News of Note
Ariel Sharon In Intensive Care
Israeli Prime Minister in critical condition
Doctors Doubt Full Recovery for Sharon

Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraqi Shrine Bombing Kills 41
Iraq Attacks Kills 56
Pace Urges Inclusive Gov't
Militants Attack Fuel Convoy
Video: Mourners Attacked
Bush Upbeat About War

Operation Enduring Freedom
Suicide Bombing in Afghan Town Kills 10
Afghan President Meets Turkish Counterpart

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Cheney Defends Use of Electronic Surveillance
Video: Global Strategy
Britain: Suspected Al-Qaida can be extradited
Families get own room at Trade Center memorial

Supreme Court
ABA rates Alito "well qualified" for high court

Politics
More Abramoff Guilty Pleas

Oddities
Parents leave kids home alone to gamble
Neighborhood pests are quiet but creepy
Cat hikes 70 miles down Jersey Turnpike under SUV
'Flower fairy' returns to Wash. island

Other News of Note
Military Accident Kills Two

Fox News
Olmert Digs In
Sharon's Stroke Causes Mideast Turmoil
Profile: Ehud Olmert
Video: Sharon Back in Operating Room
Video: Power Transferred to Ehud Olmert
Mine Workers Reacted Exactly as They Were Trained To
Survivor Squeezes Wife's Hand
Video: Company Head Talks
Indonesians Search for Landslide Victims
Katrina Tour Sells Out
Stocks to Watch: Accenture
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
Second Turkish teenager dies from bird flu
Confusion adds to tragedy at mine blast
Bus line debuts tour of stricken New Orleans
Falling rocks kill 3 climbers on Mt. Kilimanjaro
Energy expert says crops seen inefficient as biofuel
GM aims for top spot in China at VW's expense
Enron's Lay, Skilling ask judge to move trial
Roche says it stepped up U.S. Tamiflu distribution
Trends and Innovation
Delphi backs European satellite radio company
US stock futures mixed, data in focus
Citigroup placing 31 mln Compass shares -dealers
Fed tools can work if understood
Gates sees IBM not Google as top Microsoft rival
Gates takes wraps off Windows Vista
Body cavity drugs cut ovarian cancer death risk
Stem cell therapy sparks hope in ailing hearts

AP World News
Sharon's Stroke Casts Shadow on Election
French to Create Police Force for Rails
Palestinians Enter Egypt After Border Smash
Venezuelan Coffee Producers Protest Prices
U.S. Embassy in Malaysia Reopens
Japan's PM Defends War Shrine Visits
Group: Third EU Nation May Have CIA Prisons
U.S.: Slain Mexican Was Known Smuggler
Rescuers Recover 15th German Rink Victim

The Seattle Times
World Trade Center restaurant survivors showing their Colors
Reported risks spur new study of ADHD drugs
2 vaccines for rotavirus earn praise in studies
Downtown L.A. getting face lift
Former Steeler turns candidate
Russia-Ukraine gas deal gets mixed reviews
Latest youth violence unnerves France

Chicago Sun-Times
Man sues over Southwest jet crash
Carriage horse, car collide in NYC

Boston Globe: World
Officer in Abu Ghraib is said to be leaving
Journal says it will retract S. Korean researcher's paper
In Pakistan, money short, hope high
Leaked intelligence says Iran seeking nuclear materials

Military.com
Former Secretaries Meet With Bush
Two Marines Killed in Vehicle Crash
Chiefs Examine Combat Tour Lengths
Army, Navy Hit With Last-Minute Cuts

CENTCOM: News Releases
WEAPONS SEIZED, 11 SUSPECTS DETAINED
IRAQI AND MNDCS SOLDIERS SEIZE CACHE

Department of Defense
Capable Iraqi Police Vital to Security - Story | Photos | Video
Bush: New Year to Build on 2005 Progress
Cheney: America's Resolve Will Continue - Story
Casey: Elections Part of 'Monumental' Year - Commentary
Chiefs Continually Examine Tour Lengths - Story

