Quote of the Day
"He is ill clothed that is bare of virtue."
-- Benjamin Franklin (born this day in 1706)

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraq Chopper Crash Kills Two
Saddam Judge May Be Replaced by Deputy
Iraq: 99 Percent of Dec. 15 Vote Was Valid

Operation Enduring Freedom
Bomb Kills 20 in Afghanistan
Afghanistan violence up as security handoff in south nears

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Spy agency post-9/11 data sidetracked FBI: NY Times Video
Pakistani Ruling Party Demands U.S. Apology

Military News
Vietnam-era Marine deserter, 55, arrested in Texas
U.S. Fighter Jet Crashes, Pilot Rescued
Icebreaker's last season marred by lack of ice

Politics
Gore calls for probe into domestic spying
(I wonder if he'll also be calling for a probe of warrantless searches during the Clinton administration - nah, probably not)
N.O. Mayor: Storms Are a Sign 'God is Mad At America'

Supreme Court
Committee Alito Vote Jan. 24

U.N. Scandals
U.N. Suspends Staffers in Procurement Probe

Oddities
Two patients in surgical slip-up
Fire razes Hemingway's bar
Elephants kill Bangladeshi villager, attacks rise
Cannibal says victim wanted to be eaten

Other News of Note
Major Security Council Members Agree on Iran
Iranian Navy Vessel Kills Iraqi Sailor, Captures Nine
Suicide bomber film wins honor at Golden Globes

Fox News
Former President Ford in Hospital With Pneumonia
Third Teen Suspect Arrested in Florida Homeless Beatings
Murder Suspects Escape Jail
Couple With Explosives Takes Lawyer Hostage in Georgia
First Lady Attends Liberian President's Inauguration
Stocks to Watch: Intel, IBM
Airplane Mechanic Sucked Into Jet Engine, Killed
Report: Sharon Opens Eyes
State Executes Oldest Condemned Inmate
Box Office Gets 'Hoodwinked'
'Brokeback' Rides Away With Globes
List of Winners Photos
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
Russia, China want talks not sanctions on Iran
Africa follows drought with floods
Saudi mediates to ease Lebanon-Syria tensions: FT
More bird flu deaths as experts meet on crisis Video
McCain says Republicans 'lost our way' on spending
Cheney has talks with Mubarak
NASA counts down to Pluto probe launch
Like Saddam, bunker brought low by Iraqis not bombs
EU tipped to get biogenerics this year, U.S. 2009
Asia stocks fall sharply
Airbus beats Boeing with 1,055 plane orders
China, US to boost 2006 world oil demand growth-IEA
Delphi CEO says GM helping in union talks
Germany, Spain approve Allergan-Inamed deal
Branson clears path for NTL, Virgin Mobile deal
EU executive seeks end to logjam over patent rules
Corporate profits could lift stocks
Takeover battle for Dofasco nears end: analysts
M&A buzz, L'Oreal update spur on European shares
Russia's LUKOIL shares hit all-time high

AP World News
Israel, Hamas Rewrite Rules of Engagement
Cambodia Frees Four Government Critics
U.N. Suspends Quake Relief Flights 2nd Day
Polls: Canadian Conservatives Gain Ground
Sharon Hears Grandson's Voice, Opens Eyes
U.S. Mission in Cuba Runs Rights Messages
Rwandan Rebel Gets 15 Years for 8 Killings
Israelis Restore Order After Hebron Riots
Pope Gunman Said Unfit for the Military
Chile's President-Elect Vows to Listen
Sirleaf Vows End to Liberia's Violent Past

The Seattle Times
NASA to blast off today on 9-year, 3 billion-mile trip to mysterious Pluto
New Horizons: NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission
Lesson No. 1 in the ant world: The food's this way
Preachers, politicians urge Americans to continue pursuit of King's dream
Convicted sex offender tries to pass as British royalty
Plant could hold secret for new pain medication
2 million more join Medicare drug plan
Oklahomans thirsty for relief
Government "delisting" grizzly bears near 2 parks
Paintings stolen by Nazis belong to heir, court says
Where's Kim? Tour by VIP is the China's worst-kept secret

Chicago Sun-Times
Ben Franklin, The First American
90-year-old woman fights thief as con ring hits elderly
U.S. OKs $57 million for Gary airport expansion
Cops: Thief beaten with pool cues, tree branches
Discreet public urination not so bad, says St. Louis pol
Suspect wants county to pay for $60,000 operation

Boston Globe: World
Several injured after police, protesters clash in China
Hamas campaign throws politics into confusion

Military.com
New Amputee Center to Open

Department of Defense
Apache Helicopter Crash Kills Two in Iraq - Story
Detainees Released; Bombs, Weapons Found - Story
U.S. General Cites Iraq Progress, Salutes Troops

