News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Car Bombs Kill At Least 9 Across Iraq
Iraq Supports Kurdish Relocation Plan
Deadliest bomb in Iraq war kills 152 - Video
Iraqis, Coalition Work Together to Secure Tal Afar
Real deadline for Iraq war money is May

Operation Enduring Freedom
Memo Shows General Sought to Warn Bush Not to Say Pat Tillman Died From Friendly Fire
Coalition Forces Repel Attack at FB Tillman

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Artillery rocks Mogadishu
British oil worker abducted off Nigeria

Troops on Trial
Assault Charges Against Kabul Airmen Dismissed

Supporting Our Heroes
Military.com Blog: Helping Sgt. Duncan

Other Military News
Need outstrips beds for homeless vets
South Korea calls Japan to action on wartime past

Religion of Peace??
EU welcomes Arab peace plan

Worldwide Wackos
Seizure of British Sailors 'Retaliation' for Sanctions
VIDEO: Perspective From Iran on British Sailor Crisis
Group Says Ali Khamenei Ordered Detention of British Sailors
Iran says Britain mishandling captives' issue
Iranian leader: U.K. sailors trespassed (Wait, I thought they were kidnapped in retaliation for sanctions - when it's Iran, who can keep up...?)
U.S. Treads Warily in Hostage Crisis
Military.com Poll: Getting the Brit Sailors Back

Politics / Government
House Speaker Pelosi to Visit Syria
Ukraine leader suggests new poll, thousands rally
Bush chides Dems on pork in Iraq bill
Southern clout in Congress hits low
GOP lawmaker urges Gonzales to resign

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Georgia Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Raping Daughter in Cemetery
'Barbie Bandit' Suspect Released on Bail
Ariz. Cops Search for 3-Year-Old Abducted Boy
Teacher Indicted on Charges of Student Sex
Video: Search for 911 Dispatcher Widens

U.N. News
Syrian Arms Smugglers Get U.N. Warning

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Subcommittee criticizes Google maps

Science / Medicine / Technology
Pyramid Scheme - Architect: 4,500-year-old mystery revealed

Mother Nature
Tornadoes Slam Parts of Texas
More damaging storms hit Texas
Scientist: Warming will end some species

News from My Neck of the Woods
Photographer Joel Brodsky dies
Maine man killed after 16-hour standoff

Oddities
Fake Volcano in Minnesota Waterpark 'Erupts,' Sending Guests Running
Boy gets attention for vacuum expertise

Other News of Note
Pet Food Recall Expands
List of Recalled Pet Foods

Fox News
1 Dead After Car Hits Bus Head-On
NYC Angry Over New 'Grand Theft Auto' Game
Sydney Goes Black to Get Green

Reuters: Top News
Gunman kills ex-wife at German airport
Visitors flood Amsterdam's red-light district
Washington's whiskey wets whistles again
Push to revive Doha to dominate Bush, Lula meeting
Apple invades the living room
SonyBMG deletes demo CDs, logs onto blogs
U.S. data may propel stocks higher
Wall St indexes flat as China news eclipses data
Dollar dips on news of U.S. duties on Chinese paper
Big Oil spends more but output may fall
TJX card problem flags retail identify theft risk - Video
Beazer probe puts scrutiny on builder finance arms
US stocks endure wild 1st qtr, financials flounder
Data eases fears of sharp economic slowdown
China demands U.S. scrap anti-subsidy duties
U.S. bank law has helped less affluent: Bernanke

AP World News
Tropicana Casino gets ready to turn 50
Depp could capture Kids' Choice Award
Aussies stunned by Thorpe doping report
Japanese set record for longest concert
Phelps wins 6th gold at swimming worlds
Ohio team shattered by crash plays ball
Yao helps Rockets overcome Lakers in OT

Military.com
Op-ed: Operation Anabasis
Def Tech: New Eyes for Gators
Podcast: Reconstructing Iraq
Advisors: Leaving War Behind
To Be an Army Green Beret

