News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Mortar Shells Hit Baghdad Prison, Killing 7 Inmates
Rocket attack sparks Baghdad refinery fire
Leaders Aim to ‘Put Law Back in Iraq’
Iraqi Citizens, Soldiers Work Together to Eliminate Insurgent Safehouse

Operation Enduring Freedom
Coalition forces retake Taliban town

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Lebanon president vote set for yet another delay
Suicide bomber rams school bus in Pakistan, kids hurt
Sri Lanka says northern fighting kills 4 rebels

Worldwide Wackos
Iranian Students Protest Against Crackdown on Activists
Iran, IAEA in new talks to clear nuclear doubts

Politics / Government
Bush attends star-filled holiday benefit
GOP Softens Immigration Rhetoric at Spanish Debate
Clinton Fires Second Staffer Over Obama 'Muslim' E-Mail
Mike Huckabee: I Won't Run From My Record
CAMPAIGN CARL: Cameron's Blog From the Trail
Congress Skeptical of CIA Claims
Colorado Councilwoman Resigns After Refusing to Remove Offensive Joke From Web Site
Republican Presidential Candidates Tone Down Illegal Immigration Rhetoric at Spanish Debate
Report: Top Lawmakers Were OK With Waterboarding
'Oprahpalooza' Hits South Carolina With Obama Campaign
Republicans talk tough against illegal immigration
Civic groups slam U.S. for "abysmal" record on race (Compared to whom, exactly?!?)
Sex scandal rocks Kansas AG's office
Pakistani Elections Heat Up, Sharif's Party Contests
EU close to full unity on Kosovo: ministers
Chad to charge French aid staff with kidnap attempt
U.S rejects stiff 2020 greenhouse goals in Bali
Historians embrace Schlesinger papers
Europe, Africa stuck on key issues

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
Boat Carrying Illegal Migrants Sinks, Killing at Least 31

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
5 Dead, 7 Injured in Twin Colorado Church Attacks - VIDEO - PHOTOS
Group targeted in shooting has far reach
Colorado police seek clues to 2 attacks
Wis. victims' families press for changes
Cops: High School Hockey Coach Had Sex With Player, 16
Texas Town Outlaws Suburban Sex Parties
Woman Accused of Bringing Loaded Gun Into Disney World
Services Begin for Victims of Omaha Mall Shooting
Canadian Pig Farmer Convicted in Serial Killings
Vick faces sentencing for dogfighting

U.N. News
U.N.'s Ban says patience running out with Myanmar (Uh oh...time for a stern letter advising them they might get a stern letter...)
U.N. seeks $3.8 billion for humanitarian crises (Hmmm...wonder who they expect the bulk of that to come from...?)
Gore, UN panel to accept Nobel Prize (Oh, BARF!)

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Free press campaigners protest at China block
Rene J. Cappon, AP writing ace, dies

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Atlantis Launch Postponed Until January - VIDEO
Studies show how fruits and veggies reduce cancer
Scientists discover how BRCA1 gene causes cancer
U.S. conciliatory on safety ahead of China summit
Sex "switch" points way to smarter pest control
New Apple store highlights "geniuses," services
Toshiba to make solid-state drives in push for flash

Mother Nature
Deadly Ice Storm Freezes Midwest
Ice storm results in 6 traffic deaths
Strengthening System May Become Late Tropical Storm
Large Oil Slick Washes Ashore in South Korea - PHOTOS

News from My Neck of the Woods
Patriots return to dominance with win

Oddities
Nun Repeats Curse Words in Telling Students Not to Use Them
Man Makes Record Books for Distance Thrown in Car Accident

Other News of Note
Oil, gas companies fund Wyo. ambulance (Darn those evil oil companies!)

