News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
For First Time in Memory, Baghdad Gets Snow
Ministry of Interior Celebrates Police Day, 1044 Graduate Baghdad Police College
Soldiers, Iraqi Police Secure Town for Citizens Group
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Show Battlefield to Soldiers
Commanders tout success of Iraq strikes

Operation Enduring Freedom
Troops Find Terrorists' Munitions Hidden in School

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Homeland Security to Unveil New Driver's License Rules
Bush ends peace mission
Bush visits biblical holy sites
Bush visits Kuwait to promote peace deal
Court dismisses Guantanamo torture suit
Militant threat on Eiffel Tower intercepted: source
U.S. cuts cost of national ID standards
17 states stuck in license showdown

Troops on Trial
Abu Ghraib officer: Probe was incomplete

Supporting Our Heroes
Group Offers Military Families Financial Help

Other Military News
Pregnant Marine Dead, Suspect Sought - VIDEO - PHOTOS

Worldwide Wackos
Colombia rebels not terrorists: Chavez - Video (And of course HIS judgment is trustworthy...)
U.S. tells N.Korea to fully declare nuclear activities

Politics / Government
Hard Work, No Pay? - Giuliani staffers asked to forego paychecks
Liberal Web Site Urges Michigan Dems to Vote for Romney
Thompson Looks for Bounce in S.C. on Heels of Debate
Kucinich Calls for N.H. Dem Vote Recount
CAMPAIGN CARL: Cameron's Blog From the Trail
Bush: U.S. Should Have Bombed Auschwitz - PHOTOS
Clinton proposes $70 billion economic stimulus - Video
Republicans debate ways to help economy - Video
Corporate elite fear John Edwards
Tina Brown to write book on Clintons
Serbia refuses monitors for president vote

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
EXCLUSIVE: O.J. Simpson's Bail Revoked
Catholics play vital role in helping migrants to U.S

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Dad Wanted Son, Kills Daughter
Calif. Man Kills Girlfriend and Her Mother, Then Jumps to His Death From Bridge
Study: Prostitutes in Chicago Forced to Service Police Officers for Free, Charge Whites and Hispanics More
'Swirly Face' Pedophile Suspect Pleads Not Guilty
HIV-Positive Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Acts With Teens
'Cocaine Priest' Cites Religion for Refusing Body Check
Mom Charged With Murder: Kids 'Possessed by Demons'
Man Kills Wife in Hit-and-Run, Returns for License Plate
Judge bars deportation of Egyptian
Problems found at DC home before deaths

Adventures in Political Correctness
German Jews Protest Star of David Pro-Smoking T-Shirt
We'd never get Monty Python onto television today: Jones (No doubt, and that would be a shame)

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
WEBCAMS AROUND THE WORLD: Waikiki, Hawaii
New domain name practice criticized
German polar bear cub gets web page

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
LORD of the Goofy Gadgets - PHOTOS - CES SECTION
Checklist to identify severe illness in infants
Anxiety and depression predict events in heart patients
Gene scan finds hundreds of possible AIDS targets
NASA probe to fly past little, sun-baked Mercury
Telecommuting not so great for those left in office
Slim Apple laptop expected at Macworld
Astronomers describe violent universe

Mother Nature
Tornadoes, Floods Ravage South - VIDEO - PHOTOS
World warming despite cool Pacific

Oddities
Marriage Annulled After Separated Twins Marry
Man accidentally hangs self in amateur stunt - Video

Fox News
FOXBusiness: BofA Agrees to Buy Countrywide for $4B
Ex-Indonesian Dictator Suharto Has Multiorgan Failure
Figure Skating Champ Christopher Bowman Dies of Possible Drug Overdose
Miley Cyrus Admits to Using Body Double in 'Hannah Montana' Shows
Pop Tarts: Katie Holmes Intimidates Men, Has Pizza Flown In From Chicago
Is Britney Bipolar?
Report: Record Label Drops 'Idol' Runner-Up Katharine McPhee

