-- Cus D'Amato

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Bomb Kills 3 Iraqi Soldiers- Pols Shape New Government
Two Marines killed, 22 wounded in Iraq
Shiites Discuss Plan to Replace Al-Jaafari
Insurgent Attacks Kill at Least 5 in Iraq

Operation Enduring Freedom
Afghan Raid Kills 41

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Judge: Reid Not Required to Testify at Moussaoui Trial

Other Military News
Vote of Confidence (Rumsfeld)
Video: Generals Speak Out

Immigration
Youthful Marchers Stress Immigration Issue

Hamas Rising
Palestinian Gunmen Protest Hamas in Building Takeover

Worldwide Wackos
Iran President: 'Dying Tree' of Israel Will Be Annihilated- FOX Facts: Iran
Cuba Expels Czech Diplomat Accused of Spying for U.S.

Politics
Bushes Pay $187,768 in Taxes for 2005

Oddities
Texas halts arrests of drunks in bars
Woods apologises for spaz reference at Masters
Read Odd blog for news you can't use
Killer pythons in Florida park
NYC Cat Finally Rescued After 14 Days

Fox News
Poll: Tax System Unjust
Duke Lacrosse Lawyers Blast Police for Interview Attempts
Student Soc. Security Numbers Mistakenly E-Mailed
'Employee of Century' Dies Weeks After Retiring at 100
Deadly Crossing
NEW! Small Business Page
FULL SPORTS COVERAGE

Reuters: Top News
Fans jeer Bonds over perjury probe
Danube at century high
Study shows melting ice a danger to walruses
Cell phones ready to start dialing for dollars
San Francisco marks quake centenary
NYSE fans consolidation talk
Wal-Mart phasing out firearms
Delta and pilots union reach tentative agreement
TD Banknorth to buy NJ's Interchange for $481 mln
Profits may ease inflation angst
AMD shares fall, market fears Intel price cuts

AP World News
3 Ex-Police Officers Acquitted in Beating
Thousands Enjoy Easter Respite on Skid Row
Weapons Charges Issued in Proof Shooting
Glavine Leads Mets to 7th Straight Win
Mets Beat Brewers, Best Start Since 1985 .
Tenn. Authorities Hunt for Killer Bear
Baker Pitches Twins Past Yankees 5-1

Military.com
Iran Issues Warning to US
U.S. Building Massive Embassy in Baghdad
Rumsfeld Rejects Criticism
Common Airframe for New Bomber, Gunship?
Air Force Committed to UAV Development

CENTCOM: News Releases
WEAPONS CACHE DISCOVERED IN MOSUL

INSURGENT KILLED; FOUR SUSPECTS CAPTURED

THREE SUSPECTS DETAINED, ONE MAN KILLED IN BAGHDAD

AFGHAN, COALITION FORCES DISRUPT INSURGENT CELL

IRAQI FORCES TAKE LEAD IN OPERATION COBRA STRIKE

US AND COALITION VESSELS CONDUCT MSO IN ARABIAN SEA

DUTCH NAVY SHIP ANSWERS DISTRESS CALL AT SEA

IED EMPLACERS CAPTURED NEAR BAYJI

AFGHAN COALITION FORCES RECOVER MUNITIONS IN KHOST PROVINCE

AFGHAN, COALITION FORCES PRESSURE ENEMY IN KUNAR PROVINCE

IRAQI, MND-B SOLDIERS CONDUCT ‘OPERATION BOLD ACTION’

IRAQI, MND-B SOLDIERS CAPTURE FIVE TERRORISTS

KIDNAPPER CAPTURED, VICTIMS FREED

Department of Defense
President Reaffirms Support for Rumsfeld - Story
Rice Cautions Against Early Iraq Departure - Story
Command Brings Efficiency to Deployments - Story
Iraqi Forces Gain in Logistics Capability - Story - Transcript
Troops Capture, Kill Terrorists, Find Weapons - Story

IRAQIS TAKE THE LEAD
Iraqis Take Lead in Operation Cobra Strike - Story
City Leaders, Residents Gather, Voice Hopes

REBUILDING IRAQ
Soldiers Help Iraqi Farmers Create Co-op - Story

ON THE GROUND
Construction Program Improves Afghan Lives - Story
Task Force Tiger Soldiers Aid Afghan School - Story

IN IRAQ
Air Force F-15s Save Army Ground Troops
Company C Aid Station Soldiers On Call 24/7
Iraqis Take Lead in Tactical Ops With Vehicles

IN AFGHANISTAN
Riggers Prepare Supplies for Afghans in Need
Afghan, Coalition Forces Train Together
Governor, Khost Residents Celebrate Project