ON THE GROUND
'Combatives' Training Builds Patients' Skills - Story
Airlifters Shoulder Heavy Burdens for Mission

IN IRAQ
Army Veteran Salutes Troops

FACE OF DEFENSE
Marine Travels the World Through Corps - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Airman's Mom Sends Support - Story

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Pace: Troop Morale High
U.S. Troops Kill, Capture Terrorists
U.S., Coalition Forces Detain 15
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
Army Establishes Justice System
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
Guard Helps Rescue Flood Victims
Guard Helps Battle Wildfires
Personnel System Postponed
'Radar Scope' to Aid Urban Ops
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Army 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
1349 - Margaretha of Bavaria names her son Willem V Earl of Holland/Zealand
1438 - Pope Eugenius IV deallocated council of Basel to Ferrara
1477 - Battle at Nancy, Burgundy vs Switzerland, 7000+ killed
1500 - Duke Ludovico Sforza's troops reconquer Milan
1531 - Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry
1554 - Great fire in Eindhoven, Netherlands
1593 - William Louis of Nassau becomes Governor/Viceroy of Drenthe
1638 - Petition in Recife Brazil leads to closing of their 2 synagogues
1675 - Battle at Turkheim (Colmar) French army beats Brandenburg
1709 - Sudden extreme cold kills 1000s of Europeans
1717 - Prussian King Frederik Willem I buys conscript for nobles
1719 - England/Hannover/Saxony-Poland/Austria sign anti-Prussian/Russian pact
1757 - Failed assassination attempt on French king Louis XV by Damiens
1776 - Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution
1781 - British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond VA
1804 - Ohio legislature passes 1st laws restricting free blacks movement
1809 - Treaty of Dardanelles concluded between Britain & France
1822 - Central America proclaims annexation to Mexican Empire
1825 - Alexandre Dumas fights his 1st duel
1834 - Kiowa Indians record this as the night the stars fell
1836 - Davy Crockett arrives in Texas -- just in time for the Alamo
1841 - James Clark Ross (UK) is 1st to enter pack ice near Ross Ice Shelf
1854 - Steamship San Francisco wrecked-300 die
1859 - 1st steamboat sails, Red River
1861 - Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines at Mobile Bay; 250 Federal troops are sent from New York to Fort Sumter
1875 - President Grant sends federal troops to Vicksburg MS
1888 - Dutch Heidemaatschappij established
1892 - 1st successful auroral photograph made
1895 - French Captain Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, publicly stripped of his rank; later declared innocent
1896 - German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen's discovers x-rays
1903 - San Francisco-Hawaii telegraph cable opens for public use
1905 - Charles Perrine announces discovery of Jupiter's 7th satellite, Elara; National Association of Audubon Society incorporates
1909 - Colombia recognizes Panamá's independence
1911 - Portuguese expel Jesuits
1916 - Austria-Hungary offensive against Montenegro
1918 - British premier Lloyd George demand for unified peace
1919 - National Socialist Party (Nazi) forms as German Farmers Party; Spartacus uprising in Berlin state of siege
1925 - Nellie Taylor Ross became Governor of Wyoming, 1st woman governor in USA; Under Polish control, Danzig establishes Port Gdansk post office
1929 - Coup by King Alexander in South Slavia
1930 - Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire"
1933 - Work on Golden Gate Bridge begins, on Marin County side
1937 - Only unicameral state legislature in US opens 1st session (Nebraska)
1940 - FCC hears 1st transmission of FM radio with clear, static-free signal; Finnish offensive at Suomossalmi against Russia
1941 - British/Australian troops conquer Bardia Lybia
1942 - 55 German tanks reach North-Africa
1943 - William H. Hastie, civilian aide to secretary of war, resigns to protest segregation in armed forces
1945 - Pepe LePew debuts in Warner Bros cartoon "Odor-able Kitty"; Surprise attack on Liese-Aktion-office on Marnix St, Amsterdam;
1949 - President Harry S Truman labels his administration the "Fair Deal"; General Spoor orders cease-fire on Sumatra
1952 - Flying Enterprise sinks
1953 - Passenger ships Willem Ruys & Orange collide in the Red Sea
1957 - Eisenhower asks Congress to send troops to the Mid East
1959 - "Bozo the Clown" live children's show premieres on TV
1961 - US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
1964 - Pope Paul VI visits Jordan & Israel
1968 - Dr. Benjamin Spock indicted for conspiring to violate draft law; Dubcek succeeds President Novotny as party leader of Czechoslovakia
1969 - USSR Venera 5 launched for 1st successful planet landing (Venus)
1970 - 23,000 Belgian mine workers strike
1971 - Harlem Globetrotters lose 100-99 to New Jersey Reds, ending 2,495-game win streak
1972 - President Nixon signs a bill for NASA to begin research on manned shuttle; West-Pakistani sheik Mujib ur-Rahman freed
1973 - Mali & Niger break diplomatic relations with Israel; Netherlands recognizes German Democratic Republic
1975 - 14 die when British freighter "Lake Illawarra" rams pylon bridge between Derwent & Hobart, Tasmania & ship sinks; Salyut 4 with crew of 2 is launched for 30 days
1976 - "MacNeil-Lehrer Report" premieres on PBS; Cambodia is renamed "Democratic Kampuchea"
1977 - Kenya President Jomo Kenyatta disbands parliament
1981 - British police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, a truck driver later convicted of "Yorkshire Ripper" murders of 13 women
1982 - Arkansas judge rules against obligatory teaching of creation
1988 - Austrian President Waldheim's war record investigated
1989 - 2 French TV newsmen arrested for trying to plant fake bombs on three airlines at JFK airport in security test
1991 - Kevin Bradshaw of US International scores NCAA Division 1 record 72 points
1995 - Lockheed C-140 Jetstar crashes at Isfahan Persia, 18 killed
1998 - Vandals decapitate Copenhagen's Little Mermaid

