News of NoteOperation Iraqi FreedomIraq Chopper Crash Kills TwoSaddam Judge May Be Replaced by DeputyIraq: 99 Percent of Dec. 15 Vote Was ValidOperation Enduring FreedomBomb Kills 20 in Afghanistan Afghanistan violence up as security handoff in south nearsHomeland Security / War on TerrorSpy agency post-9/11 data sidetracked FBI: NY Times VideoPakistani Ruling Party Demands U.S. ApologyMilitary NewsVietnam-era Marine deserter, 55, arrested in TexasU.S. Fighter Jet Crashes, Pilot RescuedIcebreaker's last season marred by lack of ice PoliticsGore calls for probe into domestic spying(I wonder if he'll also be calling for a probe of warrantless searches during the Clinton administration - nah, probably not)N.O. Mayor: Storms Are a Sign 'God is Mad At America'Supreme CourtCommittee Alito Vote Jan. 24U.N. ScandalsU.N. Suspends Staffers in Procurement ProbeOddities
Two patients in surgical slip-upFire razes Hemingway's barElephants kill Bangladeshi villager, attacks riseCannibal says victim wanted to be eatenOther News of NoteMajor Security Council Members Agree on IranIranian Navy Vessel Kills Iraqi Sailor, Captures NineSuicide bomber film wins honor at Golden GlobesFox NewsFormer President Ford in Hospital With PneumoniaThird Teen Suspect Arrested in Florida Homeless BeatingsMurder Suspects Escape JailCouple With Explosives Takes Lawyer Hostage in GeorgiaFirst Lady Attends Liberian President's InaugurationStocks to Watch: Intel, IBMAirplane Mechanic Sucked Into Jet Engine, KilledReport: Sharon Opens Eyes State Executes Oldest Condemned InmateBox Office Gets 'Hoodwinked''Brokeback' Rides Away With GlobesList of Winners PhotosSPORTS NEWS AND SCORESReuters: Top NewsRussia, China want talks not sanctions on IranAfrica follows drought with floodsSaudi mediates to ease Lebanon-Syria tensions: FTMore bird flu deaths as experts meet on crisis VideoMcCain says Republicans 'lost our way' on spendingCheney has talks with MubarakNASA counts down to Pluto probe launchLike Saddam, bunker brought low by Iraqis not bombsEU tipped to get biogenerics this year, U.S. 2009Asia stocks fall sharplyAirbus beats Boeing with 1,055 plane ordersChina, US to boost 2006 world oil demand growth-IEADelphi CEO says GM helping in union talksGermany, Spain approve Allergan-Inamed dealBranson clears path for NTL, Virgin Mobile dealEU executive seeks end to logjam over patent rulesCorporate profits could lift stocksTakeover battle for Dofasco nears end: analystsM&A buzz, L'Oreal update spur on European sharesRussia's LUKOIL shares hit all-time highAP World NewsIsrael, Hamas Rewrite Rules of EngagementCambodia Frees Four Government CriticsU.N. Suspends Quake Relief Flights 2nd DayPolls: Canadian Conservatives Gain GroundSharon Hears Grandson's Voice, Opens EyesU.S. Mission in Cuba Runs Rights MessagesRwandan Rebel Gets 15 Years for 8 KillingsIsraelis Restore Order After Hebron RiotsPope Gunman Said Unfit for the MilitaryChile's President-Elect Vows to ListenSirleaf Vows End to Liberia's Violent PastThe Seattle TimesNASA to blast off today on 9-year, 3 billion-mile trip to mysterious PlutoNew Horizons: NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt MissionLesson No. 1 in the ant world: The food's this wayPreachers, politicians urge Americans to continue pursuit of King's dreamConvicted sex offender tries to pass as British royaltyPlant could hold secret for new pain medication2 million more join Medicare drug planOklahomans thirsty for reliefGovernment "delisting" grizzly bears near 2 parksPaintings stolen by Nazis belong to heir, court saysWhere's Kim? Tour by VIP is the China's worst-kept secretChicago Sun-TimesBen Franklin, The First American 90-year-old woman fights thief as con ring hits elderlyU.S. OKs $57 million for Gary airport expansion Cops: Thief beaten with pool cues, tree branches Discreet public urination not so bad, says St. Louis pol Suspect wants county to pay for $60,000 operation Boston Globe: WorldSeveral injured after police, protesters clash in ChinaHamas campaign throws politics into confusionMilitary.comNew Amputee Center to OpenDepartment of DefenseApache Helicopter Crash Kills Two in Iraq -
StoryDetainees Released; Bombs, Weapons Found -
StoryU.S. General Cites Iraq Progress, Salutes TroopsON THE GROUNDIraqi Soldiers, U.S. Marines Find 11 Arms Caches -
StoryU.S. Medics Treat Bomb Victims in Afghanistan -
StoryTOP NEWSIRAQ