Fox News
FOXBusiness: Cuomo Subprime Probe Likely First of Many
Missing Chopper Search in Alaska Yields Body
Sly Stone's Stage Debacle
Car Crashes Into 'Santa Express' Train, Two Killed

Reuters
Over 50 migrants missing, boat sinks: Morocco agency
Disgraced Jones's medals center stage at IOC meeting
Housing slump damages state revenue: report
Aussies to get Catholic ads at movies this Christmas
Prolonged writers strike a nightmare for TV biz
Hollywood pair killed by alleged drunk driver
Stocks slip as UBS fans renewed credit concerns - Video
Dollar hits 1-mth high vs yen, jobs data supports - Video
Germany's Bayer shares rise on strong clot drug data
Oil eases, eyes modest Fed rate cut
Premiere shares rise on Vivendi bid talk-traders
Subprime, Wall Street's painful December
Full Coverage: Crisis in Credit
Conglomerates ready for slowdown?
Wall St ends flat on oil, jobs; eyes on Fed
CORRECTION - - FTSE flat; M&A talk in miners offsets gloomy banks
UBS makes $10 bln writedown, raises new capital
Blackstone plans bid for Rio with Chinese: paper
Lafarge to buy Orascom Cement for $12.8 bln
Japan's Eisai to buy U.S. MGI Pharma for $3.9 bln
Reuters and Intl Herald Tribune sign content deal
SocGen consolidates PACE SIV investment vehicle

AP World News
Cowboys rally, beat Lions by 1 point
Dow Jones in final days before Murdoch
Farmers in Africa, West rethink subsidy
Montana readies for Evel Knievel funeral

CENTCOM: News Releases
SEVERAL MILITANTS KILLED, 10 DETAINED, TWO WOUNDED CIVILIANS FOUND AFTER HELMAND OPERATION
TALIBAN EXTREMISTS DETAINED IN KANDAHAR PROVINCE
PRESS RELEASE: COALITION PRECISION STRIKE KILLS SEVERAL MILITANTS

USJFCOM
Newsmaker Profile: SOCJFCOM Commander Army Col. Wesley Rehorn - podcast
More about SOCJFCOM
Capability development leadership to change
More about Capability Development
USJFCOM readies for Joint Task Force Senior Medical Leadership Seminar - podcast
USJFCOM garners cutting edge technology award - podcast
New USJFCOM super computer will enhance command efforts - podcast

Multi-National Force-Iraq
Force Protection Airmen Keep Vigilance in the Forefront
New Courthouse is Showpiece for Basrah Provincial Government
Coalition force operations disrupt al-Qaeda networks; 27 suspects detained
CLCs, Iraqi Army turn large cache over to U.S. troops (Yusufiyah)
Iraqi Army, Coalition Forces oust insurgents in Hawr Rajab, Arab Jabour
Iraqi leaders commit to unity during summit (Taji)
Troops stop alleged al-Qaeda operatives returning to Rashid
Al-Qaeda networks disrupted; Coalition forces detain 10 suspects

DefenseLink
Gates Calls for Continued International Pressure on Iran - Transcript of Manama Dialogue Speech
Multilateral Cooperation Critical to Gulf Region Security, Gates Says
U.S. Generals: ‘Jury Still Out’ on Flow of Weapons From Iran
Pearl Harbor Survivor Urges Vigilance

IRAQ NEWS
Commanders in Iraq Assess Force Levels
Army Air Power Boosts Surge in Iraq
Army, Civil Affairs Team Hand Out Grants
Coalition Forces Detain Dozens of Terrorists

MILITARY NEWS
Army to Launch New Pay, Personnel System

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
Afghan Forces Learn De-Mining Procedures
Coalition, Afghan Forces Defeat Taliban

