News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Bodies of 14 Iraqi Security Officers Found
U.S. strikes insurgents targeting helicopters
6 Sunnis killed for meeting with Shiites

Operation Enduring Freedom
Pakistan braces for Taliban backlash after arrest

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Kuwaiti court acquits 2 ex-Gitmo inmates

Other Military News
Heads Roll - Army boss resigns over Walter Reed scandal
Military.com Op-ed: Another One Bites the Dust
Geren Named Army Secretary
Pakistan test fires short-range missile
Algeria says won't host a U.S. base on its territory

Worldwide Wackos
U.S. Ready to Ease Up on N. Korea Financially
Iran sanctions talks expected at U.N. next week
Ahmadinejad visits Saudis amid tensions

Homegrown Moonbats
Congress' Iraq struggle evokes Vietnam years

Politics / Government
Prostitution Scandal Looms Over D.C.
Dem Outrage Over Coulter Slur
McCain Pulls Even With Giuliani in S.C. Straw Poll
Bush keeps pressure on Democrats on Iraq money
Giuliani stresses record, woos conservatives
Rice names critic of U.S. Iraq policies as adviser
Obama: Iraq strategy strengthened Iran

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
South Carolina Middle School Teacher Accused of Having Sex With at Least 5 Underage Boys
Prosecutor Says John Couey Raped, Buried Jessica Lunsford Alive
Police Arrest 4 Suspects in 'Barbie Bandits' Bank Robbery Case
Bank Teller Was In On 'Barbie Bandits' Robbery, Cops Say
Man Admits Dismembering 19 Women, Kids
Astronaut Charged With Attempted Kidnapping
Teen who shot 5 in Utah buried in Bosnia

Science / Medicine / Technology
NASA Releases Dazzling New Photographs of Saturn
FDA Probes Children's Cold Medicines
Spiky oddball prowled ocean half billion years ago
Ruins in Athens may be an ancient market
Calif. agency pulls whale attack report
Blackbeard's ship to be fully excavated (YARR!)

Mother Nature
20 Dead After Tornadoes Rip Through Missouri, Alabama, Georgia
Bush to Visit High School Ravaged by Tornadoes
Ala. School Warned Before Twister - PHOTOS
15 deaths reported in Midwest snowstorm

Oddities
Alabama School District Bars Substitute Teacher for Taping Students to Seats
Dominatrix Arrested for Prostitution at Estate Leased From Rabbinical School
Tennessee High School Students Make Porn Film Between Classes
Crew Finds Baby's Remains in Pickle Jar
Topless wife photo ends man's pole protest - Video
Prisoner caught with grenade where? - Video
FDA examines safety of cough, cold drugs for kids
Girl stops car after mom faints at wheel

Other News of Note
At Least 6 Dead After Charter Bus Carrying Baseball Team Falls From Bridge in Georgia
Ohio college mourns bus crash victims
Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein

Fox News
International Tourism to Pass Pre-9/11 Levels
Original Wendy's Closes Its Doors
Stocks Post Worst Week in Over 4 Years
Mega Millions Jackpot Hits $275M - Facts
Last Respects Paid to Anna Nicole Smith at Bahamas Funeral, Burial Services
Howard K. Stern Plays Hardball With Larry Birkhead
If James Cameron Were Honest About His "Discovery"
'American Idol' Scandals and Surprises

Reuters: Top News
Danish police battles protesting youths, 100 held
Gaddafi says fear drives world economic system
No Castro signature on Cuban cigar humidors
Growing scandal claims Australian cabinet minister
U.S. report sees steady rate of emissions
Judge rules for Microsoft in Alcatel-Lucent suit
Sanyo to share battery recall cost with Lenovo
Varsity rivals face off in age-old contest
Curry shows mettle against "Godfather" O'Neal
FDA drops plan for prescription drug watch list
Elizabeth Hurley marries in secret ceremony: reports
Jobs data, Asian marts to call stocks' tune - Video
Gold, silver sink on fund sales
Palm speculation builds as its share price rises
Noven shares fall 14 percent
AIG shares rise as quarterly net exceeds year ago earnings
"Piggyback" loans may hit housing
Subprime mortgage rap tars economy
Bernanke says globalization may boost U.S. inflation
Market moves don't reflect strong economy: Paulson
UPS cancels A380 in new blow for Airbus
U.S. welcomes agreement with EU to open air market
Jobs data, Asian marts to call stocks' tune
Business Books: The driven culture of UPS

