News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Is U.S. Mulling Iran Shift? - Officials holding back report on Iraq meddling
Baker on Iraq Surge Plan: 'Give It a Chance'
58 Killed in Iraq Violence - PHOTO ESSAY
Iraqis fleeing conflict flood over borders
Adrift in Syria, Iraqi woman's dreams die
Congress can halt Iraq war, experts tell lawmakers - Video
Bush nominee: New actions needed in Iraq
58 killed in Iraq on Shiite holy day
Miliary.com Blog: Who's Behind the Najaf Attacks?
Military.com Op-ed: Iraq Requires Resolve

Operation Enduring Freedom
NATO, Pakistan says millions of Afghans must go home

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
U.K. Nabs 8 for Alleged'Iraq-Style' Abduction Plot
Appeals court reinstates key Padilla charge
Hamas, Fatah swap hostages under Gaza truce deal - Video
Somali Islamists threaten AU peacekeepers

Other Military News
WWII Vet, 84, Wins $254 Million Lottery Jackpot (Well done!)
Pentagon halts sale of F-14 parts
Military Creates Mental Health Hotline

Religion of Peace??
Mideast tensions overshadow Shi'ite Ashura ritual

Worldwide Wackos
Castro, Chavez On Television - PHOTO ESSAY
General: Venezuela Boosting Air Defense
Chavez set to receive decree powers in Venezuela
Senators warn against war with Iran

Politics / Government
Bush Administration in Hot Seat Over Warming
GOP Senator: Bush 'Not the Sole Decider'
Bush pledges balanced budget
Minimum wage increase gains ground in Senate
Senators face off on greenhouse gases
Castro looks stronger in new TV images - Video
Minimum wage increase gains ground in Senate
Panel hears climate 'spin' allegations

Immigration / Border Control
New Hope for Jailed Border Agents? - VIDEO
Union: Border Agent Railroaded Over Shooting

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment
Amber Alert Issued After Arizona Mom, Infant Son Reportedly Abducted
Police Investigate Report That Hells Angels Beat Up 52-Year-Old Woman in NYC
Bloody Fingerprint Key in Trial of Slain Dancer in New York City
Florida Woman Jailed After Reporting Rape
'Slate' Writer Disputes CIA Leak Testimony
Arrest Warrant Out for Teacher-Sex Suspect
Prison Changes Flow of Toilets for Muslims (You can't make this stuff up...)
Jailed reporter contradicts Libby in perjury case

U.N. News
U.N.'s Ban says delays on Darfur force unacceptable - Video

Science / Nature
Study: Indonesian 'Hobbit' Not Deformed Modern Human
NASA extends target for space station transport
Remains of village found near Stonehenge

Oddities
Grannies Nabbed in Kid Coke Bust
Thieves happier than police?
Psychologist makes patient wear dog collar

Other News of Note
Racist Party Charge Hits 2nd College Campus
Holocaust Memorial in Berlin Defaced by Neo-Nazi Sympathizers
Holocaust Memorial Turned Into Public Toilet
Gas station blast kills four in W. Virginia

Fox News
West Virginia Gas Station Blast Kills 4
Wolfowitz vs. World Bank: War Among Leaders May Stall Anti-Corruption Push
N.J. Students Tested for Weekend Drinking
No Long Lines as Microsoft Releases Windows Vista to Masses

Reuters: Top News
Will masks stop bird flu? Students experiment
Windows Vista's hyped security will be tested
The Devil can now call on Prada
Older people take bad news in their stride: study
Brandy faces $50 mln lawsuit over car smash
Paris Hilton sues Web site displaying her property
Dow, S&P rise with oil, Motorola
Oil jumps 5 percent
Wyeth profit miss, tax hike, drug delay hit stock
Manpower fourth-quarter earnings rise 85 percent
First Horizon shares surge on sale speculation
Core consumer prices were flat in November, easing inflation concerns.
Tata Steel wins Corus with $11.3 billion offer
Icahn seeks seat on Motorola to boost share buyback
Allstate Q4 net rises 16.5 percent, misses views
Flextronics posts higher quarterly profit
3M posts profit, sees global economy slowing
Fed starts 2-day meeting, market sees steady rates

