News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Mortar Attacks Rattle Shiite Neighborhoods
No Word on Fate of Hostage Journo
Saddam Lawyers Call for Delay
Mortar attack kills four in Baghdad: police
Iraq lifts curfew
Saddam Hussein ends hunger strike: lawyer
Baghdad Hopes Worst of Sectarian Fury Over
Sunnis Said Ready to End Boycott of Talks

Operation Enduring Freedom
Rioting Inmates Seize Afghan Prison

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Would-Be Saudi Bombers Were on Most-Wanted List

Other Military News
Army to pay KBR for most disputed Iraq costs: NYT

Hamas Rising
Israel Won't Hold Peace Talks With Abbas

Cartooning Muhammad
Pakistan Police: 25,000 Protest Cartoons

Dubai Port Proposal
U.S. Delays UAE Deal - Video

Worldwide Wackos
Russia, Iran Reach 'Basic Agreement' on Uranium
Iranians Hurl Firebombs at British Embassy

Politics
Thousands to protect Bush on first India visit
Bush appeal wanes for some Republican faithful

XX Winter Olympics
Games over and Turin copes with exodus
FULL OLYMPIC COVERAGE (Fox News)

Oddities
Man sentenced for ride-by bottom slap

Other News of Note
World Court launches landmark Bosnia genocide case

Fox News
Blast at Colorado Refinery
FBI: Substance Found in Texas Dorm Room Not Ricin
Egyptian Sun Temple Found
Big Easy Parties in Katrina's Wake - Video
Reporter's Notebook: The Real Mardi Gras
Stocks to Watch: KeySpan
High Court Mulls Strict Campaign Finance Law
Survey: Gas Falls 6 Cents
Michigan Church Shooter Kills One, Then Self; Child Injured
FULL SPORTS COVERAGE

Reuters: Top News
Israeli arms facility blast accidental: sources
Mardi Gras reminds New Orleans of better days
Hong Kong bans French poultry after bird flu find
Industry study withheld data on carcinogen: report
Technology convergence makes a comeback in 2006
Microsoft to offer 6 versions of Windows Vista
Singer George Michael arrested in drugs probe
U2 receives human rights award in Chile

Reuters: Top News
Saudi forces kill suspected militants after siege
Thousands to protect Bush on first India visit
Israeli arms facility blast accidental: sources
Yen, Japan steel stocks surge
UK's National Grid to buy KeySpan for $7.3 billion
Arcelor sets growth plan to fight Mittal offer
Microsoft to offer 6 versions of Windows Vista
Vodafone sees slower growth, goodwill charge
Pearson profit gains 23 pct; FT off to fast start
Mexico prices GAP airport operator IPO
FTC settles with CardSystems over data breach
Gaz de France shares seen up, Suez steady: dealers
Iraq and oil's jump may hit stocks
Delta Air to cut Florida flights, JetBlue shares up
Dana shares drop 28 percent
RIM stock driven higher on delayed court ruling
On the Radar: Finding sectors
On the Radar: Amgen's margins lead
Shaky geopolitics, booming economy

AP World News
16 Charged in Alleged Philippine Coup Plot
Milosevic Trial Witness Arrested in Spain
Weapons, Cash Found in U.K. Heist Probe
Samba Takes Over at Rio Carnival Parade
Torture Killing of French Jew Spurs March
Mexican Miners' Kin Want Bodies Recovered
Protesters Demand Thai Leader's Ouster
Somali Parliament Meets at Home - a First
Swedish Leader's Murder Remains Unsolved
Hundreds Defy Police, March in Kazakhstan



Military.com
Blasts Rattle Baghdad
Deadline Passes for Reporter
VA Program Targets Obesity, Diabetes
National Guard Policies Criticized
Military Defends Afghan Detentions
Port Deal to Get Broader Security Review

CENTCOM: News Releases
MINIVAN EXPLODES IN AL HILLAH

Department of Defense
Bomb Kills Iraqis; Troops Arrest Suspects - Story
U.S., Iraqi Troops Step Up Patrols, Defuse Weapons
Bush, Governors to Discuss Terror War - Story
Bush: Iraqis Will Overcome Sectarian Divisions
President: Veterans Inspire Today’s Heroes Remarks
Report Charts Progress in Security, Stability - Story
Iraqi Forces Have Risen to Security Challenge - Story
Iraqis Take Security Lead in Wake of Mosque Bombing
Iraqis 'Stepped Up' After Violence - Video - Transcript
Coast Guard Defends at Local, Global Levels - Story

ON THE GROUND
Iraqi, Coalition Forces Bring First Aid, Supplies - Story
Posters Bridge Gap Between Iraqi Army, Locals - Story
New Graduates Ready to Join Afghan Workforce - Story

