News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraq Delays Summit With U.S., Saying 3's a Crowd - VIDEO
Joint Chiefs Chairman Denies Al-Anbar Pullout Report
Iraq Study Group Reaches Agreement on New Policy
Bush, Maliki to hold crunch talks on Iraq - Video
U.S. to boost Baghdad troops: official
Powell says world should recognize Iraq at civil war
Al-Sadr loyalists spurn Iraq parliament
Pentagon Eyeing Further Iraq Deployments

Operation Enduring Freedom
An Afghan bomber's tale sheds light on motives

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Border security system posts just 1 terror case
Suspected bomb found on Ohio highway

Other Military News
We're Training Bees to Detect Bombs?

Religion of Peace??
Pope meets Orthodox leader on Turkey visit - Video

Worldwide Wackos
Iran's Ahmadinejad Pens Letter to American People
Get out of nuclear business, U.S. tells North Korea
U.S. says no cognac, jet skis for North Korea

Politics / Government
Al Qaeda Calls Pope's Visit 'Crusader Campaign'
Webb Gives Bush Cold Shoulder at Reception
Frist abandons 2008 presidential bid

In the Courts
Judge: FEMA Must Keep Paying for Katrina Housing

U.N. News
Atrocities occurring daily in Darfur: UN official

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News
Crime 101: YouSteal on YouTube

Science / Nature
NASA Gives Shuttle Discovery Go for Night Launch
Florida Man Loses Arm to Alligator During Attack
Scientists harness mysteries of the brain
Hurricane season ends quietly

Oddities
Cops: Former Pastor Killed Man for Trust Fund
London Taxicabs Left With More Than Just 'Confessions'
Britney Spears Parties With Paris Hilton, Leaves Underwear at Home
Father hangs onto roof pursuing car thief
Wishing wells contain money mountain

Other News of Note
Dead Russian Spy Trail Takes Flight - VIDEO
Radiation traces found on BA planes
Study: Warhead plutonium long-lasting
Aso: Japan can possess nuclear weapons

Fox News
Conservative Jews Likely to OK Openly Gay Rabbis
Nicole Kidman Pregnant? Not Likely

Reuters: Top News
Judge OKs $4.52 bln payout to WorldCom investors
Houghton Mifflin sold to Riverdeep
Ford says 38,000 union workers accept buyouts
US Air to meet Delta, creditors Thursday: sources
Australia Oct retail sales surprisingly strong
Ex-AIG boss pitched NYTimes bid to Morgan Stanley
NZ's Tower Ltd underlying year profit up 55 percent
Home Depot, Lowe's expand holiday decor, gift items
US panel backs Pfizer drug for juvenile arthritis
Mexico orders trial of ex-president for 1968 massacre
Fiji army returns to barracks but coup fears remain
Austrian ex-kidnap woman aids handicapped children
Auto industry should speed fuel economy fixes-expert
Regal arms theater-goers with cellphone busters
Nintendo says Wii on track to meet targets
Universal AIDS tests will pay off, experts say
New Orleans population still cut by more than half
Sugar-packed diet may boost pancreatic cancer risk
Kidman knocks Roberts off high-paid actress list
Filmmaker Sofia Coppola gives birth to baby girl
Stocks jump on gains in energy sector and GDP - Video
Hot Topic up as outlook offsets sales
Synopsys jumps after results
Oil rises to 2-month high on U.S. winter fuel draw - Video
Revlon sets equity offer, refinancing credit deal
All I want for Christmas ...
A price to pay?

AP World News
7M in U.S. jails, on probation or parole
Africa faces growing obesity problem
Ford says 38,000 accepted buyout offers
No. 7 Carolina runs past No. 3 Ohio St.
Strahan verbally confronts ESPN reporter
Wiggles' lead singer to stop performing
TiVo posts narrower loss, beating views
N.H. to offer girls free cancer vaccine
Mel Gibson feels Michael Richards' pain
Study: Break from medications dangerous
Jimmie Johnson at home in Big Apple
Celine Dion cancels Las Vegas shows
Vick fined $10,000 for obscene gesture

Military.com
Army Sees Rise in Soldier Debts
Op-ed: Is China Stalking Us?
Blog: Now Your Name is "Sir"
Defense Tech: Planes Against IEDs?
Kit Up! and Be Ready
Philpott: Army Signs More Dropouts
ALERT: Medicare/TRICARE Cuts Loom
Gear in the News: M-240B

CENTCOM: News Releases
EIGHT TERRORISTS KILLED DURING EARLY MORNING RAID NEAR BAQUBAH

IED ATTACK IN MUQDADIYAH

ELEVEN HIGH LEVEL ANSAR AL SUNNA TERRORISTS CAPTURED

USJFCOM
Exercise preps 82nd Airborne Division staff for Afghanistan deployment
Milestone reached in development of Cross Domain Collaborative Information Environment - podcast
Liveblogging: Unified Endeavor 07-1
Omni Fusion ties Army into UR 2015 - podcast

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
Chairman Describes Process That Leads to ‘Best Military Advice’- Story
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
Musicians Perform for Troops, Visit Wounded - Story
Training Takes Over As Medics Treat Soldiers - Story

IN IRAQ
Battle Tanks Bring the Thunder to Camp Fallujah
Marines Rescue Iraqis, Capture Terrorists
Troops in Iraq Face 'Observant, Adaptive Enemy'
Bayji Operations Round Up 'Black Jumpsuit' Cell
Iraqi Trainees Learning Urban Combat Skills
U.S. Soldiers Work to Fortify Afghan Army