AP World News
Clemson, NAACP probe offensive party
Tokyo, NYSE complete alliance talks
Giants get termination rights with Bonds
Teri Polo set for third 'Fockers' film
Merck, Wyeth shares fall after reports
'Idol' attracts more than 32M viewers
Dow ends up 33 as investors await Fed
Getting inside a great receiver's mind
Barbaro's surgeon has empty feeling
Merck lobbies states over cancer vaccine
The Police to reunite for Grammy awards
Rangers will give Sammy Sosa a chance
FAA offers to raise pilot retirement age
Consumer confidence improves in January
Sony BMG settles anti-piracy CDs charges
Scholarship started in Barbaro's name

Military.com
Using Your VA Home Loan Benefit
Play Trivia and Win an iPod
Sarah Smiley: Military Terms Clarified
Ten Step Guide to Joining the Military
The Coolest Equipment Guide on the Web

CENTCOM: News Releases
BATAAN TRANSITS SUEZ CANAL, ENTERS U.S. 5TH FLEET
IRAQI POLICEMEN RECOGNIZED FOR SACRIFICE, DEDICATION
EMERGENCY RESPONSE UNIT COMPOUND IN RAMADI ATTACKED BY SVBIED
MORTAR ATTACK ON WESTERN BAGHDAD SCHOOL
USS NEWPORT NEWS COMMANDING OFFICER RELIEVED OF COMMAND
UPDATE TO 20 JAN. BLACKHAWK HELICOPTER INCIDENT
UPDATE TO INITIAL FINDINGS FROM KARBALA-MILITANT ATTACK USED DECEPTION, U.S. ARMY TYPE UNIFORMS
COALITION FORCES DESTROY SUSPECTED INSURGENT TRAINING SITE
15 IRAQIS KILLED IN NEW BAGHDAD
INSURGENTS ATTACK SUNNI MOSQUE
DETAINEE RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENTS
AL-QAIDA COURIER, IED FACILITATOR, 19 OTHERS CAPTURED
FIVE ARRESTED NEAR KHOST
MND-B SOLDIERS EVACUATE YOUNG GIRL FOLLOWING ATTACK IN AL-DOURA

USJFCOM
USJFCOM begins Integrated Battle Command Experiment Series - podcast
USJFCOM, others evaluate individual augmentee process - podcast
Training comes to a close in exercise for Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa - podcast
Liveblogging: Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Mission Rehearsal Exercise 07-1
USJFCOM hosts first-responder focused modeling and simulation demonstration event

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
Bush Lauds Iraqi Performance - Story
Commander Guardedly Optimistic About Progress in Anbar
Stability & Security in Iraq Report (pdf)
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
Iraqi Village Builds Women’s Center - Story
Vehicle Mechanics Keep Coalition Forces Moving - Story
Female Medics Earn Respect from Afghan Army - Story
Engineers Improve Iraq Through Construction - Story
Airborne Soldiers Receive Combat Badges - Story

IN IRAQ
Iraqis, Coalition Reestablish Security Near Haifa
Air Ambulance Team Awarded for Daring Rescue
Iraqis, Coalition Reestablish Security Near Haifa
Troops, Residents Celebrate School Reopening
Security Meeting Raises Hopes for Peace
Marine Helicopter Squadron Gets Ready to Deploy
Medics Administer Aid to Nearby Villages
Iraqi-Led Team Finds Torture House, Weapons
Transition Team Braves Attacks to Train Police
Combined Effort Provides Aid to Baghdad
Insurgents and Weapons Found, Captives Freed

IN DJIBOUTI
Camp Lemonier Expansion Creates New Jobs
Marine Trains U.S. Embassy Troops in Djibouti

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
'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: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Casualties - Story

