News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
U.S death toll nears 3,000 in Iraq
5 soldiers killed by Iraqi insurgents

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Merry Christmas, Terrorist (Hmmm...I wonder how many of those people sent cards to our troops...then again, I probably don't want to know)
16 Released From Gitmo Immediately Detained by Saudis
FOXNews.com War on Terror Content Center
Al Qaeda to Dems: We Beat the GOP, Not You (Can't wait to see how THIS one goes over...)
Ethiopia warns it losing patience as Somalis clash

Troops on Trial
Charges over Haditha killings seen as "significant" - Video
War Games Canceled Over Rape Case

Supporting Our Heroes
President visits wounded soldiers

'Tis the Season
Holiday Travelers Left Spinning Wheels at Airports
Secret Santa Showers Cash on Bus Riders
Online sites offer help for holiday grief
Parents advised to limit kids' use of noisy toys
Holiday feasting highlights swallowing problems
Consumers boost buying during holidays
Military.com Blog: Operation Santa Helps Wounded
Secretary, Chairman Thank Troops - Story - Secretary Gates' Holiday Message

Worldwide Wackos
Iran ordered to pay $254 million in Khobar Towers bombing
U.N. Council to vote on Iran sanctions Saturday
Analysis: N. Korea may increase tensions

Politics / Government
Lawmakers press Bush to put war costs in budget

In the Courts
DA Drops Rape ChargesAgainst 3 Duke Players - VIDEO (It's about time...but note that kidnapping and other charges still remain)
U.S. court cuts Exxon Valdez damages by $2 billion

Immigration / Border Control
Texas landlords sue over immigration law

U.N News
U.N., hit by scandal, restricts procurement staff

Science / Nature
Tiger Attacks Trainer at California Zoo
Space Shuttle Discovery Lands in Florida
Scientist: Dry Climate Could Trigger Huge Volcanic Eruptions
Japanese Researchers Capture Giant Squid
Hunted Becomes Hunter as Moths Mimic Spiders
Federal Judge Upholds Puget Sound Killer Whale Protections
Vancouver park searched after windstorm rescue

Oddities
Woman With Two Wombs Gives Birth to Triplets
Motorists switch satnav on, brain off
Parents convicted in caged kids case

Fox News
Washington Kin Faces Extradition to France
Sudan Agrees to 'Hybrid' Peacekeepers for Darfur
Judge Tosses Charges Against Abortion Doctor

Reuters: Top News
Video game console shortage could linger into '07
Eyewitness backs ousted O.J. publisher
Economic growth concerns drag down indexes - Video
Mergers expected to spur more stock-buying
Dollar rises as technicals outweigh U.S. inflation data
Oil extends tumble from 3-month high
Shire knocked after ADHD drug approval stutters
Meeting the grade
Retail batttle brewing
News Corp reaches deal with Liberty Media
FCC defends fine for Janet Jackson breast flash
Consumer confidence ebbs, boosts rate hopes
Toyota set to overtake GM in 2007
Amateurs reach for high-end digital cameras

AP World News
Goodyear, strikers reach tentative deal
Yankees hit with $26 million luxury tax
Tank Johnson gets home confinement
Willis released after DUI arrest
'24' star shines as actor, rodeo champ
Toyota quietly ascending to No. 1 spot

Military.com
Defense Tech: Top 20 Posts of '06
Podcast: Truth From Al Anbar
Advisors: Books for Military Kids
Military Travel Benefits Explained

CENTCOM: News Releases
SPECIAL OPERATIONS UNITS TRAIN YEMENI CENTRAL SECURITY FORCE COUNTER TERRORISM UNIT (CSF-CTU)

IA CAPTURES AL QAEDA IN IRAQ CELL LEADERS

ISF DETAINS 4 SUSPECTS DURING OPERATIONS AGAINST AQI CELL

USJFCOM
USJFCOM gets approval to connect U.S., Australian networks - podcast
USJFCOM’s new super computer to enhance joint experimentation, training - podcast

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
Stability & Security in Iraq Report (pdf)
For Top News Visit DefenseLink