FACE OF DEFENSE
Navy Chief Mentors Afghan Army - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
United Airlines Helps 'Hero Miles' - Story
Singer Chronicles Spouses' Lives - Story

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Raid Killed bin Laden Associate
Forces Capture, Kill Terrorists
Insurgents Still Target Baghdad
OIF Planner Sees Progress
U.S. Soldier, Marine Killed
Pace: 'Tough Fight' Continues
Rice Welcomes Ambassador to U.S.
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq (PDF)
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (PDF)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Hospital Delivers Improved Care
Coalition Launches 'Mountain Lion'
Troops Find Weapons Caches
Officials Revise School Attack Toll
Army Graduates Radio Operators
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Ops Target Terrorists, Insurgents
Task Force Provides Gulf Security
Rice Urges U.N. Action
Rumsfeld, Bush Support Diplomacy
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

MILITARY NEWS
No-Fly Zone Duty Prepared Pilots
DoD to Set Up Joint Intel Centers
Dental Specialists Train to Deploy
Nassau Group Transits Suez Canal
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Marine Casualty - Story

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

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo

Today in History
0069 - Battle at Bedriacum, North-Italy
1205 - Battle at Adrianople - Bulgaria beats Emperor Boudouin of Constantinople
1250 - Pope Innoncent III refuses Jews of Cordova Spain permission to build a synagogue
1450 - French defeat English at Battle of Formigny in 100 Years' War
1493 - Columbus meets with King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella
1581 - Cortes van Thomar accepts Philip II as king of Portugal
1621 - Hugo the Great arrives in France
1632 - Swedish & Saxon army beat Earl Tilly
1654 - England & Netherlands signs peace treaty
1689 - French king Louis XIV declares war on Spain
1697 - Charles XII succeeds Charles XI as King of Sweden
1715 - Uprising of Yamasse-Indians in South Carolina
1716 - Russian & Prussian troops occupy Wismar
1738 - Bottle opener invented
1776 - Duchess of Kingston found guilty of bigamy
1784 - 1st balloon flight in Ireland
1788 - England, Netherlands & Prussia sign peace treaty
1793 - Bank of England hands out 1st £5-note
1800 - James Ross discovers North Magnetic pole
1817 - 1st American school for the deaf opens (Hartford CT)
1850 - City of San Francisco incorporated
1851 - Earl G. Andrássy sentenced to death in Hungary
1858 - Battle of Azimghur, Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists
1861 - Federal army (75,000 volunteers) mobilized by President Abraham Lincoln
1864 - General Steeles' Union troops occupies Camden, AR
1865 - Otto von Bismarck elevated to earl
1870 - Last day US silver coins allow to circulate in Canada
1874 - New York legislature passes compulsory education law
1877 - 1st telephone installed Boston-Somerville MA
1878 - Harley Procter introduces Ivory Soap
1892 - General Electric Company forms & incorporated in New York
1896 - 1st Olympic games close at Athens, Greece
1910 - William Howard Taft is 1st US President to throw out a 1st ball at a baseball game
1918 - Clemenceau publishes secret French/Austrian documents
1920 - New Canadian small cent coin is released
1922 - Frederick Banting, John MacLeod & Charles Best discover insulin
1927 - Switzerland & USSR agree to diplomatic relations
1931 - The 1st walk across America backwards began
1939 - Albert Lebrun elected President of France
1940 - British troops land at Narvik, Norway
1941 - 1st helicopter flight of 1 hour duration, Stratford, CT
1942 - George VI awards the George Cross to the people of Malta
1945 - FDR buried on grounds of Hyde Park home; British & Canadian troops liberate Nazi camp of Bergen-Belsen; US troops occupy concentration camp Colditz
1948 - 1st Jewish-Arab military battle, Arabs defeated; Indian territory of Himachal Pradesh created
1951 - Michael Gorsira is 1st person in charge of Curaçao
1952 - 1st B-52 prototype test flight; Franklin National Bank issues 1st bank credit card
1953 - Malans National Party wins South African elections
1955 - Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants (Illinois)
1957 - Saturday mail delivery restored after Congress givs Post Office $41 million
1959 - Fidel Castro begins US goodwill tour; US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles resigns
1960 - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), organizes at Shaw University
1962 - US national debt above $300,000,000,000
1964 - Chesapeake Bay Bridge opens (Bridge-Tunnel measures 17.6 miles (28.4 km) and is considered the world's largest bridge-tunnel complex); Ian Smith becomes premier of Rhodesia
1970 - Libyan leader Qadhafi launches "Green Revolution"
1974 - Military coup in Niger, President Diori Hamani deposed
1975 - Gabon amends constitution
1978 - 43 die as 2 express trains collide head-on south of Bologna Italy
1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opens
1984 - Extremist Sikhs plunder 40 stations in Punjab India
1985 - South Africa repeals marriage laws against whites & non-whites
1986 - US air raids on Libya, responding to La Belle disco, Berlin bombing
1988 - Meteorite explodes above Indonesia
1989 - 95 crushed to death at Sheffield Soccer Stadium in England; Students in Beijing hold pro-democracy protests
1991 - Europe foreign ministers lift most remaining sanctions against South Africa
1992 - Billionaire Leona Helmsley is sent to jail for tax evasion; William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy & DeForest Kelley inducted into National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
1997 - America OnLine, begins service in Japan; Baseball honors Jackie Robinson by retiring #42 for all teams

