News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraq's Maliki promises to target insurgents: W.House
Iraqi conference seeks to end sectarian bloodshed

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Hamas, Fatah Clash as Chaos Rocks Gaza
Abbas to deliver speech, may call early elections - Video
Rice plans to boost funding for Abbas forces (Why...???)
Chertoff defends security program delay

Other Military News
Pentagon eyes $468.9 bln budget for fiscal 2008
F-35 fighter wraps up first test flight
Pentagon to move troops into Kuwait

Religion of Peace??
Somali Islamists vow not to strike government
West ups calls on Sudan to accept Darfur troops

'Tis the Season
Gingerbread Nazi Display Moved to New Ohio Town on Hanukkah Eve

Worldwide Wackos
Iran elections gauge support for Ahmadinejad - Video

Homegrown Moonbats
Peace, love, exams - U.S. anti-war movement quiet

Politics / Government
Ex-Rep. Bob Barr Ditches GOP for Libertarians
Rumsfeld Bids Goodbye on Last Day
Reid: Sen. Johnson Looks 'Good' After Brain Surgery
Doctor: Senator's progress 'encouraging'

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment
Executioners Wrong
Florida halts executions after needle mistake
California's 'Death by Lethal Injection' Ruled Unconstitutional
British Police Identify 5th Victim of 'Ipswitch Ripper'
Paternity Test for Duke Rape Accuser's Baby Approved; DNA Tests Under Fire
Duke Rape Accuser Gives Birth

U.N. News
Powder found at U.N. apparently flour

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News
Controversial O.J. Simpson 'If I Did It' Book Publisher Gets Pink Slip

Science / Nature
Searchers: Lost Mt. Hood Hikers Well Equipped
Military plane finds no sign of climbers
Space-Station Aerobics Fail to Free Stuck Panel
Researchers reverse diabetes in mice
Storm kills 4, cuts power in Northwest

Oddities
Robber caught in mesh of mistakes
Miss USA in danger of losing crown due to behavior
Collector pays $2.3M for $1,000 bill

Other News of Note
250 Get Sick From Indianapolis Olive Garden

Fox News
Report: Miss USA Tara Conner Will Be Dethroned
'Law & Order: SVU' May Be Over

Reuters: Top News
Nintendo to replace Wii straps, Japan DS adapters
Music on the move as mobile applications multiply
Starr sees value of parity but cherishes excellence
Hoaxer, not Hilton, wrote Britney defense posting
Oprah Winfrey reality series headed to prime time
Dell says gets non-compliance letter from Nasdaq
Over 250 sick after eating at Indiana Olive Garden
Harrah's considering two $87/share bids: WSJ
Consumer prices flat in November
Terex to replace Navistar in S&P 500
Sovereign to cut jobs in cost-reduction plan
Merck wins Vioxx trial in Alabama state court
AOL to restructure senior management -- sources
Bangladesh marks victory day amid political strife
Vietnam condemns six heroin traffickers to death

AP World News
Red hot Suns run winning streak to 13
Sharpton plans shooting protest march
76ers still can't find the answer
Jays, Wells agree to $126M extension
Bagwell calls it quits after 15 years
Morgan Stanley CEO gets $40M 2006 bonus
Beyonce transforms into 'Sasha' onstage
Drugs eyed in slayings of British women
Dow ends up 29 on tame inflation data
NBC's 'Biggest Loser' considered surgery

Military.com
Prince William Graduates
U.K., Canada Keep JSF Options Open
Op-ed: Into Iraq's Quicksand
Defense Tech: Tricycle of Death
A Military Aviation Crisis Looming
Advisors: Home Alone for the Holidays
Podcast: Philpott on Benefits 2007
Beat the Weekend Shopping Crowds
Gear in the News; SSN 709

CENTCOM: News Releases
CAVALRY TROOPS CONFISCATE WEAPONS, DETAIN SUSPECT

POLAR BEARS STORM QUARGHULI VILLAGE BY AIR, LAND AND WATER

COALITION FORCES, IRAQI NATIONAL POLICE RESPOND TO EXPLOSION AT MOSQUE IN ZUBAIDA

JOINT STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR ZALMAY KHALILZAD AND GEN. GEORGE CASEY ON IRAQ’S WINNING SILVER IN THE 15TH ASIAN GAMES IN DOHA, QATAR

