News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
British Troops Save 76 Iraqi Prisoners in Raid on Basra Police Station
U.K. Soldiers Watch for Reprisals After Iraq Raid
Brits on alert after blowing up Basra police station
U.S. military deaths in Iraq pass 9/11 toll
Saddam loses appeal: govt official
Camaraderie key for U.S. blacks fighting in Iraq
Parents of slain GIs travel to Iraq

Operation Enduring Freedom
Pakistan Wants Land Mines at Afghan Border

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Israel plans W.Bank homes for Gaza settlers
Israeli spies divided over Syria's peace overtures

Supporting Our Heroes
Bush Makes Christmas Calls to Troops
Bush Touts 'America Supports You'

Other Military News
U.S. Army Hospital Prepares for Baby Boom After Soldiers Return From Iraq

'Tis the Season
Santa’s Helper Delivers Gifts to Foreign Nationals (From MNF Iraq)
An Impromtu Christmas Gift (From CENTCOM)
Grinches Steal $30,000 From Church
Christmas celebrated with call for peace
'Tis season for nearly nude calendars
Retailers slash prices after Christmas

Religion of Peace??
Islamic Forces Retreat in Somalia
Up to 1,000 Islamists dead in Ethiopia offensive: Meles - Video
Israeli spies divided over Syria's peace overtures

Worldwide Wackos
Spanish Doctor Considers Surgery for Castro
U.S. highlights Iran-meddling charge in Iraq

Politics / Government
Schwarzenegger to Have Surgery for Broken Leg
Poor records plague Bush AIDS effort

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Longtime president of CBS dies at 98
MySpace users big targets for ID thieves

Science / Nature
Violent Storms, Heavy Rains Tear Through Florida
Asian Countries Mark Tsunami Anniversary
Silence, tears as Asia remembers 2004 tsunami - Video
Taiwan quake may have triggered tsunami -agency
Japan scientists fail to unfold satellite antenna
Airports, mail carriers busy after storm

Oddities
Prizes for prostitute-free New Year
Repentant thief returns booty in Germany
Personalized bobbleheads getting a nod

Other News of Note
James Brown Was Always Imitated, but Never Surpassed
"Godfather of Soul" James Brown dies at 73 - Video

Fox News
Stocks to Watch: Amylin, Openwave and UTStarcom
Cops: Perv Nabbed Taking Photos Up Teen's Skirt
American Climbers Missing in China for a Month
Oil Pipeline Blast Kills at Least 200 in Nigeria

Reuters: Top News
Indonesia floods recede, at least 100 dead
Turkmen assembly sets February presidential polls
Sri Lanka rebels forced way onto Jordan ship-crew
Innovation, design freshen "Made in Taiwan" tech label
Telik cancer drug fails trials; stock plummets
Circumcision could save money in AIDS-hit Africa
Mary J. Blige the queen of R&B charts in 2006
Gazprom says talks with Belarus fail
China's economy seen growing in '07
Anadarko to sell Louisiana gas fields for $1.6 bln
Innovation, design freshen "Made in Taiwan" tech label
Telik cancer drug fails trials; stock plummets
Russia tax office files suit vs PWC on YUKOS audit
Charles Schwab to buy retirement plan business
Krispy Kreme posts 1st-qtr loss in delayed report
Holders press Caremark to consider Express bid
News Corp has deal with Liberty Media on DirecTV
Indonesia floods recede, at least 100 dead
Turkmen assembly sets February presidential polls

AP World News
Electrical transformer explodes in Colo.
Stocks edge higher in light trading
Jets closer to spot in playoffs with win
24 die in Philippines store fire
Study: Overcoming allergies possible
Eagles take over division, beat Cowboys

Military.com
Blog: Operation Santa Helps Wounded
Defense Tech: Top 20 Posts of '06
Podcast: Truth From Al Anbar
Advisors: Books for Military Kids