ON THE GROUND
Iraqi Soldiers, U.S. Marines Find 11 Arms Caches - Story
U.S. Medics Treat Bomb Victims in Afghanistan - Story

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Officials Report Marine Deaths
Combat Operations Continue
Soldiers Detain Suspected Terrorists
U.S. Army Pilots Die in 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
Afghanistan 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
Abell Talks Recruiting, Retention
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
1501 - Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna
1562 - Edict of St Germain recognizes the Huguenots in France
1595 - French king Henri IV declares war on Spain
1601 - France gains Bresse, Bugey, Valromey & Gex in treaty with Spain
1656 - Brandenburg & Sweden sign Treaty of Königsberg
1718 - Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland; kills 53
1746 - Battle of Falkirk, Scotland-Prince Charles Edward Stuart defeated by Scots
1757 - Germany declares war on Prussia
1773 - Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle (66º 33' S)
1775 - 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests, Kalisk, Poland
1779 - Captain Cook's last notation in ship's log
1821 - México permits Moses Austin & 300 US families to settle in Texas
1827 - Duke of Wellington appointed British supreme commander
1832 - Johannes van den Bosch appointed Governor-General of Dutch-Indies
1852 - British recognize independence of Transvaal (in South Africa)
1861 - Flush toilet (with separate water tank and a pull chain) patented by Mr Thomas Crapper
1862 - USS Lexington begins bombardment of Fort Henry, TN (thru Jan 22nd)
1863 - Skirmish near Newtown VA
1864 - General Longstreet's command ends heavy fighting at Dandridge TN
1874 - Armed Democrats seize Texas government, ending Radical Reconstruction
1885 - British beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan
1893 - Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic
1895 - French President Casimir-Perier resigns; Félix Faure installed as President of France
1899 - US takes possession of Wake Island in Pacific
1911 - Failed assassination attempt on premier Briand in French Assembly
1912 - English explorer Robert Falcon Scott & his expedition reach the South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there 1 month before
1913 - Raymond Poincaré elected President of France
1915 - Russia occupies Bukovina & Western Ukraine
1917 - US pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands
1920 - Paul Deschanel elected President of France
1928 - 1st fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented
1929 - Popeye makes 1st appearance, in comic strip "Thimble Theatre"
1944 - Corvette Violet sinks U-641 in Atlantic Ocean
1945 - Liberation of Warsaw by Soviet troops (end of Nazi occupation); Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation; Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, arrested by secret police in Hungary
1946 - United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting
1948 - Netherlands & Indonesia agree to a cease fire; Trial of 11 US Communist party members begins in New York City NY
1950 - 11 men rob Brink's office in Boston of $1.2M cash & $1.5M securities
1951 - China refuses cease-fire in Korea
1954 - Jacques Cousteau's 1st network telecast airs on "Omnibus" (CBS)
1955 - Submarine USS Nautilus begins 1st nuclear-powered test voyage
1961 - Eisenhower allegedly orders the assassination of Congo's Lumumba
1962 - NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to 40,690 m
1963 - Joe Walker takes X-15 to altitude of 82 km
1966 - Martin Luther King, Jr., opens campaign in Chicago; USAF B-52 carrying 4 unarmed hydrogen bombs crashes on Spanish coast at Palomares, killing 7
1968 - Soyuz 4 & 5 completed 1st docking of 2 manned spacecraft
1973 - New Philippine constitution names Marcos president for life; City of Amsterdam decides to support Hanoi
1976 - Hermes rocket launched by European Space Agency
1980 - NASA launches Fltsatcom-3
1981 - Philippino President Marcos ends state of siege
1983 - Nigeria expels 2 million illegal aliens, mostly Ghanaians; Alabama Governor George C Wallace, becomes governor for record 4th time
1984 - Supreme Court rules (5-4) private use of home VCRs to tape TV programs for later viewing does not violate federal copyright laws
1987 - President Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran
1988 - Leslie Manigay elected President of Haiti
1989 - Gunman opens fire in California schoolyard; 5 students slain, 30 wounded; Victoria Murden & Shirley Metz are 1st women to reach South Pole overland (on skis)
1991 - Iraq fires 8 SCUD missiles on Israel - 1st US pilot shot down in Operation Desert Storm (Jeffrey Zahn)
1994 - 6.6 Earthquake hits Los Angeles killing 60, $30B in damage
1995 - 7.2 earthquake destroys Kobe Japan (5,372 die)
1998 - President Clinton faces sexual harassment charges from Paula Jones

