FUEL IN FLIGHT - A Coast Guard HH60 helicopter recieves fuel in flight from the Coast Guard Cutter Rush. Rapid in flight refueling can increase the time crews remain in the air during operations, Dec. 26, 2007. U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station Sitka

Labels: cutter, helicopter, HH60, photos, ships, USCG, USCGC Rush

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraq Braces for Anniversary of Saddam Hanging - VIDEO
Graffiti, flowers on anniversary of Saddam execution
Iraqi refugees turn to sex trade in Syria
UK fraud office demands drug firms' Iraq documents
Iraqi Military Academy Graduates 229 New Officers, 44 Pilot Candidates
Marines Teach Iraqis to Overcome Differences for Greater Good
Triple Threat Pressures al Qaida in Iraq, General Says
Detainee dies of natural causes (Mosul)

Operation Enduring Freedom
Taliban Dismisses Top Leader Mansoor Dadullah

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Brussels' Fireworks Canceled Due to Terror Threat
Palestinian-Israeli deaths drop in 2007: report
Guantanamo prisoner dies of cancer: U.S.

Fallen Heroes
2007 deadliest for US troops in Iraq
MND-B Soldier dies of non-combat related injuries

Religion of Peace??
Karachi Quiets Under Lockdown - PHOTOS
Bhutto's Son to Head Opposition Party - VIDEO
WEBCAMS AROUND THE WORLD: Pakistan TV
Pakistan awaits election decision
U.S. urges Pakistan move ahead with free election
Pakistan's largest city paralyzed

Worldwide Wackos
Iran says its first atom plant to start in mid-2008

Homegrown Moonbats
Stone joins hostage-release mission

Politics / Government
Edwards' Trajectory Is Up
Powerful Dems to Chauffeur Clinton Supporters to Caucus
New Year's Eve: Just Another Campaign Moment
Campaign Coverage: You Decide 2008
Clinton leads in Iowa; Huckabee, Romney even
In close Iowa race, Huckabee says Romney untrustworthy
Bloomberg to attend '08 campaign "unity" talks
Giuliani cuts a different path in White House race
Many Democratic, GOP voters undecided
Analysis: Romney and candor
New Year's resolutions: Win Iowa, NH
McCain, Huckabee assail Romney
South Africa prosecutor denies Mbeki behind Zuma charges
Protests greet Kenyan leader's second term

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
Violent Border Smugglers Scare U.S. Scientists
Arizona firms brace for immigration sanctions law

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Two Sisters Place Madeleine McCann Suspect at Kidnapping Scene
'Missing' Woman Embarrassed About $250G Search
Phoenix Man Suspected of Shooting 6 Known as 'Psycho'
Missing Girl, 13, Found Living With 34-Year-Old 'Boyfriend'
Ex-Yankee Leyritz 'Distraught' Over Drunk Driving Death
Infant Skeleton Found in Deceased Woman's Suitcase
Voter ID law heads to Supreme Court
LA gang F13 accused of targeting blacks
Groups: Record data breaches in 2007

U.N. News
Ban in first year struggles to raise U.N. profile

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
R.I.P. to Court TV, hello to truTV

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Wombs for Rent: Commercial Surrogacy Grows in India
Egyptian woman dies of bird flu, 2nd in week

Mother Nature
Hundreds Injured in Mass Jellyfish Attack on Brazilian Beach
Orangutan Believed to be World's Oldest Dies in Miami
Unique Kenyan game park under human threat
Rain saves Atlanta from drought record

News from My Neck of the Woods
Record secure, Patriots now aim for 19-0

Oddities
Trashy Lifestyle
Man Finds Fudge Maker's Lost Diamond Ring Inside Candy
Queen Victoria Cruise Ship 'Cursed' by Camilla Flub
Fed Up With Housing Slump, Couple Raffles Off Home
"Holy smoke" in nunnery tops 2007 weird news

Other News of Note
Chopper Crash Kills 3 During Search for Hunter

Fox News
World Messages Printed on Times Square Confetti

Reuters
Cage, chipmunks bring box office cheer
Love, others may follow Radiohead's no-label lead
Singapore not aiming for control of UBS: report
Bank of New York Mellon is attractive play: Barron's
Loews could rise on tobacco spin-off: Barron's
Air France-KLM sees trustees for Alitalia: paper
Equity volatility here to stay in 2008
Construction boom in Panama is built on drug money
Bosch wants to expand supply for low-price cars
Oil bounces above $96
Gold nears record-high on dollar, Pakistan turmoil
Recession question to mark 2008
Holiday week a time to reassess geopolitical risks
Midwest business robust in December, jobs weak
Court orders Finish Line to complete Genesco deal
Geopolitics, U.S. economy fuel risk aversion - Video