ON THE GROUND
Trainers Tell Gates They're Pleased With Progress -Story Residents Take Pride in Market Renovations - Story
Soldiers, Mayor Discuss Progress of City Cleanup - Story
Iraqi Police, Coalition Forces Deliver Supplies - Story
Afghan Officials, U.S. Troops Open Runway -Story

IN IRAQ
Najaf Teaching Hospital Nears Completion
Soldiers Work 24/7 to Keep Supplies Flowing
U.S. Army Engineers Help Ramp Up Oil Production
Iraq Officials Assume Security Control in An Najaf
Moody Welcomes Airmen Home for Holidays
Village Blocks Insurgents; Gains Jobs, Revenue

IN AFGHANISTAN
Chief of Chaplains Brings Support to Region
Buccaneers Return from Afghanistan Tour

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

Today in History
0619 - Boniface V begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1482 - Peace of Atrecht
1569 - St Philip of Moscow martyred by Ivan the Terrible
1620 - French huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII
1672 - Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn
1688 - English king Jacob II flees to France
1690 - John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it's undiscovered
1715 - Russian/Prussian troops occupy Stralsund
1728 - Prussian Emperor Karel VI sign Treaty of Berlin
1751 - France sets plan to tax clergymen
1776 - Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France; Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls"
1779 - Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct
1788 - Maryland votes to cede a 10 square mile area for District of Columbia
1793 - Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies
1823 - "Visit from St Nicholas" by C Moore published in Troy (New York) Sentinel
1832 - Dutch troops in Antwerp surrender
1834 - Joseph Hansom of London receives patent for Hansom cabs
1862 - Union General Ben "Beast" Butler is proclaimed a "felon, outlaw & common enemy of mankind" by Jefferson Davis
1876 - Turkey's 1st constitution proclaimed
1888 - Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear
1899 - Fieldmarshal Lord Roberts departs Southampton to South Africa; Tentative Turkish & German treaty on construction of Baghdad railway
1907 - 1st all-steel passenger railroad coach completed, Altoona PA
1909 - Albert becomes king of Belgium
1912 - 1st "Keystone Kops" film, titled "Hoffmeyer's Legacy"; Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation
1913 - President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law
1917 - 3 British warships come close to Holland
1919 - 1st hospital ship built to move wounded naval personnel launched; Alice H Parker patents gas heating furnace
1920 - Ireland divided into 2 parts, each with its own parliament; King George V signs Home Rule Act
1922 - BBC Radio began daily newscasts
1925 - Sultan Ibn Saud of Nedzjed conquers Djeddah
1928 - NBC sets up a permanent, coast-to-coast radio network
1930 - Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in New York NY
1933 - Marinus van der Lubbe sentenced to death; Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die
1938 - Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West costume catches fire in filming of "Wizard of Oz"; she is severely burned and off the film for over one month
1939 - Finnish counter offensive at Summa
1941 - American forces on Wake Island surrender to Japanese; British troops overrun Benghazi, Libya; Japan begins assault on Rangoon Burma
1942 - Allies air attack on Den Helder
1943 - General Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day
1946 - University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne University, because they may use a black player in their basketball game; Belgian Council of State forms; Highest ridership in NYC subway history (8.8 million passengers)
1947 - Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley in Bell Labs
1951 - 1st coast-to-coast televised football game (Dumont paid $75,000); Los Angeles Rams beat Cleveland Browns 24-17 in NFL championship game; Last Belgian communities get electricity
1958 - Abdallah Ibrahim forms government of Morocco
1960 - De Quay's Dutch government falls; King Saudi of Saudi-Arabia takes power
1961 - Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62 million worth of food & medical supplies; Train accident in Italy, 70 die
1962 - Cuba starts returning US prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion
1963 - Fire on Greek ship Laconia, 128 die
1964 - India & Ceylon hit by cyclone, about 4,850 killed
1967 - Lyndon B Johnson meets Pope Paul VI at the Vatican; Brussels: NATO-Council accept "Flexible Response" - strategy
1968 - 1st documented US case of space motion sickness; 82 members of US intelligence ship Pueblo released by North Korea; Borman, Lovell & Anders become 1st men to orbit Moon
1970 - New York World Trade Center reaches highest point
1972 - 16 plane crash survivors rescued after 70 days, survived by cannibalism; 6.25 Earthquake destroys central Managua Nicaragua, 10,000 die
1973 - 6 Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices; French Caravelle crashes in Morocco, 106 killed
1975 - Congress passes Metric Conversion Act
1983 - Journal Science publishes 1st report on nuclear winter
1986 - Rutan & Yeager make 1st around-the-world flight without refueling
1987 - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for attempted assassination of President Gerald R Ford escapes from Alderson Prison
1990 - Slovenians vote to secede from Yugoslavia
1991 - New York Daily News publisher Kevin Maxwell resigns
1996 - 4 women ordained priests in Jamaica, 1st in 330-year Anglican history
1997 - Terry Nichols found guilty of manslaughter in Oklahoma bombing; US Agriculture Department estimates it costs $149,820 to raise a child to 18; Woody Allen, 62 weds Soon-Yi Previn 27, adopted daughter of Mia Farrow