AP World News
Hundreds bid farewell to 1st Wendy's
Mancuso boosts bid for World Cup title
American Mancuso wins World Cup downhill
Antawn Jamison leads Wizards to victory
Spielberg unknowingly bought stolen art
Nash, Amare lead Suns to rout of Pacers
Motorola CEO got $13.2M as profits fell
Nuclear lab develops powerful dust rag
TXU's $32B buyout draws muted criticism
Whitaker, Hudson win NAACP awards
Selig unsure if Bonds will cooperate
Warnings sought on kids' cold medicine
Dice-K pitches scoreless Red Sox debut
Gone 25 years, Belushi still counts

Military.com
Poll: Is Astro-nut a Murderer?
Def Tech: Dissing DoD
Sgt. Shaft: Vet Social Security Boost
The Web's Best Military Equipment Guide
Ace the ASVAB With Killer Prep
NASCAR at Military.com

CENTCOM: Press Releases
8 ARRESTED IN COMBING AFGHAN-COALITION OPERAT ION
EIGHT TERRORISTS KILLED DURING SALMAN PAK RAID

USJFCOM
NATO military committee visits USJFCOM
More about USJFCOM and Allied Command Transformation
JIOC-X continues to improve intelligence support for joint warfighter - podcast
New data technology makes aerial reconnaissance video available to users in the field - podcast
Congressman calls command modeling and simulation hub - podcast

DefenseLink
Army Secretary Resigns in Wake of Walter Reed - Story
Bush Forms Commission to Review Troops' Care - Story
Craddock: Progress Must Continue in Afghanistan - Story
General Discusses Africa, European Commands - Story
Iraqi Forces Take Control of Baghdad Security - Story
Transcript: Anderson Briefs from Iraq

More Headline News
Budget Requests Support Current, Future Needs
Commission Reports on Strengthening Defenses
Medical Review Group Holds First Meeting
Walter Reed Chief Relieved of Command

Military News
Leaders Call on Congress to Fund IED Research
Pentagon Channel Showcases Military Women
Pace Discusses Force Levels, Military Challenges

America Supports You
New Yorkers Get Taste of Home - Story
Texas Teen Supports Troops
Bush Inspires Support Groups
Group Sends Care to Troops

War on Terror
Afghan Forces Build Capacity - Story
Coalition Forces Kill Terrorists
Two Soldiers Killed in Iraq
Rebuilding Shifts to Self-Sustaining
Rebuilding Could End in 18 Months

Transformation
Marines Test New Antenna - Story
National Trauma Institute Forms
Squadron Tests Sniper Pod
Denmark Joins Joint Strike Team

Face of Defense
Woman Gunner Protects Unit
Soldier Tackles Numerous Duties
Father, Son Serve in Afghanistan

DefendAmerica
Solid Training Aids Afghanistan Forces as Decisive Battle Looms - Story - Bio
Bloggers' Roundtable Transcript
Bloggers' Roundtable Web Site

NEWS UPDATES
Coalition Forces Kill Terrorists - Story
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
Golden Dragons Discover Six Weapons Caches - Story
Bosnian EOD Unit Takes Action in Iraq - Story
Troopers Come to Aid of Iraqi Toddler - Story
Reconstruction Projects Provide Improvements - Story

IN IRAQ
Reconstruction, Security Go Hand-In-Hand
Construction Continues on Children’s Hospital
Communicators Keep 1st Cavalry Connected
Army Engineers Help Deliver School Supplies
Training Mission Hones Skills of Pararescuemen
Iraqi Police Unit Bounces Back After Attack
Signal Company Keeps Brigade Talking
Maintenance Troops Supporting The Fight
Iraqi Business Restoration Progressing
Troops, Locals Celebrate Reopening of Market

IN AFGHANISTAN
Air Defense ‘Family’ Returns to Afghanistan
Donation ‘From The Heart’ Saves Wounded Ally
Spartans Turn Over Afghan Provinces
Afghan Doctors Learn New Medical Techniques
Father, Son Paratroopers Serve in Afghanistan