IN AFGHANISTAN
U.S. Units Steadily Secure, Rebuild Afghanistan
Military Missions Change as Afghan Army Evolves
Gainey Visits Deployed Troops for Thanksgiving

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (PDF)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
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

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Army Casualty - 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

National Hurricane Center

Today in History
0306 - Saint Marcellus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1782 - Britain signs an agreement recognizing U.S. independence.
1803 - Spain cedes her claims on the Louisiana Territory to France.
1804 - The impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase begins.
1864 - Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.
1866 - In Chicago, work begins on the first U.S. underwater highway tunnel.
1886 - In Buffalo, the first commercially successful AC electric power plant opens.
1887 - Chicago is the site of the first indoor softball game.
1907 - In Seattle, Pike Place Market is dedicated.
1924 - The first photo facsimile is transmitted across the Atlantic by radio.
1936 - London's Crystal Palace (built in 1851) is destroyed by fire.
1939 - The U.S.S.R. invades Finland over a border dispute.
1941 - The 101-year-old Nyack-Tarrytown (NY) ferry makes its last run.
1947 - Jewish settlements are attacked, one day after a U.N. decree for Israel.
1948 - Baseball's Negro National League disbands; Soviets set up a separate municipal government in East Berlin.
1949 - Chinese Communists capture Chungking.
1954 - Liz Hodges becomes the first woman known to have been struck by a meteorite (an 8 lb. one in Sylacauga, AL).
1958 - In Bath, Maine, the first guided missile destroyer is launched (USS Dewey).
1961 - The U.S.S.R. vetoes Kuwait's application for U.N. membership.
1962 - U Thant of Burma is unanimously elected to as Secretary-General of the U.N.
1964 - The U.S.S.R. launches Zond-2 towards Mars; no data is returned.
1966 - Barbados gains independence from Britain
1967 - Britain cedes the Kuria Muria islands to Oman; the People's Republic of South Yemen (Aden) gains independence from Britain.
1975 - Dahomey becomes Benin.
1979 - Ted Koppel becomes anchor of the nightly news on the Iran Hostage Crisis (ABC).
1982 - The submarine USS Thomas Edison collides with the USS Leftwich (a destroyer) in the South China Sea; both remain operational.
1983 - Radio Shack announces the Tandy Model 2000 computer (80186 chip).
1988 - A cyclone lashes Bangladesh and Eastern India; 317 are killed; for the first time in 38 years, the Soviets stop jamming Radio Liberty; the U.N. General Assembly (151-2) censures the U.S. for refusing the PLO's Arafat a visa.
1990 - Actor Burt Lancaster suffers a stroke; President George H.W. Bush proposes a U.S.-Iraq meeting to avoid war.
1991 - During a dust storm, 17 die in the pile-up of 93 cars and 11 trucks near San Francisco.

Birthdays
0538 - Saint Gregory of Tours, chronicler/bishop
1466 - Andrea Doria, Genoese statesman/admiral
1554 - Philip Sidney, English poet/statesman/soldier (Arcadia)
1667 - Jonathan Swift, satirist (Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal)
1793 - Johann Lukas Schonlein, helped establish scientific medicine
1810 - Oliver Fisher Winchester, rifle maker
1817 - Theodor Mommsen Germany, historian/writer (Nobel 1902)
1835 - Samuel Clemens [Mark Twain], author (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn)
1863 - Andres Bonifacio, leader of 1896 Philippine revolt against Spain
1874 - Sir Winston Churchill, British PM (1940-45, 1951-55, Nobel 1953)
1915 - Angier Biddle Duke, U.S. Ambassador (Spain); Henry Taube, chemist (Nobel 1983)
1924 - Shirley Chisholm (Rep-NY), first Black congresswoman/presidential candidate
1928 - Chic Hecht (Sen-NV)
1933 - Linwood C. Ivey (Mayor-Garysburg NC)
1936 - Abbie Hoffman, a.k.a. Free, Yippie/activist/author (Steal this Book)
1937 - Richard Threlkeld, newscaster (ABC-TV)

Passings
30 BC - Cleopatra, Egyptian queen, suicide
1016 - Edmund II Ironsides, King of the Saxons (1016)
1631 - Rabbi Samuel Eliezer ben Judah ha-levi Edels
1694 - Marcello Malpighi, father of microscopic anatomy
1900 - Oscar Wilde, Irish author
1979 - Zeppo Marx, comedian
1987 - Arthur H. Dean, lawyer/advisor to FDR
1990 - Norman Cousins, editor (Saturday Review)
1996 - Tiny Tim, singer with the falsetto warble and ukulele ("Tiptoe Through the Tulips")

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Richardson, Stephen G., USN (WA); F8E crashed, Killed, body not recovered

1967
Kushner, Floyd H., US Army (VA); UH1H crashed, released by PRG March, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998

1968
The following US Army SF personnel lost when the CH34 they were in was shot down:

Bader, Arthur E., Jr. (NJ); remains returned by SFG July, 1989 - ID'd February, 1990

Fitts, Richard A. (MA); remains returned April, 1989

La Bohn, Gary R. (MI); remains returned March, 1989 - ID'd February, 1990 (questionable)

Mein, Michael H. (NY); remains returned March, 1989 - ID'd February, 1990

Scholz, Klaus D. (TX); remains returned March, 1989 - ID'd February, 1990

Stacks, Raymond C. (TN); remains returned March, 1989 - ID'd February, 1990

Toomey, Samuel K. III (MO); remains returend March, 1989 - ID'd February, 1990

1970
Stringer, John C. II, US Army (NY); fell into water crossing a stream