Quote of the Day
"Bravery is believing in yourself, and that thing nobody can teach you."
-- El Cordobes, Spanish Matador (b.1936)

News of Note
Only One Survived
Pa. Mine Rescuers Lament Situation
Fast Facts: Trapped Miners Identified
Bush Monitors, Feds Assist Rescue
West Virginia mine plagued with safety problems
Videos:
Miner's Body Discovered
Heartbreaking Discovery
What Caused the Mine Blast?
West Virginia Governor on FNC
Photo Essay: West Virginia Miners

Operation Iraqi Freedom
F-14s bomb Iraqi building, kill 7
School wonders how to punish boy who went to Iraq
Teen Who Went to Iraq Skips His Own Press Conference
U.S. Airstrike Kills 7, Iraqi Police Say
Suicide Blast Kills at Least 30 in Iraq
Iraqi V.P. Says No New Gov't Until April
Book: CIA ignored info Iraq had no WMD

Operation Enduring Freedom
Suspected Taliban rebels behead Afghan teacher

Homeland Security / War on Terror
London train bombings cost only $2,000
Bush pushes for Patriot Act renewal Video
Intelligence panel had clue about spying
Homeland Security agency to require cities to compete for funds
Man sues government over ring lost at airport security

Supporting Our Heroes
Teen's Goal: 2.6 Million Thanks

Politics
Abramoff Strikes Plea Deal
Big-time lobbyist's plea deal casts shadow over Congress
Close-up: Scandal has GOP soul-searching
Prosecutors decry DeLay's court procedures
Abramoff plea agreement's impact on DeLay weighed
Maine Democratic legislator bolts party

Oddities
Maybe you shouldn't answer a stolen phone..
Animals know stupid when they see it
Missing work excuse No. 103: We got married
Our trash is Dumpster diver's $2,000 in treasure
Fancy a little farming? Mini cattle come in handy
Two-for-one snake sale?
Kids' soccer teams, swingers share hotel

Other News of Note
Ruler of Dubai Dies While in Australia

Fox News
Penn State Prevails in 3 OT
Rink Disaster Death Toll at 12
Russia, Ukraine Cut Gas Deal
Iran Challenges Free Press
Bodies Found in Flooded Indonesian Village
Gulf Coast Handles Post-Katrina Puppy Boom
Palestinian Gunmen Occupy Election Office in Gaza
'Baby Noor' Preps for Surgery
Dozens Feared Dead in Indonesian Landslide
Family Found in Burning Home With Throats Slashed
World's Largest Known Prime Number Discovered
Stocks to Watch: Merix Corp
COMPLETE BOWL COVERAGE
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
Intelligence report says Iran seeks nuclear bomb: paper
2006 consumer electronics sales seen up 8 pct
Next raises profit forecast after Christmas sales
UK's BowLeven shares plunge on Cameroon gas failure
Bang & Olufsen shares up on rush for flat screens
Citigroup upgrade sends Orco shares to new high
Last year deadliest for journalists since 1995-RSF Video
Trash mounts as California cleans up from floods
Shamed South Korea scientist coerced women for eggs: TV
China water company wins Yellow River pollution suit
XM Satellite to debut two portable players
Expo-Studios announce next-generation DVD titles
Pakistani Kashmir eyes tourists in quake recovery
GW wins US okay for pivotal cannabis drug study
Women who cut dietary fat lose weight: study

AP World News
Dozens Feared Dead in Indonesia Landslide
Palestinian Closed Border Crossing
Iran Orders Newspaper, Magazine to Close
Police Question Canadian Finance Minister
Argentina Repays $9.57 Billion Debt to IMF
Ukrainians Angry About Russia Gas Dispute
Roof Partially Collapses at Czech Store
Libyan Political Prisoners Start Strike
Peru Asks Chile to Extradite Fujimori
Sharon to Transfer Power During Surgery
Morales Aligns Himself With Castro, Chavez
Activist: China Releases Jailed Journalist

The Seattle Times
200 file new claims against archdiocese
Gay activists sue to protect gay marriage
Mixed reviews as new Medicare benefit kicks off
Landmark study shows fat isn't key factor in weight loss, gain
No proof statins prevent cancer, two studies conclude
Leaders of Bolivia, Venezuela leaders cement ties over fuel deal
France to call off state of emergency today
Two Christian colleges say their closets portal to "Narnia"
State legalizes medical marijuana
Mexico opens probe into border death

Chicago Sun-Times
Bears playoff tickets: 2-minute drill for fans
Atlanta overtakes O'Hare
Cheese lovers: lower-salt Stilton 'would be a crime'
Record 236 bank robberies pulled in Chicago area last year
Firm's failure allowed criminal into home, judge says
Computer problem delays United flights
CTA fare hike pinches commuters
Competitive plan approved by Congress could hurt Boeing
Pa. school board repeals plan to teach intelligent design
Cash crunch threatens Holocaust fund
Iran tells U.N. it will resume nuke research
4 bored teens planned to set fire to 27 stolen baby Jesus statues
Is it really Mozart's skull? Austria can tune in Sunday
For this 8-year-old, ain't no mountain high enough
Next Bolivian leader visits Venezuela, avoids U.S.