Birthdays
1759 - Jacques Cathelineau, French royalist/army leader
1779 - Stephen Decatur, US Naval hero (War of 1812); Zebulon Montgomery Pike, explorer (Pike's Peak)
1813 - Thomas Neville Waul, Confederate Brigadier General
1822 - Joseph Brevard Kershaw, Confederate Major General
1828 - August Valentine Kautz, Union Brevet Major General
1840 - John Doby Kennedy, Confederate Brigadier General
1848 - Khristo Botev, hero of Bulgarian revolt against Turkey, poet
1855 - King Camp Gillette, inventor (safety razor)
1859 - DeWitt B. Brace, inventor (spectrophotometer)
1874 - Joseph Erlanger, doctor (shock therapy-Nobel 1944)
1876 - Konrad Adenauer, chancellor of Germany (1949)
1896 - Hendrik Algra, Dutch MP (ARP)
1900 - Yves Tanguy, French/US sailor/surrealistic painter
1901 - H.L. Honore comte d'Estienne d'Orves, French officer/resistance fighter; Mario Scelba, premier Italy (1954-55)
1912 - Frank Pace, Jr., US Secretary of Army (1950-53)
1921 - Jean d'Aviano, grand duke of Luxembourg (1964- )
1923 - Robert L. Bernstein, publisher (Random House)
1928 - Walter Fritz Mondale (Senator-MN)/42nd US Vice President (1977-81); Zulfikar Ali Khan Bhutto President/Premier (Pakistan)
1930 - Edward Galven Givens Jr Quanah TX, Major USAF/astronaut
1932 - Raïsa Maximovna Titorenko Gorbachev, Russia's First Lady (1982-1991)
1935 - Nancy L. Johnson (Representative-CT, 1983- )
1938 - Juan Carlos I, King of Spain (1975- )
1947 - Michael DeWine (Representative-OH, 1983- )