Birthdays
1174 - Louis I, Duke of Wittelsbach
1544 - Anna, duchess of Saxson/wife of prince Willem of Orange (1561-71)
1732 - Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor (spinning frame)
1750 - Frederik Augustus I, the Righteous, king of Saxony (1806-27)
1777 - Aleksandr I.P. Romanov, Tsar of Russia (1801-25)
1790 - Jean-François Champollion, deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics
1805 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of Mormon church
1808 - Thomas Turner, Union Navy Commander
1815 - Henry Highland Garnet, minister/abolitionist/diplomat
1818 - David Addison Weisiger, Confederate Brigadier-General
1827 - Wilhelm Freiherr von Tegetthoff, Austrian admiral (Helgoland/Lissa)
1845 - Gustave Ador, union President of Austria (1919)
1865 - Albrecht, duke of Württemberg/general-fieldmarshal
1883 - Hubert M.E. Pierlot, Belgian advocate/premier (1939-45)
1923 - James Stockdale, admiral (Vietnam)/Ross Perot's 1992 running mate; Kenneth Henry Lowry Lamb, broadcaster; Lucas M. Mangope, 1st President of Bophuthatswana (1977-94)
1924 - Floyd Kalber, newscaster (NBC Weekend News Anchor-1973)
1933 - Akihito, emperor of Japan (1989- )
1937 - Karol Joseph Bobko, Colonel USAF/astronaut (STS 6, STS 51D, STS 51J)
1943 - Silvia Sommerlath German wife of King Carl XVI of Sweden
1944 - D.J.D. Dees, pharmacist/Dutch minister of WVC (VVD); Enneüs Heerma, Dutch minister of Housing (CDA)

Passings
0558 - Childebert, king of France (511-58), dies at about 62
0679 - Dagobert II, king of Austrasia (676-679), murdered
0918 - Conrad I, East Frankish/German king (911-18)
1116 - Ivo van Chartres, French canonist/bishop of Chartres/saint
1502 - Margaretha English princess of Burgundy, dies at 57
1569 - St. Philip, metropolitan of Moscow, martyred by Ivan the Terrible
1588 - Hendrik de Guise, French leader of Catholic League, murdered at 37
1619 - Johan Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg/duke of Prussia, dies at 47
1909 - King Leopold II of Belgium
1939 - Anthony H.G. Fokker, Dutch airplane builder (Spider), dies at 49
1948 - Hideki Tojo, Japan PM, & 6 other Japanese, hanged for war crimes by US
1953 - Lavrenti P. Beria, Soviet minister of internal security, executed
1959 - Edward Halifax, English viscount/viceroy of India, dies at 78; Lord Irwin, ambassador to US (1940-46), dies at 78
1967 - Ruth Fuller Sasaki, head of 1st Zen Institute of America, dies at 75
1972 - Andrej N. Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder, dies at 84
1975 - Richard S. Welch, CIA station chief in Athens, shot dead

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Shankel, William I., USN (CA); A4C shot down, released by DRV February, 1973 - retired as a Commander - alive and well as of 1998

1966
Reeves, John Howard, USMC (Canada); KIA, body not recovered

1970
The following US Army personnel repored MIA when their U1A broke up in mid-air, all presumed KIA

Booth, Gary P. (WA); crew chief

McAndrews, Michael W. (FL); aircraft commander

Wiseman, Bain W., Jr. (NM); pilot