ISF CAPTURES ILLEGAL ARMED GROUP MEMBER, DETAIN TWO OTHERS

ISF CONDUCT OPERATIONS TO CAPTURE ILLEGAL ARMED GROUP LEADER

ISP CAPTURE INSURGENT CELL LEADER

PARATROOPERS FIND CACHE, DETAIN THREE

FUSION CELLS HELP TO LOCATE TERRORISTS

PARATROOPERS FIND CACHE SOUTH OF BAGHDAD

USJFCOM
USJFCOM’s new super computer to enhance joint experimentation, training - podcast
Command surgeon hosts joint task force medical seminar - podcast

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
Cheney, Pace Praise Rumsfeld at Farewell Ceremony - Story
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
'Ironhorse' Troops Serve as Escorts - Story
Fallen Engineer Missed Not Forgotten - Story
Power Transfer Over Multinational Corps Iraq - Story
Iraqi Police Return Home From Training - Story

IN IRAQ
Ceremony Focuses on Stryker Brigade Journey
'Arctic Wolves' Honor Fallen Comrades
Field Activities Create Cohesion, Raise Morale
Avionics Marines Give Harriers 'Pulse' at Al Asad
Soldier's Ultimate Sacrifice Earns Silver Star
Joint Operations Combat Insurgency in Diyala
Marine Engineers Focus on Repairing Vital Runway

IN AFGHANISTAN
Patrol Trucks to Increase Security in Afghanistan
Flight Surgeons Certify Afghan Army Aviators
Military Policemen Prepare for Return to States
Afghan Farming Communities to Receive Tractors
Reconstruction Team Hosts First Vendor Fair

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 Previous 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
0882 - John VIII ends his reign as Catholic Pope; Marinus I begins his
1431 - King Henry VI of England crowned king of France
1538 - King François I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
1577 - Danzig surrenders to troops of Polish king István Báthory
1617 - Spanish viceroy Hernando Arias de Saavedra founds provinces Río de la Plata (Argentina)/Guaira (Paraguay)
1631 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages & kills 4,000
1653 - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland & Ireland
1659 - General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
1689 - English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1740 - Prussian Libya falls to Silezie
1761 - Russian army occupies Kolberg
1773 - Boston Tea Party
1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by the French Senate
1811 - Most violent & prolonged quakes in US begins in Midwest region; 8.0 earthquake shakes New Madrid MO
1817 - Leaders of Molukkas uprising hanged in Ambon
1824 - Great North Holland Canal opens
1835 - Fire consumes over 600 buildings in New York NY
1838 - Boers beat Zulu chieftain Dingaan in South Africa
1857 - Earthquake in Naples, Italy
1858 - Dutch government decides to vacate Schokland Island
1862 - Kingdom of Nepal accepts its constitution
1864 - Battle of Nashville ends after 4400 casualities
1880 - Republic of South-Africa forms
1884 - Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1897 - 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated
1900 - Boer army under General Kritzinger take Cape colony
1905 - "Variety", covering all phases of show business, 1st published
1907 - Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on its World Cruise
1909 - US pressure forces Nicaraguan President José Santos Zelaya from office
1912 - 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20¢ parcel post, issued; Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia
1913 - Charlie Chaplin began his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1914 - French offensive in Artois (Pétain)
1915 - Albert Einstein publishes his "General Theory of Relativity"
1920 - Over 180,000 die when 8.6 earthquake destroys 15,000² miles (Kansu China)
1930 - Golfer Bobby Jones wins James E Sullivan Award
1931 - German SPD begins Eiserne Front against fascism
1932 - Heavy earthquake ravages Kansu China, 70,000 killed
1940 - British air raid on Mannheim
1941 - Sarawak occupied by the Japanese
1942 - Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia & Balkan
1943 - "Tamiami Champion" trains collide, kills 73 & injures 200
1944 - Battle of the Bulge begins in Belgium; German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 kill); US 2nd Infantry division occupies "Heartbreak Crossroads," Wahlerscheid
1949 - Sukarno becomes President of Indonesia; Mokammed Hatta becomes premier
1950 - Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism"
1953 - 1st White House Press Conference (President Eisenhower & 161 reporters); Charles E. Yeager flies over 2,575 kph (1,650 mph) in Bell X-1A (first man to fly at nearly two and one-half times the speed of sound)
1960 - 134 die as United DC-8 & TWA Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York NY
1962 - Constitutional Monarchical Hindu State of Nepál adopts new constitution
1965 - Gemini 6 returns to Earth; Pioneer 6 launched into solar orbit; Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, becomes King of Tonga
1969 - British House of Commons votes 343-185 abolishing the death penalty
1970 - 1st successful landing on Venus (USSR)
1971 - Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares independence from Pakistan
1973 - US kidnap victim Paul Getty III freed
1976 - Government halts swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis; Andrew Young named Ambassador & Chief US Delegate to UN; Liberian tanker stranded at Nantucket, 180,000 barrels oil in sea
1978 - Ronald Reagan denounces President Jimmy Carter's recognition of China People's Republic
1980 - President-elect Reagan announces Alexander Haig as Secretary of State
1981 - Dutch Van Agt's 2nd government falls
1983 - Riverside CA judge denies cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouviato request to starve herself to death in a county hospital
1988 - Political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche convicted of tax, mail fraud
1990 - Reverend Jean-Betrand Aristide elected President of Haiti
1991 - UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote
1992 - Israel orders deportation of 415 Palestinians after escalating terrorist activity
1997 - President Clinton names his Labrador retriever, "Buddy"