CENTCOM: News Releases
SUSPECTED ANTI-IRAQI FORCES MEMBER DETAINED
COALITION FORCES CAPTURE 11 SUSPECTED TERRORISTS IN RAIDS
STATEMENT FROM GEN. DAVID H. PETRAEUS, COMMANDING GENERAL, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE - IRAQ, REGARDING THE RECENT VIOLENCE IN TAL AFAR
THREE SUICIDE VBIEDs TARGET KHALIS POPULATION
ATTACK IN TAL AFAR CONDEMNED – IRAQIS, CF STICK TOGETHER
STATEMENT FROM MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ CONDEMNING VIOLENCE IN TAL AFAR
U.S. ARMY SOLDIERS WARD OFF ATTACK BY AL QAEDA
INSURGENTS KILL FIVE AND WOUND 11 WITH MORTAR FIRE IN ISKANDARIYAH
IRAQI, U.S. SECURITY FORCES ATTACKED FROM MOSQUE
IRONHORSE BRIGADE ASSISTS IN JOINT EFFORT TO RETURN KIDNAPPING VICTIMS TO THEIR FAMILIES
SUICIDE TRUCK BOMB CAPTURED IN RAMADI
BAGHDAD EAGLES AND COMMANDOS FIND NINE CACHES NEAR AL QAQAA WEAPONS FACILITY
SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS SELF; AIR STRIKE KILLS THREE TERRORISTS
CCCI CONVICTS 25, SENTENCES 6 TO DEATH
KIDNAP VICTIM RESCUED, SIX WEAPONS CACHES FOUND
AL-SADR AIDE RELEASED
NETWORK LEADERS CAPTURED OVER LAST THREE DAYS

USJFCOM
USJFCOM gears up for Noble Resolve - podcast
Personnel recovery capability continues process of fielding to the warfighter - podcast

DefenseLink
Hicks Case Good Start for Military Commissions - Story
Australian Detainee Sentenced to Nine Months
Military Commissions
Giambastiani Lauds Slovenia for Deployments - Story
Vice Chairman Cites Slovakia’s Importance

DefendAmerica
Official Notes Progress in Baghdad - Story - Transcript
Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, bio
Transcript: Roundtable (pdf)
Bloggers' Roundtable Web Site

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

Today in History
1282 - The great massacre of the French in Sicily ends.
1492 - In Spain, a royal edict is issued by Catholic rulers, declaring that all Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity will be expelled.
1547 - In France, King Francis dies, and is succeeded by his son Henry II.
1653 - In the Battle of Leghorn, the Dutch destroy the British squadron. Their commander, Van Gelen, is mortally wounded.
1776 - Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John, that women are "determined to foment a rebellion" if they are not guaranteed their rights by the Declaration of Independence.
1779 - Russia and Turkey sign a treaty, promising to take no military action in the Crimea.
1790 - In Paris, Robespierre is elected president of the Jacobin Club.
1849 - In the Battle of Brescia, Austrians put down an Italian revolt.
1854 - In Tokyo, Commodore Perry, representing the U.S., signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate, and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate.
1862 - Skirmishing between Rebels and the Union forces takes place at Island 10 on the Mississippi River.
1866 - The Spanish fleet bombards the undefended city of Valparaiso, destroying it.
1889 - The Eiffel Tower officially opens as part of the Exhibition of 1889.
1916 - General John Pershing and his forces rout Pancho Villa's army in Mexico.
1917 - The United States purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million.
1918 - For the first time, Daylight Savings Time goes into effect in the U.S.
1921 - Great Britain declares a state of emergency because of a strike by coal miners.
1933 - In an attempt to counter severe unemployment, Congress authorizes the Civilian Conservation Corps .
1939 - Britain and France agree to support Poland if Germany threatens to invade.
1940 - The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis sets off on its mission to sink Allied merchant ships.
1941 - Germany begins a counter-offensive in North Africa.
1945 - The United States and Britain bar a Soviet-supported Polish provisional delegation from entering the U.N. meeting.
1948 - The Soviet Union begins controlling Western trains headed toward Berlin.
1949 - Winston Churchill declares that the atomic bomb was the only thing that prevented a Soviet takeover of Europe.
1954 - The siege of Dien Bien Phu, the last French outpost in Vietnam, begins.
1959 - The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese retribution after a Tibetan uprising, crosses the border into India, and is granted political asylum.
1960 - The South African government declares a state of emergency after demonstrations lead to more than 50 deaths.
1966 - Anti-war demonstrators, estimated at more than 200,000, march in New York City.
1967 - President Johnson signs the Consular Treaty, the first bi-lateral pact with the Soviet Union since the Bolshevik Revolution.
1970 - In Vietnam, U.S. forces down a MIG-21, the first since September 1968.
1991 - Albania has its first multi-party election in 50 years; The Warsaw Pact military alliance between the Soviet Union and its eastern European satellites ends after 36 years. This was taken in the west as a sign that the Soviet Union was losing control, and the Cold War was headed for an end.
1994 - The U.S. withdraws its troops from Somalia.