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Vets Move to Civilian Life

WHY WE SERVE
Desert Changes Marine

FACE OF DEFENSE
Nigerian Serves With Pride

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
0741 - Zacharias becomes Pope
1294 - Pope Coelestinus V becomes Pope (until Dec 13th)
1508 - League of the kingdom signed (covenant against Venice)
1520 - Martin Luther publicly burned papal edict demands he recant
1652 - Sea battle at Dungeness: Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp beats English fleet
1672 - New York Governor Lovelace announces monthly mail service between New York & Boston
1688 - King James II flees London
1690 - Massachusetts Bay becomes 1st American colonial government to borrow money
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army draws into Manchester
1799 - Metric system established in France
1816 - Dutch regain Sumatra
1817 - Mississippi admitted as 20th state
1864 - General Sherman's armies reach Savannah; 12 day siege begins
1869 - Womens' suffrage (right to vote) granted in Wyoming Territory (US 1st)
1887 - Austria-Hungary/Italy/Great-Britain signs military treaty of Balkan
1898 - Spanish-American War ends; US acquires Philippines, Puerto Rico & Guam
1899 - 1st defeat of "Black Week" - Battle at Stormberg South Africa - Boers vs British army; nearly 3000 British troops killed
1901 - 1st Nobel Peace Prizes (to Jean Henri Dunant, Frederic Passy)
1903 - Nobel for physics awarded to Pierre/Marie Curie
1904 - King Peter I of Sweden named nationalist regime
1906 - 1st American awarded Nobel Peace Prize - President Theodore Roosevelt
1907 - Ruyard Kipling receives Nobel prize for literature
1910 - J.D. Van de Waals wins Nobel Prize for physics
1911 - Calbraith Rogers completes 1st crossing of US by airplane (84 days); Tobias Asser given Nobel prize for peace
1913 - Kamerlingh Onnes receives Nobel prize for physics
1914 - French government returns to Paris
1915 - 10,000,000th model T Ford assembled
1920 - President Woodrow Wilson receives Nobel Peace Prize
1922 - Pete Henry makes longest known NFL drop-kicked field goal, 45 yards; Nobel awarded to Fridtjof Nansen, Niels Bohr & Albert Einstein
1923 - Polish government of Grabski, forms
1924 - Willem Einthoven awarded Nobel for medicine
1925 - George Bernard Shaw awarded Nobel
1926 - 2nd part of Hitler's Mein Kampf published
1927 - Grand Ole Opry makes its 1st radio broadcast, in Nashville TN
1931 - Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize; Manuel Azaña becomes premier/Niceto Zamora President of Spain
1932 - King Rama VII (Prajadhipok) grants Thailand a constitution
1934 - Fascist dictator of Latvia Ulmanis begins building concentration camp
1936 - England replaces King Edward VIII stamp series with King George VI, as King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson; Stockholm: physicist P.B.J. Debije receives Nobel prize for chemistry
1940 - British anti-offensive in Libya (Sidi Barrani)
1941 - British battleship Prince of Wales sinks off Singapore; Japanese troops land on northern Luzon in the Philippines; Japanese troops overrun Guam
1942 - Hitler names Mussert "leader of Netherlands people"; North Africa: 5th German pantser army forms under Colonel-General von Arnim
1943 - British 8th Army occupies Orsogna/Ortona Italy
1944 - 9 Dutch citizens hanged by Nazis; German counter attack at Dillingen-bridgehead at Saar
1947 - USSR & Czechoslovakia sign trade agreement
1948 - UN General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1950 - 1st black American awarded Nobel Peace Prize - Ralph J Bunche
1952 - Yitzhak Ben-Zvi elected 2nd President of Israel
1954 - Albert Schweitzer receives Nobel Peace Prize
1958 - 1st domestic (New York-Miami) passenger jet flight-National 707 flew 111
1961 - USSR & Albania break diplomatic relations
1964 - Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Dr Martin Luther King Jr
1965 - Dutch ends economic boycott of Rhodesia
1966 - Israeli Shmuel Yosef Agnon wins Nobel Prize for literature; Nobel for chemistry awarded to Robert S Mulliken
1971 - William H Rehnquist confirmed as Supreme Court justice; West German union chancellor W Burns receives Nobel prize of peace
1975 - Andrei Sakharov's wife Yelena Bonner, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize
1977 - Soyuz 26 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
1978 - In Oslo, Menachem Begin & Anwar Sadat accept 1978 Nobel Peace Prize
1979 - Piet Dankert appointed as chairman of European Parliament
1980 - Soyuz T-3 returns to Earth
1981 - El Salvador army kills 900
1982 - Soyuz T-5 returns to Earth, 211 days after take-off
1983 - Danuta Walesa, wife of Lech Walesa, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize; Raul Alfonsin inaugurated as Argentina's 1st civilian president
1984 - South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received his Nobel Peace Prize; 1st "planet" outside our solar system discovered
1986 - Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepts 1986 Nobel Peace Prize
1987 - "Nightline" is seen in the USSR for 1st time
1988 - Massive Earthquake in Armenia kills 100,000 in cities of Leninakan & Spitak
1989 - President Gustav Husák of Czechoslovakia, resigns
1990 - Hindu-Muslim rebellion in Hyderabad-Aligargh India, 140 die; Soyuz TM-10 lands
1994 - European Campaign against Racism "All different, All equal" begins; Nobel prize awarded to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres & Yasser Arafat
1995 - Worst snowstorm in Buffalo history, 37.9" in 24 hours (Starting Dec 9 at 7 PM, breaks previous record of 25.3" in 1982