Birthdays
1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess/1st wife of Henry VIII
1622 - Kurt S. Adeler, Danish admiral/ship builder
1742 - Gebhard Leberecht Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, German fieldmarshal
1809 - Peter P. van Bosse, Dutch attorney/liberal minister of Finance
1812 - William Grose, Union Brevet Major General
1819 - Robert Selden Garnett, Confederate Brigadier-General
1825 - Henry Heth, Confederate Major General
1828 - John Beatty, Union Brigadier-General
1830 - John Frederick Hartranft, Union Brevet Major General
1851 - Theodoor H. de Meester, Dutch premier (1905-08)
1857 - Edward Emerson, astronomer (Jupiter's 5th satellite)
1863 - Ralph Adams Cram, US gothic architect (Cathedral of St John the Divine NYC)
1888 - Alphonse Juin, French marshal
1906 - John Morrison, politician/landowner; Lord Margadale, English Conservative parliament leader/large landowner
1907 - Ray C. Bliss, Ohio State Republican Chairman
1909 - Henricus Verbunt, civil servant/resistance fighter
1941 - Lesley Stahl, White House correspondent (CBS-TV)
1955 - Carol M. Browner, US Administrator (EPA)

Passings
0714 - Pippin II of Héristal, Duke/prince of France
0875 - Ado of Vienne, French archbishop of Vienne, dies at about 75
0882 - John VIII, Italian Pope (872-82), dies
0999 - Adelheid the Saint, German empress of Otto I/saint, dies at about 68
1404 - Albrecht of Bavaria, duke of Bavaria, dies at about 74
1670 - Dorothy, 1st English marquis of Halifax, dies
1672 - John II Casimir Vasa, cardinal/king of Poland (1648-68), dies at 63
1774 - François Quesnay, French personal physician of Louis XIV, dies at 80
1858 - Richard Bright, British Dr. (Bright's disease/nephritis), dies at 69
1859 - Wilhelm Grimm, writer (Grimm's Fairy Tales), dies at 73
1916 - Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, powerful Russian monk, murdered at 45
1920 - Ma Mua-Ming-Hsin the Benovelent, Chinese muslim rebel (holy war)
1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz, 1st President of Poland (December 7-16, 1922), assassinated
1944 - Glenn Miller, USAF veteran, jazz composer/orchestra leader (Danny boy), dies at 40 when his plane disappears on the way to entertain US troops
1945 - Fumimaro Konu Japanese prince/PM (1937-39, 40-41), commits harakiri
1949 - Traitsjo Kostov Bulgarian communist vice-premier, executed
1980 - Harland "Colonel" Sanders, founder Kentucky Fried Chicken, dies at 90
1983 - Kusan Sunim, founded Milae Sa temple/Bulsung Sa Zen in Korea, dies at 74
1985 - Paul Castellano, Organized-crime chief, shot dead at a New York, NY restaurant
1987 - Albert P. Morano (Representative-CT, 1951-59), dies at 79
1993 - Bentri Seddik, Algerian court judge, murdered at 46; Kakuei Tanaka premier of Japan (1972-74), dies at 75; Ratu Penaia Ganilau President of Fiji (1987-93), dies at 75
1996 - Jean-Pierre Levy, resistance leader, dies at 85

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Wickhamm, David W. II, USN (WV);A4C shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1967
Hill, Howard J., USAF (IL); F4D shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - alive as of 1998

Low, James Frederick, USAF (CA); F4D shot down, released August, 1968

1969
Buckley, Victor P., USN (VA); RF8G shot down, KIA, body not recovered