AP World News
Redskins thump Cowboys to make playoffs
LT wins rushing title, Bolts gain 3 seed
Hester, Bears end Saints' season again
Wall Street awaits 2008 for jobs data
Bengals end Dolphins' woeful 1-15 season

CENTCOM: News Releases
COALITION FORCES DISRUPT AL KUT CRIMINAL ELEMENT NETWORKS, 11 TERRORISTS KILLED

USJFCOM
2007 -- The Year in Review - photos
U.S. Joint Forces Command, IBM sign new cooperative research and development agreement
More about CRADAs
Ribbon cut for new SOCJFCOM headquarters - podcast

Multi-National Force-Iraq
Iraqi Ministry of Defense Hosts Military Sales Office Grand Opening
Iraqi Air Force provides airlift to Iraqi National Police (Sulamaniya)
Mosul religious pilgrims return from Hajj
Iraqi Army Soldiers recover large cache (Mansour)

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
Bush Thanks Troops, Families for Sacrifices
Petraeus: Violence Down in Iraq; Al Qaeda Still Poses a Threat
No Furloughs for Christmas

IRAQ NEWS
Scrap-Metal Yard Puts Iraqis to Work
'Ironhorse' Soldiers Witness Progress
Troops Detain Two Tied to Abduction
Troops Give Backpacks to Adil Children
Coalition Forces Kill 5 Terrorists, Detain 9

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
Soldiers, Afghans Celebrate School Opening
General Delivers Gold Star Mother's Message
Coalition Troops Kill Several Militants, Detain 9
Afghan, U.S. Troops Deliver Aid to Nangarhar

MILITARY NEWS
Chairman’s Tour Wraps Up with Laughter, Tears

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Help for Wounded Techs
Scholarships for Spouses

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
0274 - St. Felix I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0987 - French King Hugo Capet crowns his son Robert the compassionate king
1621 - English king James I cracks Protestation of Parliament
1685 - Don Francisco de Agurto installed as land guardian of South Netherlands
1703 - Tokyo hit by Earthquake; about 37,000 die
1731 - 1st US music concert (Peter Pelham's great room in Boston)
1794 - French troops conquer Grave, Netherlands
1809 - Wearing masks at balls forbidden in Boston
1813 - Danzig surrenders to allied armies
1817 - 1st coffee planted in Hawaii (Kona)
1835 - After gold discovery in Georgia, Cherokees are forced to move across Mississippi River; HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin sails from New Zealand to Sydney
1836 - Lehman-theater in St Petersburg catches fire; 100s die
1853 - Gadsden Purchase - 45,000 square miles (120,000 km) by Gila River from México for $10 million; Area is now southern Arizona & New Mexico
1854 - Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, 1st in US, incorporated in New York, NY
1861 - US banks stop payments in gold
1869 - Philadelphia Knights of Labor forms
1873 - American Metrological Society forms (New York NY) weights, measures & money
1875 - Andrassy Note calls for Christian-Muslim religious freedoms
1888 - Belgian King Leopold II installs Order of African Star
1892 - Dr. Miles V Lynk, physician, publishes 1st Black medical journal
1893 - Russia signs military accord with France
1897 - Province of Zululand annexed to Natal colony
1903 - 602 die as flames swept through Iroquois Theater in Chicago, IL; American Political Science Association founded at New Orleans, LA
1906 - Iran becomes a constitutional monarchy
1907 - Abraham Mills' commission declares Abner Doubleday invented baseball
1911 - Sun Yat-sen elected 1st President of Republic of China
1918 - John E. Hoover decides to be called J. Edgar Hoover
1922 - Soviet Union organized as a federation of RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belorussian SSR & Transcaucasian SSR
1926 - Chicago Tribune reports the Tigers threw a 4-game series to the White Sox in 1917 to help Chicago win the pennant (never substaniated)
1927 - Japan dedicates 1st subway in the Orient (route under 2 miles long)
1929 - Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority incorporates
1933 - Government disallows NSB-membership for civil service
1935 - Italian bombers destroy Swedish Red Cross unit in Ethiopia
1936 - United Auto Workers stage 1st sit-down strike, at Fisher Body Plant
1938 - Electronic television system patented by V. K. Zworykin
1940 - California's 1st freeway (Arroyo Seco Parkway) opens
1941 - Nazis require Dutch physicians to join Nazi organization; Winston Churchill addresses Canadian parliament
1944 - King George II of Greece abdicates his throne
1947 - King Michael of Romania is forced by communists to abdicate his throne; Romanian republic proclaimed
1949 - India recognizes People's Republic of China
1950 - Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia become Independent states in France Union
1952 - Tuskegee Institute reports 1952 as 1st year in 71 with no lynchings in US
1957 - Israeli government of Ben-Gurion, resigns
1958 - French franc devalued
1959 - The George Washington, 1st ballistic missile sub, is commissioned
1963 - Congress authorizes the Kennedy half dollar; "Let's Make A Deal" debuts on NBC-TV
1965 - Ferdinand Marcos inaugurated as President of the Phillipines
1972 - President Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam & announces peace talks
1973 - 1st picture of a comet from space (Comet Kohoutek-Skylab)
1974 - Beatles are legally disbanded (4 years after suit was brought)
1975 - Constitution of Democratic Republic of Madagascar comes into force
1977 - Carter holds 1st news conference by US President in Eastern Europe (Warsaw)
1979 - Rock group, Emerson Lake & Palmer break up; Togo adopts constitution
1980 - "Wonderful World of Disney" last performance on NBC-TV
1981 - Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record of 50 goals by 39th game of season
1982 - US Assay Office in New York City, NY, closes
1985 - IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 released; President Zia of Pakistan ends martial law
1986 - US begins Military exercises in Honduras
1987 - Premier Mugabe elected President of Zimbabwe
1988 - Canadian Senate OK's free trade pact; with US; North subpoenas Reagan & Bush as defense witnesses for upcoming trial; Yugoslav government resigns
1993 - Vatican recognizes Israel
1997 - An abandoned building collapses on New York's 42nd St, no one hurt

