News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Bush Plan: 20,000 Troops, Iraqi Control by November
Pelosi's Statements on Iraq Troop Levels Have Shifted
Bush faces Democratic opposition to troop boost - Video
New Saddam Video Surfaces
Baghdad Battle Kills 50 Insurgents - VIDEO
Bush Iraq plan sees troop boost: defense official - Video
Iraq man to face magistrates over Saddam taunting
New wave of troops set for Iraq

Operation Enduring Freedom
Afghan Security Forces Continue To Become More Competent, Capable - Video

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Pentagon Confirms Strike Against Al Qaeda in Somalia
"Many dead" in U.S. strike at al Qaeda in Somalia - Video
Anti-Terror Legislation Sails Through House
ETA says it set Madrid bomb but truce stays - Video

Troops on Trial
Soldier diagnosed with mental problems

Other Military News
Intelligence expert Wohlstetter dies
Soldier Dragged Half-Mile Under Car
GI Returns, Belongings Gone

Worldwide Wackos
Chavez nationalizations push Venezuela further left
U.S. sends stealth fighter planes to South Korea - Video
N. Korea nuclear test likely: general - Video
Iran says has no plan to quit nuclear pact: agency

Homegrown Moonbats
Donald Takes Poison Pen to Rosie
Read The Donald's Letter to Rosie (pdf)

Politics / Government
Bush backs off fight on four court nominees
Stem cell backers predict success in new Congress
Sen. Johnson upgraded to fair condition

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment
Two shot as Vegas road rage shooting ends at school

U.N. News
ElBaradei renews call for nuclear bomb-free world
Washington asks U.N. to prod Myanmar on repression

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
2nd Brazil Co. Blocks YouTube Over Sex Clip
Brazilian judge reverses YouTube ban
O'Reilly, Colbert to trade appearances

Science / Nature
Malibu Mansions Destroyed - PICS
2006 Warmest Year in U.S. History
Scientists baffled by U.S. stranding of dolphins

News from My Neck of the Woods
Culprit in NYC Gas Smell: Stinky Ol' Jersey
2 dead in Mass. commuter train crash

Oddities
Get Your Endangered Species Ringtones!
Urinal thief comes clean
Scorpions on a plane

Other News of Note
Boy, 13, Missing and Feared Kidnapped in Eastern Missouri
FBI Joins Search for Missouri 13-Year-Old
Body of Teen Who Died in Frat Hazing Defaced

Fox News
Godfather of Soul's Still Unburied
Apple Debuts iPhone, Renames Company
McGwire Denied Hall; Gwynn, Ripken Get In
'Sirius' Bucks: Stern Nets $83M Bonus
Oil Crashes to 1-1/2 Year Low
Complaint Filed Involving NBA's Kidd, Wife
Prince William's Gal Pal Spurs Media Frenzy
Mary-Kate Has a Nice Meal in Public
Jive Records Still Addicted to Britney Spears
Angelina Jolie: Newborn Daughter Shiloh Is a 'Blob'

Reuters: Top News
U.S. to nominate either LA or Chicago for 2016 Olympics
Bigger brains give birds survival benefit, study finds
Apple introduces svelte multimedia iPhone
Warner Bros. hybrid DVD gets retail support
Black men in focus in U.S. HIV drug trial
Remote Chinese city pins hopes on Olympic boom
Whitney Houston auctions off clothes to pay debt
Britney, Paris top Blackwell's worst dressed list
Apple iPhone sends down Asia handset makers' shares
Nasdaq climbs with Apple
Investors dump RIM as Apple launches iPhone
Falling oil, Chavez hit Latin America stocks
AES shares slide following Chavez comments
Reuters Regulation Summit
Hedge fund questions
Time to redraft plans?
Motorola completes acquisition of Symbol Tech
Apple introduces svelte multimedia iPhone
Mizuho Securities and Shinko Sec to merge, sources say
Nasdaq climbs with Apple
Alcoa profit surges on higher aluminum prices
Pioneer N.American plasma TV sales to miss target