Boston Globe: World
Palestinian parties open parliament campaigns
16th-century synagogue is uncovered in Portugal
Palestinians fear future without Hussein
Boy's death spurs Bogota to confront a menace

Military.com
U.S. Allies Valuable but Dwindling
Bush Frustrated by Patriot Act Resistance
Marines may Charge 65-Year-Old Private
Winter Sworn in as Secretary of the Navy
U.S. Military Calls Copter Report False
Rumsfeld Summons Top Brass for QDR Talks

Department of Defense
Troops 'Waging Peace' on Horn of Africa - Story
Airlifters Shoulder Heavy Burdens for Mission - Story
'Radar Scope' to Aid Troops in Urban Ops - Story

ON THE GROUND
Medal of Honor Recipient Salutes U.S. Troops - Story
Marine Support Unit Improves Roads in Hit - Story

IN IRAQ
Kingpin Helps Manage Airpower Over Iraq

FACE OF DEFENSE
Deployed Marine Brothers Share Iraqi Skies - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
CinC House Helps Military Women
Soldier Proposes During Halftime
Photos: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
U.S., Coalition Forces Detain 15
Bomb Kills 3 Iraqi Police Officers
Marines Unearth Tons of Weapons
Priorities: Secure Gains, Train Police
Four U.S. Contractors Die
Pace: 2005 Successful
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
Border Police Open New Facility
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
2006 To Be 'Bad Year' for Enemies
Coalition Aircraft Fly Missions Jan. 2
Military Ready for Challenges
Aircrews Fly 50 Missions
The Foundation of 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
Top Employer Nominations Open
Bush Visits Wounded Troops
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
0274 - St Eutychian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0871 - Battle at Reading Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish invasion army
1357 - Flemish Earl Louis & Luxembourg Duke Wenceslaus sign peace treaty
1493 - Columbus left new world on return from 1st voyage
1570 - Spanish viceroy Alva banishes Zutphen City's only physician, Joost Sweiter, "because he is a Jew"
1642 - King Charles I with 400 soldiers attacks the English parliament
1717 - Netherlands, England & France sign Triple Alliance
1725 - Benjamin Franklin arrives in London
1762 - England declares war on Spain & Naples
1780 - Snowstorm hits Washington's army at Morristown New Jersey
1781 - André Méchain discovers M80 (globular cluster in Scorpio)
1832 - Insurrection of Blacks in Trinidad
1861 - US Fort Morgan, Mobile, seized by Alabama
1862 - Battle of Fort Hindman, AR (Arkansas Post); Battle of Helena, AR; Romney Campaign-Stonewall Jackson occupies Bath
1863 - 4 wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton of NY
1884 - Last sighting of an eastern cougar (Ontario)
1885 - Dr. W.W. Grant of Iowa performs 1st appendectomy (on Mary Gartside, 22)
1887 - Thomas Stevens is 1st man to bicycle around the world (San Francisco-San Francisco); 21,700km
1893 - US President Harrison grants amnesty to Mormon polygamy
1894 - France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia
1896 - Following Mormon abandonment of polygamy, Utah admitted as 45th state
1912 - Smallest earth-moon distance in the 20th century, 356,375 km center-to-center
1915 - 1st elected Jewish Governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho; Trans-Caucausus Russian defeat Turkish troops
1920 - 1st Black baseball league, the National Negro Baseball League, organizes
1923 - Lenin's "Political Testament" calls for removal of Stalin
1925 - French psychologist Emil Coué brings his self-esteem therapy to US "Every day in every way I am getting better & better"
1926 - Theodorus Pangalos resigns as Greek dictator
1932 - British East Indies Viceroy Willingdon arrests Gandhi & Nehru; State of siege proclaimed in Honduras
1935 - Fort Jefferson National Monument, Florida established; Bob Hope 1st heard on network radio as part of "The Intimate Revue"
1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its 1st music hit parade
1939 - Hermann Goering appoints Reinhard Heydrich head of Jewish Emigration
1941 - Resistance fighters counter d'Estienne d'Orves/Jan Doornik, 1st meet
1942 - Premier Churchill & General Marshall fly to Florida
1944 - Ralph Bunche appointed 1st Negro official in US State Department
1945 - Germans execute resistance fighters in Amsterdam; US jeep-aircraft carrier Ommaney Bay sinks after kamikaze attack
1948 - Britain grants independence to Burma
1951 - During Korean conflict, North Korean forces captured Seoul
1954 - Elvis Presley records a 10 minute demo in Nashville
1958 - Sputnik 1 reenters atmosphere & burns up
1959 - Luna 1 (Mechta) becomes 1st craft to leave Earth's gravity
1960 - European Free Trade Association forms in Stockholm
1961 - Longest recorded strike ends-33 years-Danish barbers' assistants
1962 - 1st automated (unmanned) subway train (New York City NY)
1963 - Soviet Luna (4) reaches Earth orbit but fails to reach Moon
1965 - LBJ's "Great Society" State of the Union Address
1968 - Duck hunter accidentally shoots endangered whooping crane in Texas
1969 - France begins arms embargo against Israel
1970 - Walter Cronkite ends hosting weekly documentary
1971 - Dr. Melvin H. Evans inaugurated as 1st elected Governor of Virgin Islands; Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to relatives of Kent State victims; Philadelphia's Veteran Stadium dedicated; Congressional Black Caucus organizes
1974 - Nixon refuses to hand over tapes subpoenaed by Watergate Committee
1975 - Ice thickness measured at 4776 m, Wilkes Land, Antarctica; Ford Executive Order on CIA Activities within the US (No 11828)
1980 - President Carter announces US boycott of Moscow Olympics
1981 - British police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper"
1982 - Golden Gate Bridge closed for 3rd time by fierce storm
1989 - Vice President Bush is 1st since Vice President Van Buren to declare himself President; US F-14s shoot down 2 Libyan jet fighters over Mediterranean
1991 - AT&T workers in Newark accidentally snap a cable; Iraq agrees to send Aziz to Geneva to meet Baker on Jan 9th; Jan Krzystof Bielecki becomes premier of Poland
1995 - Newt Gingrich (R) becomes Speaker of the House

