush on TV; Congressional Black Caucus organizes
1974 - Libya & Tunisia announce they are merging as "Islamic Arab Republic"
1975 - Chrysler Corp offers 1st car rebates
1976 - UN Security Council votes 11-1 to seat Palestine Liberation Organization
1977 - Anti-French demonstrations takes place in Israel after Paris released Abu Daoud, involved in the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes
1979 - Los Angeles's Hillside Strangler, Kenneth Bianchi, arrested in Bellingham; Record blizzard strikes the midwest, killing over 100
1986 - 24th space shuttle (61-C) mission-Columbia 7-launched
1987 - Britain's Prince Edward resigns from his Royal Marines training
1989 - 6 claim to survive in rubble, 35 days after Armenian quake (hoax); Idi Amin expelled from Zaire
1990 - Civil Rights activist Reverand Al Sharpton is stabbed in Bensonhurst, NY; Romania bans Communist party (1st Warsaw Pact member to do so)
1991 - US Congress gives George Bush authority to wage war against Iraq
1992 - Algeria's General elections canceled after strong gains by Islamic Salvation Front in the 1st round
1994 - Malcolm X's daughter arrested for plotting Louis Farrakhan's murder
1995 - Major earthquake kills 5,092 in Kobe, Japan; Murder trial against OJ Simpson, begins in Los Angeles; Pope John Paul II begins visit to Southeast Asia
1996 - Russian troops arrive in Bosnia (joint operation with US)
1997 - HAL becomes operational (2001: A Space Odyssey); this date was given as January 12, 1992 on screen, but 1997 is the date used in both the novel and screenplay; Space Shuttle STS 81 (Atlantis 18), launches into space

Birthdays
1483 - Hendrik van Nassau-Dillenburg en Dietz, Governor/Viceroy of Holland
1492 - Andrea Alicati, Italian author
1562 - Charles Emanuel I, the great, Duke of Savoy
1580 - Jean Baptiste van Helmont, Belgian chemist, (found boiling point temperature)
1588 - John Winthrop, 1st Governor (Massachusetts Bay Colony)
1638 - Ernst R. Tarhemberg, Austrian field marshal (Turkish Wars)
1737 - John Hancock, patriot (1st to sign Declaration of Independence)
1749 - Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, Austrian earl/prince/diplomat
1751 - Ferdinand I, King of Sicily & Naples
1792 - Robert Patterson, Union Major General
1810 - Ferdinand II king of Sicily
1814 - Jones Mitchell Withers, Confederate Major General
1819 - Zealous Bates Tower, Union Brevet Major General
1825 - Joseph Robert Davis, Confederate Brigadier General
1826 - Charles Cruft, Union Brevet Major General
1832 - Richard Waterhouse, Jr., Confederate Brigadier General
1852 - Joseph J.C. Joffre, French field marshal (Indo-China, Marne)
1871 - Paul Guthnick, German astronomer
1893 - Hermann Goering, Reichsmarshall/propoganda minister (Nazi Germany)
1899 - Paul H. Müller, Swiss chemist (DDT-Nobel 1948)
1902 - Ibn Abdul-Aziz Saud, King (Saudi Arabia); Simon H. Spoor, Dutch General/Intelligence Officer for General MacArthur
1903 - Igor V. Kurtshatov, Russian nuclear physicist (1st Russian nuclear bomb)
1906 - Henny Youngman England, comedian (Take my wife please...)
1908 - Ben Seijes Dutch historian (WWII)
1914 - Edqard John Gurney, politician
1915 - Ernest Armstrong, miner/politician
1915 - Frank Annunzio (Representative-IL); Joseph Roy George Ralston pilot
1916 - A. P(ieter) W. Botha, President of South Africa
1920 - James Farmer Marshall, civil rights leader
1941 - Jaime B. Fuster (Representative-PR, 1985-92)
1942 - Vladimir Sergeyevich Kozelsky, cosmonaut (Soyuz 24 backup)
1950 - Bob McEwen (Representative-OH)
1951 - Rush Hudson Limbaugh III, conservative radio & television host

Passings
0689 - Benedict Biscop, English saint
1049 - Abu Sa'id ibn Aboa al-Chair, Persian mystic, dies at 81
1167 - Aelred of Hexham/Rievaulx, English abbot/saint, dies at about 56
1517 - Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Spanish conquistador/admiral, beheaded at 41
1519 - Maximilian I of Hapsburg, German kaiser
1759 - Anne of Hannover, English princess, dies at 49
1928 - Ruth Snyder, 1st woman to die in electric chair
1943 - Jan R.T. Campert, Dutch resistance fighter/poet (18 Dead), dies at 40
1970 - Blanche Stuart Scott, US pilot, dies at 84
1978 - Nancy Spungen, stabbed to death by boyfriend Sid Vicious
1992 - Harry van Doorn, Dutch MP (KVP/KRO-chairman/PPR/CRM), dies at 76
1996 - Peggy Braithwaite, lighthouse-keeper, dies at 76
1997 - Charles Huggins, surgeon/medical researcher, dies at 95

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Kemp, Clayton Charles, Jr., USN (CO); SH3A shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Reinecke, Wayne Conrad, USN (OR); SH3A shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1968
Cohron, James D., US Army SF (IA)

Port, William D., US Army (PA); DIC November, 1968 - remains returned August, 1985