Birthdays
1499 - Pius IV [Gianangelo de' Medici], Italian lawyer/pope (1559-65)
1519 - Henry II, King of Germany (1547-59)
1570 - Louise Juliana, Countess of Nassau
1675 - Benedict XIV [Prospero L. Lambertini], Pope (1740-58)
1723 - Frederik V, King of Denmark/Norway (1746-66)
1837 - Stephen Dodson Ramseur, Confederate Major General
1839 - Nikolay Przhevalsky, naturalist, explorer of east central Asia
1840 - John Herbert Kelly, Confederate Brigadier General
1854 - Sir Dugald Clerk, inventor (2-stroke motorcycle engine)
1872 - Arthur Griffith, Irish journalist, founder of Sinn Féin
1892 - Stanislav Wladyslaw Maczek, Polish/British General-Major/commandant
1900 - Henry W.F.A. English, Duke of Gloucester/earl of Ulters
1909 - Robert Brasillach French, author/Nazi collaborator
1912 - Wilhelmus Berkelmans, civil servant/resistance fighter
1934 - Grigori Grigoyevich Nelyubov, cosmonaut (Vostok 1 backup)
1940 - Barney Frank (Representative-MA)
1947 - César Gaviria Trujillo, President (Colombia, 1990-94)
1948 - Albert Gore, Jr., (Senator-TN, 1985-92)/45th US Vice President
1957 - Patrick G. Forrester, Lieutenant Colonel Army/astronaut

Passings
1201 - Absalon Asserssön, Danish archbishop of Lund/statesman
1340 - Ivan I Kalita, Grand-Duke of Vladimir
1389 - Everhard Tserclaes, sheriff of Brussels, murdered
1567 - Philip the Generous, count of Hessen, dies at 62
1578 - Juan de Escobedo, Secretary of Spanish land guardian Don Juan, murdered
1621 - Felipe III, King of Spain (1598-1621), dies at 42
1928 - Gustave Ador, President of Austria (1919), dies at 82
1944 - Mineichi Koga, Admiral of Japanese fleet
1945 - Hans, Fischer German physicist (Nobel 1930), dies at 63; Maurice Rose, 1st US General in Nazi Germany, killed in action at 45
1970 - Semjon Timoshenko, Russian Marshal/Inspector-General (WWII), dies at 75
1980 - Jesse Owens of 1936 Berlin Olympics fame, dies in Arizona at 66
1993 - Brandon Lee US actor (Crow)/son of Bruce Lee, accidentally shot at 28; Jose Maria Lemus President of El Salvador (1956-60)

Reported Missing in Action
1965
McKinley, Gerald W., USNR (CT); A1H shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1969
Carpenter, Ramey Leo, USN (OK); FA5C shot down (w/White) - remains ID'd June, 1998

White, Danforth E., USN (PA); FA5C shot down (w/Carpenter) - remains IDd June, 1998

1971
Salley, James, Jr., US Army (SC); captured when firebase was overrun (w/Terrill), DIC July, 1971

Terrill, Philip B., US Army (NY); DIC April, 1971

Labels: Headlines, History