Passings
1066 - King Edward the Confessor of England
1387 - Pedro IV king of Aragon/conqueror of Sicily, dies at 67
1425 - John of Bavaria/Bayern liege of Holland/Zealand/Dordrecht, poisoned
1477 - Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy/writer, dies at 43
1589 - Catherine de' Medici Queen mother of France, dies at 69
1592 - Willem II, Duke of Gulik/Kleef/Gelre, dies at about 75
1762 - Elisabeth Petrovna tsarina of Russia (1741-62), dies at 52
1796 - Samuel Huntington, US judge (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 64
1827 - Frederick of York English duke/bishop/General , dies at 63
1858 - Johann Radetzky von Radetz Austrian earl/field marshal, dies at 91
1860 - St John Nepomucene Neumann 1st male US saint, dies
1891 - Guillaume L. Baud, Dutch minister of Colonies (1848-49), dies at 89
1922 - Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer (Endurance), dies aboard his ship at 47
1933 - Calvin Coolidge 30th President (1923-29), dies in Northampton MA at 60
1942 - Yves Paringaux French chief of staff, murdered
1943 - George Washington Carver, famous Black American agricultural scientist, dies at 81
1952 - Victor Alexander John Hope, viceroy of India (1936-43), dies at 64
1960 - Pavel P. Parenago Russia, cosmonaut, dies at 53
1970 - Joseph A. Yablonski, candidate for United Mine Workers president, murdered; Max Born German/British physicist (Nobel 1954), dies at 87
1973 - Cornelis van Dis, Dutch MP (SGP), dies at 79
1981 - Harold C. Urey, US chemist (Deuterium, Nobel 1934), dies at 87
1991 - Vasko Popa Serbian, WWII-partisan/poet (Sporedno Nebo), dies at 68
1993 - George L. George, Russian/US journalist/director/producer, dies at 85; Henk Knol, Suriname MP (PvdA), dies at 61; 1993 Klaas Wiersma Dutch Secretary of Justice (VVD), dies; Nyamuisi Muvingi Zaire minister of Culture, murdered
1994 - Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill (D-MA)/Speaker of House (1977-86), dies at 81
1995 - Yahya Ayyash, PLO bomb maker, booby trapped cellular phone at 28
1998 - Sonny Bono (Representative-CA)/singer (Sonny & Cher), dies skiing at 62

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Stratton, Richard A., USN (MA); A4E shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998

1968
The following US Army personnel reported MIA when their UH1C was shot down:
Anton, Francis G. (NJ); pilot, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a CW4 - alive and well as of 1998

Lewis, Robert III (TX); crewchief, released by PRG - alive as of 1998

Pfister, James F., Jr. (IN); doorgunner, released by PRG March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

The following US Army personnel reported MIA when their UH1D was shot down:
Brigs, Ernest F. (TX); crew chief

Gallagher, John T., US Army SF (CT); passenger

Hamilton, Dennis C. (IA); aircraft commander

Schultz, Sheldon D. (PA); pilot

Williamson, James D. (WA); crewman

Also reported MIA in 1968:
Foulks, Ralph E., Jr., USN (CA); A4E disappeared on bombing mission - remains ID'd January, 1993

Fantle, Samuel, USAF (SD); F105F shot down (w/Hartney), Killed in Captivity, remains returned by SRV September, 1977

Hartney, James C. USAF (FL); F105F shot down (w/Fantle), remains returned, ID'd November, 1989

Jones, William E., USAF (TX); F105D shot down, remains recovered August, 1985

Schweitzer, Robert J., USN (PA); A4E shot down released by DRV March, 1973 - deceased (auto accident in 1974

1970
Burnes, Robert Wayne, USMC (OK); F4B crashed (backseater, w/Robinson), KIA, body not recovered

Robinson, Larry Warren, USMC (NE); F4B crashed (pilot, w/Burnes); KIA, body not recovered

1971
Cramer, Donald M., US Army (MO); AH1G disappeared on training mission