AP World News
Jamestown seeds reflect survival efforts
Dow drops nearly 7 as oil prices decline
Kids at home could mean higher-fat diet
Swank is moving on after split with Lowe
Foie gras ban in Chicago is flouted
Bangor makes it illegal to smoke in cars
Fiancee: Hunter killing was self-defense
NYC mom accused of suffocating newborn
Quadruple killer put to death in Okla.
Ex-fire boss cited hours after hearing

Military.com
Soldier Dragged Half-Mile Under Car
Def. Tech: Rapid Fire
Op-ed: Memo to Bush
GI Bill Total Intel
SpouseBUZZ: Shut Up, Media!
TRICARE Cost Cutting
Advisors: Trailblazer Betty Ford

CENTCOM: News Releases
IRAQI HIGHWAY PATROL, PARATROOPERS WORK TOGETHER TO FIND, DESTROY BOMB

2-8 CAV TROOPS UNCOVER CACHE, DETAIN SEVEN

IRAQI POLICE AND PARATROOPERS WORK TOGETHER TO EXECUTE THREE ARREST WARRANTS

IRAQI POLICE AND PARATROOPERS ARREST TWO

OPERATIONS CONDUCTED TO RESTORE IRAQI SECURITY FORCE CONTROL

IA, CF KILL AIF, DESTROY CACHES, SAFEGUARD TAHRIR

IRAQI ARMY FORCES CAPTURES ILLEGAL ARMED GROUP LEADER

USJFCOM
U.S. Joint Forces Command bringing together military, interagency for Multinational Experiment 5 - podcast
2006 -- The Year in Review
USJFCOM gets approval to connect U.S., Australian networks - podcast

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

ON THE GROUND
U.S., Local Officials Dedicate Dire Dawa School - Story
Terror Suspects Captured in Meat-Packing Plant - Story
Soldiers Clean Up with Help of Quartermaster - Story
New Commander Discusses Challenges in Iraq - Story

IN IRAQ
Marines Improve Conditions in Iraqi Bunkers
Iraqi Soldiers Pressure Insurgents in Baghdad
Soldiers Spruce up Observation Point
Maliki Joins Troops in Celebrating Army Day
Iraqi Army, Police Team Up for Baghdad Ops
Soldiers Celebrate Three Kings Day in Iraq
Building Becomes ‘Shining Light’ for Tal Afar
Iraqi Trainers Graduate 120 From Police Academy
Paratroopers Seek to Build Trust in Samarra
Servicemembers Unite to Save Iraqi Girl's Life

IN AFGHANISTAN
277th Named Army’s ‘Top Aviation Battalion’
Panjshir Team Helps to Repair Mosque

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 Mainz Mannheim 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 Site Ulsan Yosu

* If you're deployed, and want to see your location's weather listed here, please email me! *