Birthdays
1334 - Amadeus VI [Green Earl], Earl of Savoye
1785 - Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, German librarian (fairy tale collector)
1789 - Benjamin Lundy, philanthropist/abolitionist
1797 - Wilhelm Beer, German amateur astronomer (constructed 1st Moon map)
1809 - Louis Braille, developer (reading system for blind)
1813 - Alexander Freiherr von Bach, Austrian attorney/premier (1852-59); Louis L. Bonaparte, English/French linguist/senator
1821 - John James Peck, Union Major General
1822 - Joseph Jones Reynolds, Union Major General
1823 - Otto van Rees, Governor-General of Dutch-Indies (1884-88)
1823 - Peter Joseph Osterhaus, Union Major General
1838 - Charles Stratton, (General Tom Thumb - famous short person)
1890 - Alfred G. Jodl, German Wehrmacht General/Chief of Staff; Mosa Pijade, Yugoslavia, MP (communist)
1895 - Lourens G.M. Baas Becking, Dutch botanist/resistance fighter
1896 - Everett McKinley Dirkson (Senator-R-IL)
1903 - Ramón Ernesto Cruz Uclés Honduras President (1971-72); overthrown
1908 - Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal Austrian nude model/Hitler's lover
1913 - Malietoa Tanumafili II King of West-Samoa (1962- )
1914 - Jane Wyman, 1st Mrs. Ronald Reagan / actress; Mohammed Sahir shah (Afghanistan)
1920 - William Egan Colby, CIA director (Nixon)
1933 - Ed Jenkins (Representative-GA, 1977-1992)
1935 - Kenneth Money, Canadian-born astronaut (STS 42-alt)
1940 - Brian Josephson, British physicist (Nobel 1973)
1947 - J. Danforth Quayle (Senator-IN, 44th Vice President - 1989-1993)

Passings
0041 - Caligula, Roman emperor, murdered
1678 - Johan Maetsuyker, Dutch Governor-General of Ceylon (1653-78), dies at 71
1695 - Duke of Luxembourg, Luxembourg/French marshal, dies
1701 - Ernst R. Tarhemberg, Austrian field marshal, dies at 62
1707 - Louis Willem I, count of Baden-Baden, dies
1729 - Joseph de Montesquiou Earl d'Artagnan, French Lieutenant-General , dies at 77
1821 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1st native-born American saint, dies in Maryland
1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, US robber baron, dies at 82
1910 - Léon Delagrange, French aviation pioneer
1913 - Alfred von Schlieffen, Prussian General-field marshal, dies at 79
1957 - Theodor Körner von Siegringen, Austrian President (1951-57), dies at 84
1958 - Waverley John Anderson, Viscount/Governor of Bengal, dies at 75
1967 - Donald Campbell, boat racer, dies trying to break 300 mph on water
1968 - Joseph Pholien, Belgian PM (1950-52) / communist fighter, dies at 83
1985 - Brian Gwynne Horrocks, English Lieutenant-General (A Full Life), dies at 89
1990 - Alberto Lleras Camargo, President of Colombia (1945-46, 58-62)
1994 - Michiel P. "Michael" Gorsira, Governor of Curaçao (1951-67), dies at 80
1996 - Roy McKelvie, soldier/sports writer, dies at 83
1997 - Harry B. Helmsley, owner (Empire State Building), dies at 87

Reported Missing in Action
1968
Minnich, Richard W., USN (PA); F8E shot down, remains recovered December, 1985

1969
Lane, Mitchell S., USAF (NM); F100C disappeared while on mission

Neeld, Bobby G., USAF (NM); F100C disappeared while on mission

1973
Johnston, Steven B., USAF (OK); F4D shot down, presumed Killed in ejection, body not recovered