Birthdays
1765 - (Izaäk J.) Alexander Gogel, Dutch minister of Finance/patriot
1787 - Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, pioneer of educating the deaf
1794 - James Wolfe Ripley, Union Brevet Major General
1813 - Zachariah Chandler, merchant/politician (founder of Republican Party)
1815 - Ada Byron (Lovelace), considered the first computer programmer
1820 - Allen Russell, Union Brevet Major General
1822 - Thomas Casimer Devin, Union Brigadier-General
1851 - Melville (Louis K) Dewey, creator of Dewey Decimal System for libraries
1883 - Andrej J. Vysjinski, Russian lawyer/foreign minister/UN-ambassador
1903 - William Plomer Transvaal, author (Paper Houses, I Speak of Africa)
1904 - Antonin Novótny, President of Czechoslovakia (1957-68)
1911 - Chet Huntley, newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report)
1918 - Professor Longhair, king of New Orleans music
1925 - Carolyn Ashley Kizer, US writer (Yin, Pulitzer 1985)
1930 - Clayton K Yeutter, US trade representative/Republican National chairman

Passings
0969 - Nicephorus II Phocas, Byzantine co-Emperor (963-69), murdered
1041 - Michael IV Paphlagonicus, emperor of Byzantine
1524 - Henry van Zutphen, Dutch Augustine/Lutheran minister, burned to death
1896 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish Nobel Prize ceremony, dies at 63
1909 - Red Cloud, Sioux Indian chief
1946 - Damon Runyon, US journalist/writer (Guys & Dolls), dies at 66
1967 - Otis Redding, singer (Dock of Bay), dies in plane crash at 26
1971 - Jozef Cals, Dutch Minister of Education/premier (1965-66), dies at 57
1982 - Freeman "Amos" Gosden, US radio actor (Amos 'n' Andy), dies at 83
1990 - Armand Hammer, CEO (Occidental Petroleum), dies at 92
1991 - Berenice Abbott, US photographer
1992 - Carlomagno Andrade, Equadorian general
1994 - Keith Joseph, British MP (C)

Reported Missing in Action
1964
Sansone, Dominick, US Army (NY); C123 shot down (w/Vaden), remains returned July, 1984

Vaden, Woodrow W., US Army (TN); C123 shot down (w/Sansone), remains possibly buried by Vietnamese

1967
Grzyb, Robert H., US Civilian; captured while riding in a Jeep, DIC September, 1968 per PRG list

1971
McIntire, Scott W., USAF (NM); F105G shot down; search and rescuer personnel believe KIA

Labels: Headlines, History