Today in History
0049 BC - Julius Cesar crosses the Rubicon, invades Italy
0069 - Roman emperor Galba adopts Marcus Piso Licinianus as Cæsar
0236 - St. Fabian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0681 - St. Agatho ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1429 - Order of the Golden Fleece established in Austria-Hungary & Spain
1430 - Order of the Guilder forms
1642 - King Charles I & family flee London for Oxford
1663 - King Charles II affirms charter of Royal African Company
1776 - "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, published
1799 - Friedrich von Schiller's "Die Piccolomini" premieres in Weimar
1806 - Dutch in Cape Town, South African surrender to the British
1808 - Herman Daendels succeeds A Wiese as Governor-General of Netherlands Indies
1810 - French church annuls marriage of Napoleon I & Joséphine
1811 - Louisiana slaves rebel in 2 parishes
1839 - Tea from India 1st arrives in UK
1840 - Penny Post mail system started
1861 - US forts & property seized by Mississippi; Florida becomes 3rd state to secede from US; Fort Jackson & Fort Philip are taken over by Los Angeles state troops
1862 - Battle of Big Sandy River, KY (Middle Creek); Battle of Romney, WV
1863 - 1st underground railway opens in London; General McClernand's Union troops surround Fort Hindman, AR; January-uprising begins in Poland
1870 - Georgia legislature reconvenes; John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil
1878 - US Senate proposes female suffrage
1883 - Fire at uninsured Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, WI kills 71 - General Tom Thumb of P.T. Barnum fame, escapes unhurt
1889 - Ivory Coast declared a protectorate of France
1900 - Lord Roberts & Lord Kitchener reach Capetown
1901 - Oil discovered at Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas
1910 - 1st international air meet in US held, in Los Angeles
1911 - 1st photo in US taken from an airplane, San Diego; Honduras signs treaty turning over customs to US (not ratified)
1912 - Caillaux government in France resigns; World's 1st flying boat's maiden flight, (Glenn Curtiss in NY)
1916 - Russian offensive in Kaukasus
1920 - League of Nations' 1st meeting, Treaty of Versailles in effect
1923 - Last US troops leave Rhineland (Germany); Lithuania seizes & annexes country of Memel
1925 - Miriam (Ma) Ferguson sworn in as Texas Governor, nation's 2nd woman governor; France-Saarland forms
1928 - Soviet Union orders exile of Leon Trotsky
1930 - Mordovian Autonomous Region in RSFSR constituted
1941 - Seyss-Inquart begins registration of Jews
1942 - Japan invades North-Celebes, Dutch East Indies
1943 - 1st US President to visit a foreign country in wartime-FDR leaves for Casablanca, Morocco
1943 - Russian offensive against German 6th/4th Armies near Stalingrad
1944 - 1st mobile electric power plant delivered, Philadelphia; British troops conquer Maungdaw, Burma
1945 - Los Angeles Railway (with 5 streetcar lines) forced to close
1946 - UN General Assembly convenes for 1st time (London); US Army establishes 1st radar contact with Moon, Belmar NJ
1947 - Greek steamer Himara strikes a wartime mine in Saronic Gulf south of Athens with loss of 392 of 637 aboard; British stop ships Independence & In-Gathering from landing in Israel
1949 - 1st Jewish family show "The Goldbergs" premieres on CBS; RCA introduces 45 RPM record
1951 - 1st jet passenger trip made; UN headquarters opens in Manhattan, NY
1957 - Anthony Eden resigns & Harold Macmillan becomes PM of Britain
1962 - 4,000 die in avalanche, Ranrahirca, Perú; Eruptions on Mount Huascaran in Peru destroy 7 villages & kill 3,500
1964 - Battles between Muslims & Hindus in Calcutta; Panamá severs diplomatic relations with US
1966 - Julian Bond denied seat in Georgia legislature for opposing Vietnam War; India & Pakistan sign peace accord
1967 - Edward Brooke, takes (Senator-R-MA) seat as 1st popular elected Black; PBS (the National Educational TV) begins as a 70 station network; Lester Maddox inaugurated as Governor of Georgia
1968 - US Surveyor 7 lands near lunar crater Tycho
1969 - Pirate Radio Station Free Derby begins operation by Northern Ireland; USSR's Venera 6 launched for parachute landing on Venus; Sweden (1st Western country) recognizes North Vietnam
1973 - Gas tank on Staten Island explodes, killing 40
1978 - Soyuz 27 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
1979 - 1st brother Billy Carter makes allegedly anti-Semitic remarks
1981 - El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "general offensive"
1984 - Argentine ex-president/General Bignone arrested; Bulgarian Tupolev 134 crashes at Sofia airport in Bulgaria, 50 die; Clara Peller 1st asks, "Where's the Beef?"; US establishes full diplomatic relations with Vatican after 117 years
1985 - Daniel Ortega Saavedra inaugurated as President of Nicaragua
1986 - STS 61-C mission scrubbed T -9m because of bad weather at Kennedy; Palau signs Compact of Free Association with US
1990 - NCAA approves random drug testing for college football players; China lifts martial law (imposed after Tiananmen Square massacre)
1991 - US Congress begins debate on Persian Gulf crisis; Japan ends routine fingerprinting of all adult ethnic Koreans
1993 - Maiden flight of Ultrair (Houston to Los Angeles)
1994 - Trial of Lorena Bobbitt, who cut off her husband's penis, begins; Ukraine says it will give up world's 3rd largest nuclear arsenal; Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan agrees to abolish trade tariffs
1996 - Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
1997 - 1st Comet of 1997 Discovered Comet 1997 A1; Dow Corning provides $2.95 billion to settle breast implant suits; Italy's new 1,000 lire coin shows divided Germany on map; Right-winger Arnoldo Aleman sworn in as President of Nicaragua