Officials Report Marine DeathsCombat Operations ContinueSoldiers Detain Suspected TerroristsU.S. Army Pilots Die in Crash Fact Sheet: Progress and Work AheadReport: Strategy for Victory in Iraq Iraq Daily UpdateThis Week in Iraq (pdf)Multinational Force IraqEye on Iraq Update (pdf)State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (pdf)'Boots on the Ground' Audio ArchiveIraq ReconstructionMapsAFGHANISTANAfghanistan UpdateMapsWAR ON TERRORISMFact Sheet: War on TerrorFact Sheet: Terror Plots DisruptedWaging and Winning the War on TerrorTerrorism TimelineTerrorism Knowledge BaseMILITARY NEWSAbell Talks Recruiting, Retention National Guard, Reserve UpdateWeatherIraqAl Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall KayfAfghanistanBost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul QandaharGitmoToday in History1501 - Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna
1562 - Edict of St Germain recognizes the Huguenots in France
1595 - French king Henri IV declares war on Spain
1601 - France gains Bresse, Bugey, Valromey & Gex in treaty with Spain
1656 - Brandenburg & Sweden sign Treaty of Königsberg
1718 - Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland; kills 53
1746 - Battle of Falkirk, Scotland-Prince Charles Edward Stuart defeated by Scots
1757 - Germany declares war on Prussia
1773 - Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle (66º 33' S)
1775 - 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests, Kalisk, Poland
1779 - Captain Cook's last notation in ship's log
1821 - México permits Moses Austin & 300 US families to settle in Texas
1827 - Duke of Wellington appointed British supreme commander
1832 - Johannes van den Bosch appointed Governor-General of Dutch-Indies
1852 - British recognize independence of Transvaal (in South Africa)
1861 - Flush toilet (with separate water tank and a pull chain) patented by Mr Thomas Crapper
1862 - USS Lexington begins bombardment of Fort Henry, TN (thru Jan 22nd)
1863 - Skirmish near Newtown VA
1864 - General Longstreet's command ends heavy fighting at Dandridge TN
1874 - Armed Democrats seize Texas government, ending Radical Reconstruction
1885 - British beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan
1893 - Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic
1895 - French President Casimir-Perier resigns; Félix Faure installed as President of France
1899 - US takes possession of Wake Island in Pacific
1911 - Failed assassination attempt on premier Briand in French Assembly
1912 - English explorer Robert Falcon Scott & his expedition reach the South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there 1 month before
1913 - Raymond Poincaré elected President of France
1915 - Russia occupies Bukovina & Western Ukraine
1917 - US pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands
1920 - Paul Deschanel elected President of France
1928 - 1st fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented
1929 - Popeye makes 1st appearance, in comic strip "Thimble Theatre"
1944 - Corvette
Violet sinks U-641 in Atlantic Ocean
1945 - Liberation of Warsaw by Soviet troops (end of Nazi occupation); Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation; Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, arrested by secret police in Hungary
1946 - United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting
1948 - Netherlands & Indonesia agree to a cease fire; Trial of 11 US Communist party members begins in New York City NY
1950 - 11 men rob Brink's office in Boston of $1.2M cash & $1.5M securities
1951 - China refuses cease-fire in Korea
1954 - Jacques Cousteau's 1st network telecast airs on "Omnibus" (CBS)
1955 - Submarine USS Nautilus begins 1st nuclear-powered test voyage
1961 - Eisenhower allegedly orders the assassination of Congo's Lumumba
1962 - NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to 40,690 m
1963 - Joe Walker takes X-15 to altitude of 82 km
1966 - Martin Luther King, Jr., opens campaign in Chicago; USAF B-52 carrying 4 unarmed hydrogen bombs crashes on Spanish coast at Palomares, killing 7
1968 - Soyuz 4 & 5 completed 1st docking of 2 manned spacecraft
1973 - New Philippine constitution names Marcos president for life; City of Amsterdam decides to support Hanoi
1976 - Hermes rocket launched by European Space Agency
1980 - NASA launches Fltsatcom-3
1981 - Philippino President Marcos ends state of siege
1983 - Nigeria expels 2 million illegal aliens, mostly Ghanaians; Alabama Governor George C Wallace, becomes governor for record 4th time
1984 - Supreme Court rules (5-4) private use of home VCRs to tape TV programs for later viewing does not violate federal copyright laws
1987 - President Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran
1988 - Leslie Manigay elected President of Haiti
1989 - Gunman opens fire in California schoolyard; 5 students slain, 30 wounded; Victoria Murden & Shirley Metz are 1st women to reach South Pole overland (on skis)