Birthdays
0039 - Titus 10th, Roman emperor (79-81), conqueror of Jerusalem
1784 - Dorothea von Benckendorff, Baltic monarch of Lieven
1818 - James Cantey, Confederate Brigadier-General
1819 - John White Geary, Union Brevet Major General
1828 - Mark Perrin Lowrey, Confederate Brigadier-General
1847 - John Peter Altgeld, (German/US Governor-IL)/pardoned Haymarket-anarchists
1865 - Rudyard Kipling, author (Jungle Book, Gunga Din-Nobel 1907)
1869 - Adolphe Max, Belgian Representative (Liberal)
1884 - Tojo Hideki Japanese PM during WWII
1891 - Antoine Pinay, French premier (1952)/minister of Foreign affairs
1895 - August De Boodt, Belgian politician
1906 - Johan A. earl von Kielmansegg, German general/commandant NATO-Europe
1907 - Robert Grant, politician
1921 - Rashid Karami, 10x PM of Lebanon
1931 - Charles A. Bassett II, Captain USAF/astronaut
1935 - Omar [Albert B] Bongo, President of Gabon
1939 - Doeke Eisma, sociologist/Dutch MP (D66)
1945 - John Kevin Moorhouse, test pilot
1947 - Stephanus S. "Tian" van Merwe, leader (South Africa Democratic Party)
1950 - Yunus I Mahomed, South African attorney/leader (UDF)
1953 - Daniel T. Barry, PhD/astronaut (STS 72)
1958 - Steven L. Smith, astronaut (STS 68, 82)

Passings
0273 - Felix I, Italian Bishop of Rome (or 274)
1572 - Galeazzo Alessi, Italian architect (Palazza Marino, Milan), at 60
1591 - Innocent IX [Giovanni Facchinetti] Pope, (62 days), at 72
1777 - Maximilian III Jozef, elector of Bayern (1745-77), at 50
1832 - Colonel Abijah Hammond, owned large portion of Greenwich Village
1870 - Prim, Spanish general, murdered
1893 - Samuel White Baker, English explorer, at 72
1894 - Amelia Jenks Bloomer suffragist (Bloomers named for her), at 76
1896 - José Mercado Rizal, anti-Spanish rule of Philippines proponent
1912 - Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter, German foreign minister, at 60
1944 - Romain Roland, French writer/pacifist (Nobel 1915), at 78
1951 - Jozef E. Stokvis, Dutch MP (SDAP), at 76
1959 - Maria Baers, Flemish social female worker/senator, at 76
1966 - Christian A. Herter, US Minister of Foreign affairs (1959-61), at 71; Trygve Halvdan Lie, 1st UN Secretary-General (1946-53), at 72
1992 - Ling-Ling 1st panda China gave US, at 23
1993 - [Irving Paul] "Swifty" Lazar superagent, of kidney failure at 86
1996 - Robert Grant-Ferris politician, at 89

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Swords, Smith III, USAF (CA); F4C shot down (pilot, w/Wortham)

Wortham, Murray Lamar, USAF (TX); F4C shot down (crew, w/Swords)

1968
McCants, Leland S. III, US Army (VA); drowned in river crossing

1969
Ferguson, Douglas D., USAF (WA); F4D shot down (w/Featherston)

Featherston, Fielding W., USAF (OH); F4D shot down (w/Ferguson)

1970
Bunker, Park G., USAF (IL); O1F shot down; KIA on ground

1971
Charles, Norris A., USN (FL); F4 shot down (w/Hoffman) - released by Hanoi September, 1972

Hoffman, David W., USN (PA); F4 shot down (pilot, w/Charles) - released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Holmes, Frederick, USN (CA); A6A shot down, declared Killed / Body not recovered

Labels: Headlines, History