CENTCOM: News Releases
MNC-I COMMANDER MEETS WITH TROOPS

AVGANI POLICE FIND CACHE IN TRUCK NEAR SYRIAN BORDER

COALITION FORCES CAPTURES LEADER OF MURDER AND KIDNAPPING CELL NEAR BAGHDAD

COALITION FORCES USE PRECISION MUNITIONS TO STOP IED EMPLACERS

COALITION FORCES KILL THREE INSURGENTS NEAR SAMSIYAH

IP CAPTURES FIVE INSURGENTS SOUTHEAST OF MOSUL

PARATROOPERS FIND MULTIPLE CACHES SOUTH OF BAGHDAD

IRAQI ARMY, COALITION FORCES TARGET INSURGENTS IN TAHRIR

SUICIDE BOMBER ATTACKS IRAQI PEACE OFFICERS

SUSPECTED SENIOR AL-QAIDA WEAPONS DEALER CAPTURED IN BAYJI

PARATROOPERS FIND, DISABLE MULTIPLE-ROUND ROADSIDE BOMB

FIRST TIME IN FOUR DECADES; TWO 2ID BRIGADES CONDUCT OPERATION IN EASTERN BAGHDAD

SECURITY PATROL HIT BY ROADSIDE BOMB

TWO COALITION SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN AL ANBAR

SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS TWO, WOUNDS FIVE AT AL ANBAR UNIVERSITY

IA CAPTURES BOMB CELL MEMBERS NORTH OF MOSUL

16 KIDNAP VICTIMS RESCUED BY IRAQI ARMY

THREE 89TH MILITARY POLICE BRIGADE SOLDIERS KILLED, ONE WOUNDED

IA AND CF REPEL ATTACK DURING RAID ON INSURGENT CELL IN BAQUBAH

IA AND CF ATTACKED DURING PATROL IN BAQUBAH

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
Forces Kill Suspected Insurgents - Story
Stability & Security in Iraq Report (pdf)
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
Chief of Naval Operations Visits USS Boxer - Story
Trainers Tell Gates They're Pleased With Progress - Story
Residents Take Pride in Market Renovations - Story
Soldiers, Mayor Discuss Progress of City Cleanup - Story

IN IRAQ
Iraqi Police, Coalition Forces Deliver Supplies
Najaf Teaching Hospital Nears Completion
Soldiers Work 24/7 to Keep Supplies Flowing
U.S. Army Engineers Help Ramp Up Oil Production

IN AFGHANISTAN
Afghan Officials, U.S. Troops Open Runway
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

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg MainzMannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Philippines
Baler Radar Site Catanduanes Radar Site Manila

South Korea
Cheju Upper/Radar Chonju Chunchon Inch'on Kunsan Masan Mokp'o Osan
Pusan Seoul Suwon Taegu Taejon Tonghae Radar SiteUlsan Yosu

** If you're deployed, and want to see your location's weather listed here, please email me! **
Today in History
0268 - St Dionysius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0418 - St Zosimus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0795 - St Leo III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1481 - Battle at Westbroek: Dutch army beats Utrecht
1492 - 1st Spanish settlement in New World founded, by Columbus
1568 - Uprising of Morisco's against suppression in Granada
1620 - Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth, MA
1659 - Long Parliament reforms in Westminster
1748 - France & Austria signs treaty about Southern Netherlands
1773 - Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia
1776 - Battle of Trenton-major British defeat; George Washington defeats Hessians at Trenton
1799 - George Washington is eulogized by Colonel Henry Lee as "1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in the hearts of his countrymen"
1805 - France & Austria sign Peace of Pressburg
1809 - English invasionary troop leaves Vlissingen
1813 - Zamose, Modlin, Torgau surrender to allied armies
1825 - Erie Canal opens
1848 - 1st gold seekers arrive in Panamá en route to San Francisco; William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia
1854 - Wood-pulp paper 1st exhibited, Buffalo
1860 - Maiden voyage of 1st steamship owned by 1 man (C Vanderbilt); Major Robert Anderson, under cover of darkness, concentrates his small force at Fort Sumter
1862 - 1st US navy hospital ship enters service; 38 Santee Sioux Indians hanged in Mankato MN, due to their uprising; Battle of Dumfries VA
1865 - James H Mason (Massachusetts) patents 1st US coffee percolator
1878 - 1st US store to install electric lights, Philadelphia
1890 - King Mwanga of Uganda signs contract with East Africa Company
1916 - Joseph Joffre becomes marshal of France
1917 - Federal government takes over the operation of American RR for duration of WWI
1926 - Prince-regent Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan
1932 - Earthquake kills 70,000 in Kansu China
1933 - US forswears armed intervention in the Western Hemisphere
1941 - Winston Churchill becomes 1st British PM to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that the Axis would "stop at nothing"
1943 - British sink German battle cruiser Scharnhorst
1944 - Battle of Bastogne-US General Patton's 4th Pantzers repulse the Germans; Budapest surrounded by soviet army
1946 - Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas opens (start of an era)
1947 - British transfer Heard & McDonald Islands (Indian Ocean) to Australia; Heavy snow blankets Northeast, buries NYC under 25.8" of snow in 16 hours; That same day, Los Angeles set a record high of 84º F
1963 - US furnishes cereal to USSR
1966 - Maulana Karenga establishes the Kwanzaa (1st fruits of harvest) holiday
1968 - Arab terrorists in Athens fire on El Al plane, killing 1
1973 - 2 Skylab 3 astronauts walk in space for a record 7 hours; Soyuz 13 returns to Earth; "The Exorcist", starring Linda Blair & rated X, premieres
1975 - 1st supersonic transport service (USSR-Tupolev-144)
1978 - India's former PM, Indira Gandhi, released from jail
1982 - TIME's Man of the Year is a computer
1986 - Hijackers take over an Iraqi Airways Boeing 737 with 91 people on board during a flight from Baghdad to Amman - it lands in Arar, Saudi Arabia where it explodes, killing 62 people.
1991 - Jack Ruby's gun sells for $220,000 in auction; Militant Sikhs kill 55 & wound 70 in India
1993 - Antonov-26 crashes at Gyumri, Armenia, 36 killed
1994 - French commando's terminate Air France hijacking in Marseille