1991 - Iraq fires 8 SCUD missiles on Israel - 1st US pilot shot down in Operation Desert Storm (Jeffrey Zahn)
1994 - 6.6 Earthquake hits Los Angeles killing 60, $30B in damage
1995 - 7.2 earthquake destroys Kobe Japan (5,372 die)
1998 - President Clinton faces sexual harassment charges from Paula Jones
Birthdays1342 - Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy
1463 - Frederick III the Wise, elector of Saxony (1486-25), protector Luther
1504 - Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri), saint, pope (1566-72)
1612 - Thomas Fairfax, Lord Fairfax, English Parliamentary General
1706 -
Benjamin Franklin, kite flyer/statesman/wit/inventor, Declaration of Independence signer1732 - Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last king of Poland (1764-95)
1759 - Paul Cuffe, merchant/shipbuilder/Black nationalist
1806 - James Madison Randolph (Jefferson's grandson), 1st born in White House
1818 - Sir Antoine Dorion, joint premier of Canada (1858, 1863-64)
1828 - Lewis Addison Grant, Union Brevet Major General
1853 - Alva Vanderbilt Beaumont, women's rights advocate & activist
1863 - David Lloyd George, British PM (1916-22)
1880 - Mack Sennett, movie creator (Keystone Kops)
1886 - Glenn Luther Martin, aviator (Collier Trophy-1933)
1891 - Norman "Squab" Read, US aviator who lived to be 101
1899 - Al Capone, gangster (Chicago bootlegging)
1902 - Geoffrey W. Lloyd, British minister of Brandstoffen/Energy (1951-55)
1905 - Franz Schmid, ascended northside of Matterhorn (1931)
1910 - Edith S. Green (Representative-OR)
1911 - Luis W. Alvarez, US physicist (sub atomic, Nobel 1968)
1917 - Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), Indian film star, politician
1918 - Joseph Walker Barr banker/politician
1922 - Luis Echeverría Alvarez, President of Mexico
1930 - Thomas P. Stafford, astronaut (Gemini 6, Gemini 9, Apollo 10); Bill Benyon, English large landowner/Conservative Lower house leader
1931 - James Earl Jones, actor (Darth Vader -
Star Wars); L. Douglas Wilder (Gov-VA)
1933 - Aga Khan, religious leader (Muslim)
1934 - Shari Lewis, ventriloquist/puppeteer (Lamb Chop)
1939 - Maury Povich, TV host (Current Affair, Maury)/Mr Connie Chung
1942 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), heavyweight champ boxer (1964-7 74-8)
1943 - Daniel Charles Brandenstein, astronaut (STS 8, 51-G, 32, 49)
1949 - Andy Kaufman, comedian/actor (Latka Gravas-Taxi)
1954 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., attorney (Natural Resources Defense Council)
Passings0395 - Theodosius I the Great, Spanish emperor of Rome, dies at 49
1119 - Boudouin VII, Hapkin count of Flanders
1661 - Andres Malong, Philippines rebel leader, executed
1874 - Chang & Eng Bunker, Chinese/Thai Siamese twins, die at 62
1893 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th US President (1877-81), dies in Fremont OH at 70
1902 - Gideon Scheepers, South African Boer leader, executed
1908 - Ferdinand IV, ruler of Toscane, dies at 72
1910 - Thomas Crapper, inventor (flush toilet)
1938 - William H. Pickering, astronomer (predicted Pluto), dies at 79
1955 - Joannes A. Veraart, Dutch judge/MP, (Jews in Netherlands), dies at 68
1961 - Patrice Lumumba, African revolutionary, murdered at 36
1968 - Julis Deutsch, Austrian politician/General Spanish republican army, dies at 83
1977 - Gary Gilmore executed in Utah, 1st US execution since 1967
1990 - Charles Hernu, French minister of Defense (1981-85)
1991 - Olav AFEC van Sleeswijk-Holstein-S-G V, King of Norway (1957)
1994 - Allan G. Odell, Ad executive (Burma Shave), dies at 90; Chung Il Kwon, PM of South Korea (1964-70)
1997 - Asfa Wossen (Amha Selassie), crown emperor of Ethiopia in exile; Clyde William Tombaugh discoverer (Pluto), dies at 90
Reported Missing in Action1966
Ramsey, Douglas K.,
Civilian (NV); released by PRG February, 1973 - alive as of 1998
1967Cogdell, William K.,
USAF (IN); T28D shot down - remains ID'd May, 1994
Krogman, Alva R.,
USAF (WY); O1F shot down, KIA, body not recovered
Wozniak, Frederick J.,
USAF (MI); RF3C disappeared on reconnaissance mission (backseater, w/Wright)
Wright, Gary G.,
USAF (CA); RF4C disappeared on reconnaissance mission (pilot, w/Wozniak)
1968Wilke, Robert F.,
USAF (WI); A1A crashed on rescue mission
1969Fickler, Edwin James,
USMC (WI); A6A presumed shot down on bombing mission (pilot, w/Kuhlman) - presumed KIA, body not recovered
Kuhlman, Robert John, Jr., USMC (IN); A6A presumed shot down on bombing mission (bombardier / navigator, w/Fickler) - presumed KIA, body not recovered
Smith, Victor A.,
USAF (MD); F4D shot down (systems operator)
1971Mirrer, Robert H.,
USAF (NJ); F4E shot down, believed KIA, body not recovered