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

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
0419 - [Etalius] ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1043 - Edward the Confessor crowned king of England
1376 - Battle of Navarrete (Najera), English beat France
1559 - Spain & France sign 2nd Treaty of Le Cateau-Cambrésis
1582 - French van Valois honored as duke of Gelre/earl of Zutphen
1645 - English parliaments accept Self-Denying Ordinance
1657 - English Lord Protector Cromwell refuses crown
1764 - Austrian arch duke Jozef crowns himself Roman Catholic king
1776 - Washington receives honorary degree from Harvard College
1783 - Sweden & US sign a treaty of Amity & Commerce
1790 - Revenue Marine Service (US Coast Guard), created
1848 - Thomas Douglas becomes 1st San Francisco public teacher
1856 - Gunpowder in church explodes, killing 4,000 in Rhodos
1860 - Pony Express begins between St Joseph, MO & Sacramento, CA
1864 - Skirmish at Okolona, AR
1865 - Union forces occupy Confederate capital of Richmond, VA & Petersburg, VA; Battle at Namozine Church, VA (Appomattox Campaign)
1882 - Wood block alarm invented, when alarm rang, it dropped 20 wood blocks
1910 - Highest mountain in North America, Alaska's Mount McKinley, climbed
1918 - House of Representatives accepts "American Creed" written by William Tyler
1919 - Austria expels all Habsburgers
1922 - Stalin appointed General Secretary of Communist Party
1925 - Great Britain goes back to gold standard; Netherlands & Belgium sign accord of Westerschelde
1926 - 2nd flight of a liquid-fueled rocket by Robert Goddard; Italy establishes corp of force in order to break powerful unions
1927 - Interstate Commerce Commission transfers Ohio to Eastern time zone
1929 - Persia agrees to Litvinov Pact
1930 - Ras Tafari becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
1933 - 1st airplane flight over Mount Everest
1941 - Churchill warns Stalin of German invasion; Rasjid al-Gailani forms pro-German regime in Iraq
1944 - Supreme Court (Smith vs. Allwright) rules "white primaries" unconstitutional; British dive bombers attack battle cruiser Tirpitz
1945 - Hengelo freed from nazi control by Canadian army; Nazis begin evacuation of camp Buchenwald; US 1st army conquers Hofgeismar
1946 - Netherlands-German postal relations resume
1948 - Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries)
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty, pact signed by US, Britain, France & Canada
1952 - Dutch Queen Juliana speaks to US Congress
1955 - Fire in cinema to Sclessin Belgium, kills 39; Night express train in Guadalajara derails, killing 300
1956 - Bulgarian vice premier Traitsjo Kostov rehabilitated; German war criminals Hinrichsen/Rühl/Siebens/Viebahn are freed
1958 - Fidel Castro's rebels attack Havana
1960 - Earthquake at Havré, Belgium
1962 - Lieutenant General Marshall S. Carter, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA
1964 - US & Panamá agree to resume diplomatic relations
1965 - 1st atomic powered spacecraft (SNAP) launched
1966 - Luna 10 orbits Moon
1968 - North Vietnam agrees to meet US representatives to set up preliminary peace talks
1974 - 148 tornadoes are reported over an area covering a dozen states in the east, south & midwest killed approximately 315
1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's 1st meeting with President Jimmy Carter; Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg adopt summer time
1978 - European market & China signs trade agreement
1979 - Belgium's Martens government forms; Jane M. Byrne (D) elected 1st woman mayor of Chicago, IL
1981 - Race riots in London's Brixton area
1982 - UN Security Council demands Argentina's withdrawal from Falkland Islands
1984 - Soyuz T-11 carries 3 cosmonauts (1 Indian-Rakesh Sharma) to Salyut 7; Guinea suspends constitution after coup
1985 - French government adopts equal electoral system
1986 - US national debt hits $2,000,000,000,000
1988 - Somalia & Ethiopia sign accord about Ogaden desert
1991 - UN Security Council adopts Gulf War truce resolution