Birthdays
1502 - Hendrik Niclaes, German/Dutch merchant/cult leader (Children of God)
1638 - Niels Stensen, Danish astronomer
1644 - Louis Boufflers, marshall of France
1738 - Ethan Allen, Revolutionary War fighter (led the Green Mountain Boys)
1769 - Michel Ney, French marshal (Waterloo)
1815 - Alexander Brydie Dyer, Brevet Major General; Thomas Williams, Union Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1825 - Alexander Travis Hawthorn, Confederate Brigadier General
1834 - John Acton, English historian/MP
1864 - George Washington Carver, agricultural scientist (estimated date - actual birthdate unknown)
1867 - Gerhard Anschütz, German MP
1880 - French van Cauwelaert Flemish, minister/mayor of Antwerp; Manuel Azaña y Díaz, PM/President of 2nd Spanish republic (1936-39)
1913 - Gustav Husak, President of Czechoslovakia (1975-89)
1930 - Roy E. Disney, CEO (Disney)
1931 - Alexander L "Alex" Boraine, South African vicar/MP; Ron Galella, celebrity photographer (sued by Jackie O)
1942 - Aleksandr Yakovlevich Petrushenko, Russian cosmonaut

Passings
0681 - Agatho Sicilian, pope (678-81)
0976 - John I Tzimisces, co-emperor of Byzantium (969-76), at 51
1271 - Otto II the Lame, Earl of Gelre
1276 - Gregorius X [Tedaldo Visconti], pope
1645 - William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded for treason at 71
1674 - Jacob de Witt, Dutch mayor (Dordrecht)/MP, dies at 84
1754 - Daniel Raap Dutch porcelain salesman/politician, at about 51
1775 - Jemeljan Pugatshov, Russian Kosak leader/"Czar Peter III"
1778 - Carolus Linnæus "Carl von Linné," Swedish botanist/explorer/"Father of Taxonomy", at 70
1824 - Victor Emanuel I, King of Sardinia (1802-21), at 64
1862 - Samuel Colt, inventor (6 shot revolver), at 47
1934 - Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch communist, beheaded in Berlin at 24
1943 - Agustin P. Justo y Rolon, President of Argentina (1931-38), at 66
1968 - Theophilus E. Dönges, South African Internal minister, dies at 69
1970 - Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev, USSR, cosmonaut (Voskhod II), at 44
1971 - Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, French fashion designer, at 87
1978 - John D. Rockefeller III, US billionaire/philanthropist, at 71; Pedro Joaquín Chamorro of La Prensa, assassinated in Managua
1984 - Suvanna Phuma, premier of Laos, at 82
1994 - Catharina I "Ien" Dales minister of Internal affairs (1989-94), dies at 62
1996 - Alexander Robertus organic chemist,at 88; Arthur Sydney Martin spycatcher, at 81

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Gauley, James P., USAF (OK); F105D shot down - KIA / BNR

Stoves, Merritt III, US Army (AL); swept away while crossing river, presumed Killed / BNR

1968
Hopper, Earl P., Jr., USAF (AZ); F4D shot down (pilot, w/Hall)

Hall, Keith N., USAF (ND); F4D shot down (backseater to Hopper), Released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

1969
Sprott, Arthur R., Jr., USAF (FL); A1H shot down

1970
The following US Army personnel reported Missing when their UH1C disappeared en route back to base:
Allen, Wayne C. (MA); crew chief - remains returned September, 1990, ID'd April, 1991

Crosby, Herbert C. (GA); pilot

Graziosi, Francis G. (NY); door gunner

Howes, George A. (IN); co-pilot

1973
Clark, Robert A., USN (CA); A6A did not return from mission (bombardier / navigator , w/McCormick)

McCormick, Michael T., USN (HI); A6A did not return from mission (pilot, w/Clark)