Birthdays
1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter/sculptor/scientist/visionary
1469 - Nanak, 1st guru of Sikhs
1684 - Catherine I, Empress of Russia (1725-27)
1800 - Sir James Clark Ross, explorer (British Antarctic)
1820 - Evander McNair, Confederate Brigadier General
1821 - Emerson Brown Joseph (Confederacy)
1822 - Napolean Jackson Tecumseh Dana, Union Major General
1829 - Mary Harris Thompson, 1st American woman surgeon
1837 - Horace Porter, Union Brevet Brigadier General
1874 - Johannes Stark, German physicist (Stark effect) (Nobel 1919)
1882 - Giovanni Amendola, Italian antifascist/editor-in-chief (Il Mondo)
1912 - Kim Sung Il, President of North Korea (1945-94)
1919 - Clive Beadon, airman
1920 - Richard von Weizsäcker, Baron/President (Germany, 1984-94)
1921 - Georgi Timofeyevich Beregovoi, cosmonaut (Soyuz 3)
1928 - Richard Evans, British diplomat
1929 - Adrian Cadbury, candy manufacturer (Cadbury, Schweppes)
1930 - Vigdis Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland
1932 - David Bolton, director (British Royal United Service for Defense); Nikolai Stepanovich Porvatkin, Russian cosmonaut
1941 - Howard L. Berman (Representative-CA)
1942 - Kim Jong Il, son of North Korean President Kim Sung Il (1972-94)
1945 - Jos F. B. van Rey, Dutch MP (VVD)
1946 - Wayne Gilchrest (Representative-MD)
1951 - Marsha S Ivins, astronaut (STS 32, 46, 62, 81); Heloise II columnist (Heloise's Helpful Hints)
1951 - John L. Phillips, PhD/astronaut
1956 - Gregory J. Harbaugh, astronaut (STS 39, 54, 71, 82)
1960 - Marvin Clyde Goodwin, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1960 - Philip, Belgian pPrince/husband of Princess Paola
1965 - Soichi Noguchi, astronaut

Passings
1415 - Manuel Chrysoloras, Byzantine leader/diplomat (Erotèmata)
1502 - Jan IV Chalon, Prince of Orange, dies
1605 - Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia (1598-1605)
1764 - Jeanne-Antoinette-Poison LeNormant d'Etoiles, Marquis de Pomador
1824 - Theodorus F. van Capellen, Vice-Admiral (Algiers), dies at 61
1865 - President Abraham Lincoln dies, at 7:22 am, the morning after being shot by John Wilkes Booth
1975 - John B. McKay, US test pilot (X-15)
1980 - Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialist philosopher/writer (Nobel 1964), dies in Paris at 74
1982 - 5 Muslim extremist murderers of Egyptian President Sadat executed; Louis M. de Guiringaud French foreign minister (1976-78), commits suicide at 70
1986 - Sergei Nikolayevich Anokhin, cosmonaut, dies at 76
1989 - Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of Chinese Commnist Party
1990 - Greta Garbo, actress (Anna Karenina, Camille), dies at 84
1997 - Zdenek Mlynar, Secretary of Czechoslovakian Communist Central Committee (1968)

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Zerbe, Michael R., USN (CA); SH3 crashed, Killed, body not recovered

1968
Metz, James H., USAF (MO); F105D shot down - SRV returned remains to PCOM March, 1977

1970
Bivens, Herndon A., US Army (NY); UH1H shot down (passenger) - DIC 2 hrs after capture

Miller, Roger A., US Army (NY); UH1H shot down (passenger) - released by PRG March, 1973 (injured) - alive as of 1998

1972
Despiegler, Gale A., USAF (MN); F4E shot down (w/Trimble) - released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Trimble, Larry A., USAF (WA); F4E shot down (w/Despiegler) - remains returned June, 1989 - ID'd September, 1989