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

Today in History
0314 - St Silvester I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0876 - Charles becomes king of Italy
1504 - By treaty of Lyons, French cede Naples to Ferdinand of Aragon
1531 - Kings Ferdinand of Austria/János Zápolyai of Hungary accept each other
1578 - Battle of Gembloers
1627 - Spanish government goes bankrupt
1675 - Cornelia/Dina Olfaarts found not guilty of witchcraft
1779 - Charles Messier adds M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra) to his catalog
1804 - British Vice-Admiral William Bligh's fleet reaches Curaçao
strong>1849 - Corn Laws abolished in Britain
1851 - Gail Borden announces invention of evaporated milk
1861 - State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans
1862 - Telescope maker Alvin Clark discovers dwarf companion of Sirius
1863 - 1st Black Civil War regiment, SC Volunteers, mustered into US army
1865 - Congress passes 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in America (121-24)
1871 - Millions of birds fly over western San Francisco, darken the sky
1874 - Jesse James gang robs train at Gads Hill, MO
1895 - José Martí & others leave New York City, NY for invasion of Spanish Cuba
1901 - Boer General John Smuts & De la Rey conquer Mud river, Transvaal
1905 - 1st auto to exceed 100 mph (161 kph), A G MacDonald, Daytona Beach; Carroll Wright appointed 1st US Commissioner of Labor
1915 - 1st (German) poison gas attack, against Russians
1917 - Germany notifies US that U-boats will attack neutral merchant ships
1925 - Premier Ahmed Zogu (Zogu I) becomes President of Albania
1927 - International allies military command in Germany disbands
1928 - Scotch tape 1st marketed by 3-M Company
1929 - Leon Trotsky expelled from Russia to Turkey
1930 - 1st US glider flight from a dirigible, Lakehurst New Jersey
1933 - French government of Daladier takes power; Hitler promises parliamentary democracy
1934 - FDR devalues the dollar in relation to gold at $35 per ounce
1936 - "Green Hornet" radio show is 1st heard on WXYZ Radio in Detroit
1940 - 40 U boats sunk this month (111,000 ton)
1941 - 21 U boats sunk this month (127,000 ton); Anti-German demonstration in Haarlem Netherlands
1942 - 62 U boats sunk this month (327,000 ton)
1943 - 39 U boats sunk this month (203,100 ton); Chile breaks contact with Germany & Japan; General Friedrich von Paul surrenders to Russian troops at Stalingrad
1944 - Operation-Overlord (D-Day) postponed until June; U-592 sunk off Ireland; US forces invade Kwajalein Atoll
1945 - Eddie Slovik executed for desertion - 1st American since Civil War; US 4th Infantry division occupies Elcherrath
1946 - Yugoslavia adopts new constitution, becomes a federal republic
1948 - Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway
1949 - 1st daytime soap on TV "These Are My Children" (NBC in Chicago)
1950 - President Truman reveals that he ordered the Atomic Energy Commission to develop the hydrogen bomb
1952 - Dutch Lutheran Church reunites after 1½ centuries; Harry Heilmann & Paul Waner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1953 - Princess Victoria capsizes off Stanraer Scotland, killing 133; Hurricane-like winds flood Netherlands drowning nearly 2,000
1955 - RCA demonstrates 1st music synthesizer
1956 - French government of Mollet forms; Juscelino Kubitschek becomes President of Brazil
1957 - Trans-Iranian oil pipe line finished
1958 - James van Allen discovers radiation belt; US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1
1961 - Ham is 1st primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2; USAF launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights; David Ben-Gurion resigns as premier of Israel; NATO secretary-General Paul-Henri Spaak says he'll resign
1962 - Samuel Gravely assumes command of destroyer escort USS Falgout
1962 - General Charles P. Cabell, USAF, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1964 - US report "Smoking & Health" connects smoking to lung cancer
1966 - USSR launches Luna 9 toward the Moon
1968 - Viet Cong's Tet offensive begins; Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) declares independence from Australia
1969 - Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor, USN, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1971 - Apollo 14 launched, 1st landing in lunar highlands; Jake Beckley, Joe Kelley, Harry Hooper, Rube Marquard, Chick Hafey & Dave Bancroft & George Weiss elected to baseball Hall of Fame
1972 - Military coup ousts civilian government of Ghana; US launches HEOS A-2 for interplanetary observations (396/244,998); Birenda becomes leader of Nepal
1977 - Frenchman François Claustre freed, after 33 months as hostage in Chad; Joe Sewell, Amos Rusie, & Al Lopez elected to baseball Hall of Fame
1978 - Israel turns 3 military outposts in West Bank into civilian settlements
1980 - Police storm occupied Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, killing 41
1982 - 10 Arabian oryx (extinct except in zoos) released in Oman
1985 - South African President PW Botha offers to free Mandela if he denounces violence
1986 - Mary Lund of Minnesota, is 1st female recipient of an artificial heart
1988 - Barge sinks near Anacortes WA, spills 70,000 gallons of oil
1990 - 1st McDonald's in Russia opens in Moscow, world's biggest McDonald's
1992 - Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires
1998 - STS 89 (Endeavour 12) lands