Birthdays
1194 - Frederick II Iesi Italy, German Emperor (1212-1250)/King of Sicily
1618 - Elisabeth Paltsgravin of Rhine/abbess
1738 - Thomas Nelson, merchant, signer of the Declaration of Independence
1770 - Pierre, earl de Cambronne French general (Waterloo, Elba)
1809 - William Nelson Pendleton, Confederate Brigadier-General
1815 - Israel Bush Richardson, Union Major General
1820 - Gustavus Adolphus Smith, Union Brigadier-General
1824 - Augustus Louis Chetlain, Union Major General
1837 - Admiral George Dewey, American naval hero of Manila
1886 - Gyula Gömbös von Jákfa, general/dictator of Hungary (1932-35)
1893 - Mao Tse-tung of little red book fame, PM of China People's Republic (1949-76)
1921 - Steve Allen, comedian/TV host (Tonight Show, Steve Allen Show)
1939 - Lynn Martin, US Secretary of Labor (1991-93)
1942 - Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, President of Guatemala (1986-91)
1953 - Valeri Yuriyevich Sharov, Russian cosmonaut

Passings
0267 - Dionysius, bishop of Rome/saint, dies
1476 - Galeazzo Maria Sforza, duke of Milan, murdered
1530 - Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder Mogols-dynasty, dies at 47
1740 - Mauritius Louis II, earl of Nassau, Lieutenant-General
1776 - Johann Gottlieb Rall, Hessian colonel/mercenary, dies in battle
1797 - John Wilkes, English journalist/Higher/Lower house leader, dies at 72
1861 - Philip St. George Cocke, Confederate Brigadier-General, commits suicide at 52
1862 - 38 Santee Sioux Indians hanged in Mankato
1866 - Samuel Ryan Curtis, Union General-Major, dies at 49
1942 - Bosinier de la Chapelle, French murderer of Admiral Darlan, executed at 24
1972 - Harry Truman, 33rd US President, dies in Kansas City MO at 88
1973 - Harold B. Lee, US head of Mormon Church, dies at 74
1974 - Jack Benny, comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 80
1976 - Philip A. Hart (Senator-MI), dies at 64
1992 - John G. Kemeny, US computer pioneer (BASIC), dies
1997 - John Whitley, air-Marshal, dies at 92

Reported Missing in Action
1961
Fryett, George Frederick, US Army (CA); released June, 1962 - alive as of 1998

1969
Trowbridge, Dustin C., USNR (IL); A6A crashed, Killed, body not recovered

1971
Guenther, Lynn, USAF (OR); rOV10A shot down, released by DRV February, 1973 (injured) - retired as a Colonel - alive as of 1998

Koons, Dale F., USAF (OH); F4D shot down (w/Stolz) - remains returned January, 1990

Stolz, Lawrence G., USAF (IN); F4D shot down (w/Koons) - remains returned January, 1990

1972
The following USAF personnel lost when their B52G was shot down:
Cook, James R. (NC); released by DRV February, 1973 - released by DRV (injured) - retired as a Senior Master Sergeant - alive and well as of 1998

Hudson, Robert M. (KS); released by DRV February, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998

LaBeau, Michael M. (MI); released by DRV February, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998

Morris, Robert J., Jr., (MO); pilot, remains returned by SRV September, 1977

Vavroch, Duane P., (IA); released by DRV February, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998

Wimbrow, Nutter J., (MD); remains returned by SRV September, 1977