IN IRAQ
Coalition Priority: Restore Essential Services
U.S. Soliders Take to Water to Combat Terrorists

IN AFGHANISTAN
Team Brings Medical Care to Afghan Village
Commander Meets With Army, Police Leaders
10th Mountain Takes Command of Task Force

FACE OF DEFENSE
U.S. Soldier Moves Afghan Mountains - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Advocates Discuss Issues at Summit - Story
Teens Keep Troops Calling Home

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Soldier Dies; Casualties Identified
Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Raid
Bush Condemns Mosque Attack
Security Forces Continue Progress
Forces Detain 11 Insurgents
Iraqi Soldiers, Police Find Weapons
Police Add More Than 1,000 to Force
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
Afghan Troop Wounded in Attack
Police, Coalition Respond to Attack
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Reagan Group Launches Missions
England Discusses Port Security
Flow of Info is Vital in Terror War
Bush: India, Pakistan Key Allies
Commitment to Mideast Continues
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Gulf War Sacrifices Honored
Marine Special Ops Activated
Nine Charged With Stealing Gear
Domestic Violence Hotline Launched
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Roadside Blast Kills U.S. Soldiers - 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
0837 - 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1531 - Evangelical German monarchy/towns form Schmalkaldische Union
1557 - 1st Russian Embassy opens in London
1594 - Henri IV crowned king of France
1665 - Battle at Elmina, Gold Coast -- Vice-Admiral De Ruyter beats English
1667 - Abraham Crijnssen conquerors Fort Willoughby (Zeelandia), Suriname
1670 - Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
1678 - Earl of Shaftesbury freed out of London Tower
1696 - English/Welsh nobles lay down Oath of Association
1700 - Pacific island of New Britain discovered
1713 - French troops bomb Willemstad Curaçao
1801 - Washington, DC placed under Congressional jurisdiction
1803 - Great fire in Bombay, India
1813 - 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted; Congress authorizes use of steamboats to transport mail
1816 - Dutch regain Suriname
1827 - 1st Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, LA
1844 - Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti (National Day)
1861 - US Congress authorizes 1st stamped newspaper wrappers for mailing; Warsaw Massacre -- Russians fire on crowd demonstrating against Russian rule of Poland
1864 - Near Andersonville GA, rebels open a new POW camp, "Camp Sumter"
1864 - 6th & last day of Battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties)
1865 - Civil War skirmish near Sturgeon, MO
1869 - John Menard is 1st Black to make a speech in Congress
1874 - Baseball 1st played in England, at Lord's Cricket Grounds
1877 -US Electoral College declares Rutherford Hayes winner of the Presidential election
1879 - Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener)
1881 - Battle at Amajuba, South Africa -- Boers vs British army under General Colley
1883 - Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine
1900 - Battle at Pietershoogte; Boer General Cronjé surrenders to English in Pardenberg, South-Africa
1906 - France & Britain agree to joint control of New Hebrides
1908 - Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma
1922 - Supreme Court unanimously upholds 19th amendment (woman's right to vote); Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover convenes 1st National Radio Conference
1924 - Belgium's Theunis government falls
1925 - Hitler resurrects NSDAP political party in Munich
1929 - Turkey signs Litvinov-pact
1929 - Russia & US sign trade agreement
1930 - Bouvet Island declared a Norwegian dependency
1932 - Explosion in coal mine Boissevain, Virginia, USA (38 dead)
1933 - German parliament building, Reichstag, destroyed by fire (set by Nazis, blamed on communists)
1938 - Britain & France recognize Franco government in Spain
1939 - Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes; Belgian government of Pierlot falls
1942 - Battle of Java Sea begins -- 13 US warships sunk / 2 Japanese; J.S. Hey discovers radio emissions from the Sun; 1st transport of French Jews to Nazi-Germany
1945 - Battle of US 94th Infantry (Saar region)
1949 - Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st Israeli President
1950 - General Chiang Kai-shek elected President of Nationalist China
1951 - 22nd amendment to the Constitution is ratified, limiting President to 2 terms in office
1956 - Female suffrage in Egypt
1957 - Mao's speech "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People"
1962 - South-Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem's palace bombed, 1st US killed
1965 - Dutch Marijnen government resigns
1967 - Antigua & St Christopher-Nevis become associated states of UK; Dominica gains independence from England; Rio de la Plata Treaty
1969 - General Hafez al-Assad becomes head of Syria via military coup; President Nixon visits West-Berlin
1970 - New York Times (falsely) reports US army has ended domestic surveillance
1972 - President Nixon & Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issue Shanghai Communique
1973 - American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
1974 - "People" magazine begins sales
1975 - House of Representatives pass $21.3 billion anti-recession tax-cut bill; CDU-politician Peter Lorentz kidnapped in West Berlin
1976 - Final meeting between Mao tse Tung & Richard Nixon
1980 - Terrorists occupy Dominican embassy in Bogota
1981 - Greatest passenger load on a commercial airliner-610 on Boeing 747
1982 - Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta GA
1985 - Mauritania's new constitutional charter published
1987 - Donald Regan resigns as White House chief of staff; "Washington Week In Review", 20th anniversary on PBS
1988 - Gulfstream G-IV goes around the world 36 08 34
1989 - German war criminals Austria der Fünten/Fischer, freed in Holland
1990 - Exxon Corp & Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts (Valdez)
1991 - Gulf War ends after Iraqi troops retreat & Kuwait is liberated
1994 - 17th Olympics Winter games close in Lillehammer, Norway; Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed
1995 - Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed)
1998 - Apple discontinues developing Newton computer; FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati

Birthdays
0280 - Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (306-37)
1792 - Don Joaquin B.F. Espartero, Spanish adventurer/field marshal
1807 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (Hiawatha)
1823 - Ferdinand Van Derveer, Union Brigadier General; William Buel Franklin, Union Major General
1827 - Richard W. Johnson, Union Brevet Major General
1832 - Alfred Pollard Edward, Civil War journalist
1881 - Sveinn Björnsson, 1st President of Iceland (1944-52)/poet (Figur ild)
1886 - Hugo L. Black Alabama, (Senator-AL)/78th US Supreme Court justice (1937-71)
1891 - David Sarnoff US, radio/TV pioneer/CEO (RCA)
1899 - Charles H. Best, physiologist/co-discoverer of diabetes treatment (Insulin)
1906 - H. Algernon F. "Algy" Rumbold, English diplomat (South Africa/Tibet)
1913 - Frank Allaun, British MP
1915 - Arthur Gilson Belgian attorney/minister of Defense
1917 - John Bowden Connally, Jr., (Governor/Senator-TX), wounded in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy
1925 - Richard AFM Auwerda, Dutch journalist/writer
1926 - Sir Peter Emery, British MP
1933 - Malcolm Wallop (Senator-WY)
1934 - Ralph Nader, consumer advocate (Unsafe at Any Speed)
1941 - Paddy Ashdown, 1st leader of Britain's Social/Liberal Democrat Party
1951 - Lee Atwater, Republican National Committee Chairman (1989-91)
1980 - Chelsea Victoria Clinton, daughter of Bill & Hillary Clinton

Passings
1779 - Jan Nepveu, Dutch Governor-General of Suriname (1769-79), dies at 59
1881 - George Colley British governor of Natal/General, dies in battle at 46
1936 - Ivan P. Pavlov, Russian physiologist (reflexes, Nobel 1904), dies at 86
1942 - Karel WFM Doorman, Dutch Rear Admiral (Java Sea), KIA at 52
1945 - HJ Lochtman Dutch chaplain/resistance fighter, dies in Bergen-Belsen
1952 - Theodorus Pangalos, Greek General/dictator 1926, dies at 74
1985 - Henry Cabot Lodge, Senator/diplomat, dies at 82
1991 - Robert-Jan Akkerman, Dutch diplomat (to Tunis), murdered
1992 - S.I. Hayakawa (Senator-CA, 1977-83), dies from a stroke at 85
1994 - Laurence "Bill" Craigie, jet pioneer, dies at 92
2003 - Fred(erick McFeely) Rogers (Mr. Rogers) children's television host, dies from stomach cancer at 74

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Alwan, Harold J., USMC (IL); A4E shot down

The following USN personnel reported MIA (Killed body not recovered) when their UH2B crashed in water immediately following liftoff:
Huie, Litchfield P. (NC); UH2B crashed in water shortly after liftoffblown off carrier

Letchworth, Edward N. (MT)

Sause, Bernard J., Jr. (MD)

Zemple, Ronald L. (MN)

1968
Hartzheim, John F., USN (WI); OP2E shot down (w/Milius) - remains ID'd March, 1999

Milius, Paul L., USN (IA); OP2E shot down (w/Hartzheim)

Palmer, Gilbert S., USAF (AL); RF4C shot down (w/Wright)

Wright, Thomas T., USAF (IN); RF4C shot down (w/Palmer)

1971
Babcock, Ronald L., US Army (AZ); OH6A shot down (w/Mooney), KIA, body not recovered

Lewis, Larry G., USNR (NC); F4J crashed, Killed, body not recovered

Mooney, Fred, US Army (OH); OH6A shot down (w/Babcock), KIA, body not recovered

1975
Dillon, Michael; released March, 1975

Ayres, Vicki, Civilian; released March, 1975