Birthdays
1607 - James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby
1612 - Hendrik Casimir I, count of Nassau-Dietz/mayor of Frisia
1620 - Georg F. von Waldeck, German commander-in-chief
1734 - Robert Morris, merchant (signed Declaration of Independence)
1750 - Gerrit J. Pijman, Dutch minister of War (1798-1800, 1803-06)
1778 - Franz Anton graaf von Kolowrat, Austrian premier of Bohemia (1848)
1802 - Jan C.J. van Speijk, Dutch naval hero
1810 - Daniel Ruggles, Confederate Brigadier General
1812 - John Randolph Tucker, Confederate Navy Captain
1818 - William Raine Peck, Confederate Brigadier General
1830 - James Gillespie Blaine West, (Representative-R-ME 1863-76/Senator-R-ME 1876-81/Secretary of State 1889-92)
1866 - Henry Forster cricketer (Oxford blue 1887-89, later Australian Governor-General)
1868 - Theodore William Richards, chemist (atomic weights, Nobel-1914)
1869 - Henry graaf Carton de Wiart, Belgian literary/premier (1920-21)
1872 - Zane Grey, American West novelist (Riders of the Purple Sage, Spirit of the Border)
1909 - Foley Newns, British colonial administrator
1916 - Ciro D. Crown, Premier of Dutch Antilles (1968-69)
1919 - Jackie Robinson, 1st Black major league baseball player (Dodgers)
1920 - Stewart L. Udall, US Secretary of Interior (1961-69)
1922 - Michael Wilford, diplomat
1924 - Robert Gatehouse, former High Court judge
1925 - Benjamin Hooks, civil rights leader
1925 - Fred Catherwood, MP
1929 - Rudolf Mossbauer, German physicist (Nobel 1961)
1931 - Christopher Chataway, British MP/athlete (world record 5k)
1933 - Joseph D. Early (Representative-MA, 1975-1992); Walter Paulis, mineworker/pilot/Dutch MP (CDA)
1938 - Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, Queen of Netherlands; James G. Watt, US Secretary of Interior (1981-83)
1941 - George S Mickelson (Governor-SD); Richard A. Gephardt (Representative-MO, 1977-2005)
1944 - Eugene Terre Blanche, South African leader of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
1951 - Presiley Baxendale, British QC
1956 - Trevor A. Manuel, South African UDF/ANC-leader

Passings
1606 - Guy Fawkes, convicted in the "Gunpowder Plot", executed at 35
1788 - [Bonnie Prince] Charles E. Stuart, English pretender, dies at 67
1828 - Alexandros Ypsilanti, Greek resistance fighter, dies at 35
1864 - Hamilton Rowan Gamble, US judge/Governor of Missouri (1861-64), dies
1945 - Eddie Slovik, 1st US soldier executed for desertion since Civil War at 25
1954 - Edwin H. Armstrong, US radio inventor (FM), commits suicide at 63
1972 - Bir Bikram Shah Deva Mahendra, King of Nepal (1955-72), dies at 51
1973 - Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist (Nobel 1969), dies at 77
1974 - Samuel Goldwyn, Polish/English/US film magnate (MGM), dies at 91
1995 - James Johnson, English MP (Labour, 1950-83), dies at 86

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Hamilton, Eugene David, USAF (AL); F105D shot down, presumed KIA

1967
The following USAF personnel reported MIA when their UC123B was shot down:

Barden, Howard L. (OH)

Kubley, Roy R. (WI)

Miyazaki, Ronald K. (HI); flight mechanic

Mulhauser, Harvey (VA)

Walker, Lloyd F. (OH); pilot

Also reported MIA this day in 1967:
Bullock, Larry A., US Army (KY); drowned, body not recovered

1968
Badua, Candido C., Civilian (Phillipines); Voice of America employee - released March, 1973

Cocheo, Richard N., Civilian; Pacific Architects and Engineers employee - taken from his house in Yinh Long (his wife was killed)

Kjome, Michael, Civilian; Pacific Architects and Engineers employee - released by PRG February, 1973 (injured) - deceased as of 1986

Lacey, Richard J., US Army (PA); disappeared from Jeep - Soldier he was with found deceased

Young, John A., US Army (IL); released by PRG March, 1973 - member of Peace Commiittee accused collaboration

1971
Cartwright, Patrick G., USN (NV); possibly fell overboard during shift