Birthdays
1367 - Henry IV Bolingbroke Lincolnshire, King of England (1399-1413)
1438 - John III van Egmont [Manke John], viceroy of Holland
1715 - John Hanson, 1st US President under Articles of Confederation
1783 - Washington Irving, American writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle)
1798 - Charles D. Wilkes, Commander (Union Navy)
1812 - Louisa Maria, Queen of the Belgians (1832-50/wife of Leopold I)
1842 - Ulric Dahlgren, Union Colonel
1858 - Matthew Ricketts, 1st Black man elected to Nebraska State Legislature
1866 - James B. Hertzog, South African General/premier (1914-39)
1881 - Alcide de Gasperi Italian premier (1945..53)
1885 - Harry St. John Philby [sheik Abdullah], British explorer
1900 - Camille Chamoun, President of Lebanon
1924 - Marlon Brando, actor (Superman, Godfather)
1926 - Virgil Grissom, Lieutenant Colonel USAF/astronaut (Merc 4, Gemini 3)
1930 - Lawton Chiles (Senator/Governor-FL)
1932 - Nourse, British lord justice
1933 - Robert K. Dornan (Representative-CA,)
1939 - Malcolm Thornton, MP
1945 - Wim J. Deetman, Dutch minister of education/MP (CDA)
1946 - Carlos Salinas de Gortari, President (México, 1988-94)
1948 - Jaap G. de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch MP (CDA)
1955 - Aleksandr Nikolayevich Yablontsev, Russian Lieutenant-Colonel/cosmonaut

Passings
0033 - Christ crucified (according to astronomer Humphreys & Waddington)
0628 - Chosroes II, emperor of Persia (579..628), murdered by his son
1287 - Honorius IV [Giacomo Savelli], Italian Pope (1285-87)
1862 - James Clark Ross, Arctic explorer
1882 - Jesse James, outlaw, shot dead at 34 in St. Joseph, MO by Robert Ford
1936 - Bruno Hauptmann, convicted Lindbergh baby killer, executed
1941 - André Michelin, French tire manufacturer, dies at 88; Pal Teleki-von Szek PM Hungary (1920-21, 39-41), suicide at 61
1946 - Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma (responsible for Bataan Death March), executed
1950 - Carter G. Woodson, "father of black history", dies in Washington DC at 74
1951 - Johannes C. Kielstra, Dutch economist/Governor (Suriname 1933-44), dies at 72
1956 - T. Kostov, Bulgarian vice-premier, executed
1960 - Anton Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer/marxist theorist, dies at 87
1993 - Eduardo Cabellero Calderon, Colombian writer/diplomat, dies at 83
1994 - Jerome Lejeune, French geneticist (Syndrome of Down), dies at 67
1996 - Carl Stokes, 1st Black mayor of a major US city (Cleveland OH); Christopher John Seward, aid worker, dies at 45; Ronald Harmon Brown, US Secretary of Commerce, dies in an accident at 54

Reported Missing in Action
1965
The following USAF personnel reported MIA in a single incident:
Morgan, Herschel S., (NC); RF101 shot down, released by DRV February, 1973 (injured) - retired as a Colonel - alive as of 1998

Smith, George C., (MO); F100D shot down

Vohden, Raymond A. (NJ); F4C shot down released by DRV February, 1973 (injured) - alive as of 1998

1966
Laws, Richard Lee, USN (CA); F8E shot down, KIA/BNR

1968
Hardy, John Charles, USAF (MO); remains recovered April, 1968

Rexroad, Ronald Reuel, USAF (IL); RF4C shot down

Thomas, James C., USMC (AZ); disappeared while on patrol

1969
Ecklund, Arthur G., US Army (AZ); O1G disappeared while on mission (pilot, w/Jefferson)

Jefferson, Perry H., US Army (CO); O1G disappeared while on mission (observer, w/Ecklund)

1972
The following US Army personnel reported MIA when their UH1H was shot down:
Christensen, Allen D. (SD); crew chief

O'Neil, Douglas L. (NJ); pilot (some records show O'Neill)

Williams, Edward W. (FL); gunner

Zich, Larry A. (NE); co-pilot

Also reported MIA this day in 1972:
Henderson, William Joseph, USAF (TX); OV10A shot down while searching for crash survivors (see post from yesterday)

Muren, Thomas Richard, USN (CA); drowned

Labels: Headlines, History