Birthdays
1342 - Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy
1463 - Frederick III the Wise, elector of Saxony (1486-25), protector Luther
1504 - Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri), saint, pope (1566-72)
1612 - Thomas Fairfax, Lord Fairfax, English Parliamentary General
1706 - Benjamin Franklin, kite flyer/statesman/wit/inventor, Declaration of Independence signer
1732 - Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last king of Poland (1764-95)
1759 - Paul Cuffe, merchant/shipbuilder/Black nationalist
1806 - James Madison Randolph (Jefferson's grandson), 1st born in White House
1818 - Sir Antoine Dorion, joint premier of Canada (1858, 1863-64)
1828 - Lewis Addison Grant, Union Brevet Major General
1853 - Alva Vanderbilt Beaumont, women's rights advocate & activist
1863 - David Lloyd George, British PM (1916-22)
1880 - Mack Sennett, movie creator (Keystone Kops)
1886 - Glenn Luther Martin, aviator (Collier Trophy-1933)
1891 - Norman "Squab" Read, US aviator who lived to be 101
1899 - Al Capone, gangster (Chicago bootlegging)
1902 - Geoffrey W. Lloyd, British minister of Brandstoffen/Energy (1951-55)
1905 - Franz Schmid, ascended northside of Matterhorn (1931)
1910 - Edith S. Green (Representative-OR)
1911 - Luis W. Alvarez, US physicist (sub atomic, Nobel 1968)
1917 - Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), Indian film star, politician
1918 - Joseph Walker Barr banker/politician
1922 - Luis Echeverría Alvarez, President of Mexico
1930 - Thomas P. Stafford, astronaut (Gemini 6, Gemini 9, Apollo 10); Bill Benyon, English large landowner/Conservative Lower house leader
1931 - James Earl Jones, actor (Darth Vader - Star Wars); L. Douglas Wilder (Gov-VA)
1933 - Aga Khan, religious leader (Muslim)
1934 - Shari Lewis, ventriloquist/puppeteer (Lamb Chop)
1939 - Maury Povich, TV host (Current Affair, Maury)/Mr Connie Chung
1942 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), heavyweight champ boxer (1964-7 74-8)
1943 - Daniel Charles Brandenstein, astronaut (STS 8, 51-G, 32, 49)
1949 - Andy Kaufman, comedian/actor (Latka Gravas-Taxi)
1954 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., attorney (Natural Resources Defense Council)

Passings
0395 - Theodosius I the Great, Spanish emperor of Rome, dies at 49
1119 - Boudouin VII, Hapkin count of Flanders
1661 - Andres Malong, Philippines rebel leader, executed
1874 - Chang & Eng Bunker, Chinese/Thai Siamese twins, die at 62
1893 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th US President (1877-81), dies in Fremont OH at 70
1902 - Gideon Scheepers, South African Boer leader, executed
1908 - Ferdinand IV, ruler of Toscane, dies at 72
1910 - Thomas Crapper, inventor (flush toilet)
1938 - William H. Pickering, astronomer (predicted Pluto), dies at 79
1955 - Joannes A. Veraart, Dutch judge/MP, (Jews in Netherlands), dies at 68
1961 - Patrice Lumumba, African revolutionary, murdered at 36
1968 - Julis Deutsch, Austrian politician/General Spanish republican army, dies at 83
1977 - Gary Gilmore executed in Utah, 1st US execution since 1967
1990 - Charles Hernu, French minister of Defense (1981-85)
1991 - Olav AFEC van Sleeswijk-Holstein-S-G V, King of Norway (1957)
1994 - Allan G. Odell, Ad executive (Burma Shave), dies at 90; Chung Il Kwon, PM of South Korea (1964-70)
1997 - Asfa Wossen (Amha Selassie), crown emperor of Ethiopia in exile; Clyde William Tombaugh discoverer (Pluto), dies at 90

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Ramsey, Douglas K., Civilian (NV); released by PRG February, 1973 - alive as of 1998

1967
Cogdell, William K., USAF (IN); T28D shot down - remains ID'd May, 1994

Krogman, Alva R., USAF (WY); O1F shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Wozniak, Frederick J., USAF (MI); RF3C disappeared on reconnaissance mission (backseater, w/Wright)

Wright, Gary G., USAF (CA); RF4C disappeared on reconnaissance mission (pilot, w/Wozniak)

1968
Wilke, Robert F., USAF (WI); A1A crashed on rescue mission

1969
Fickler, Edwin James, USMC (WI); A6A presumed shot down on bombing mission (pilot, w/Kuhlman) - presumed KIA, body not recovered

Kuhlman, Robert John, Jr., USMC (IN); A6A presumed shot down on bombing mission (bombardier / navigator, w/Fickler) - presumed KIA, body not recovered

Smith, Victor A., USAF (MD); F4D shot down (systems operator)

1971
Mirrer, Robert H., USAF (NJ); F4E shot down, believed KIA, body not recovered