Reuters
Consumer slowdown hurts stocks
Fed to act decisively to counter turmoil
U.S. slowdown clouds world economy
Jail time for Jones
Kenya opposition calls street protests
Slideshow: Sir Edmund Hillary
Kenya opposition calls wave of protests - Video
Faces of CEOs hold clues of firm's success: study
Golden Globes a bust for everyone in Hollywood - Video
Mozilo, a butcher's son, became mortgage king
Fed's Plosser: economy has slowed, open to rate cut
Similar deals expected to follow Countrywide sale - Video
Merrill seen suffering $15 billion loss: report
Next-generation biofuels edge to center
UAL raises surcharge to offset soaring fuel costs
World economy threatened by U.S. slowdown
Cigarette makers face flood of Florida lawsuits
Citi shares rise 3.5 percent on capital hopes
Wall Street indexes drop on signs of weakness - Video
McDonald's shares fall on concern over consumer
Trade gaps widens in Nov on higher oil
U.S. recession worries hit crude prices
Interactive Intelligence shares slump on slower growth concerns
Best Buy December sales higher; affirms view
Tiffany trims outlook as same-store sales fall
United Rentals shares soar after upbeat forecast
What's Next: Delta Air Lines

AP World News
Alba, Holmes fight violence vs. women
Consumer confidence sinks to record low

CENTCOM: News Releases

USJFCOM
Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Mission Rehearsal Exercise commences - podcast
2007 -- The Year in Review - photos
U.S. Joint Forces Command, IBM sign new cooperative research and development agreement
More about CRADAs

Multi-National Force-Iraq
Butcher Receives Micro-Grant, Business Booms
Yarmouk leader killed by extremist attack (Baghdad)
Coalition targets al-Qaeda leadership, media networks; two killed, 11 detained
Coalition forces capture Special Groups facilitator, disrupt criminal networks (Baghdad)
Iraqi Security Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq IED specialists (Hillah
Ministry of Interior celebrates Police Day (Baghdad)
Citizen tip leads Coalition to cache (Baghdad

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
Mullen: More U.S. Troops Could Have Major Impact

IRAQ NEWS
New Effort Leaves 'No Holes'
U.S. Breaks Al Qaeda Stronghold
Troops Nab 11 Al Qaeda Suspects
Iraqis Celebrate Police Day

WHY WE SERVE
Army Major Wants to Share Her Story

MILITARY NEWS
Guard May Not Hold Recruits to Contracts
All Active Services Meet December Recruiting Goals
‘Active First’ Program Shows Promise in Army Recruiting
U.S., U.K. Monitor Health of Few British Soldiers
Most Air Force F-15s Get Green Light to Fly Missions

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
Afghan Villagers Get Health Care

FACE OF DEFENSE
Soldier Survives Cancer, Joins His Unit in Iraq

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 Militiades ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0532 - Nika-revolt against Justianus & Theodora in Hippodrome, Constantinople
0705 - John VI ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1158 - Vladislav II of Bohemia becomes king
1558 - Westmunster Church in Middelburg destroyed by heavy storm
1569 - 1st recorded lottery in England is drawn at St Paul's Cathedral
1571 - Emperor Maximilian II grants Austrian adel freedom of religion
1693 - Mt Etna erupts, Sicily
1753 - Ferdinand VI of Spain & Pope Benedictus XIV sign concord
1758 - Russian troops occupy Königsberg, East-Prussia
1759 - 1st American life insurance company incorporated, Philadelphia
1774 - Messier adds M51 (spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici) to his catalog
1775 - Francis Salvador becomes 1st Jew elected to office in America (SC)
1785 - Continental Congress convenes in New York City NY
1787 - Titania & Oberon, moons of Uranus, discovered by William Herschel
1790 - Statisten & Vonckisten unite as Belgium
1803 - Monroe & Livingston sail for Paris to buy New Orleans; they buy Louisiana
1805 - Michigan Territory is organized
1813 - 1st pineapples planted in Hawaii
1839 - Earthquake at Martinique destroys half of Port Royal-700 die
1861 - Alabama becomes 4th state to secede; Mexico City captured by Juárez (Liberal) in War of the Reform
1863 - Naval engagement near Galveston between CSS Alabama & USS Hatteras; Union forces capture Arkansas Post, or Fort Hindman, AR
1865 - Battle of Beverly, WV
1866 - Steamship London sinks in storm off Land's End, England, kills 220
1879 - Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins
1892 - William D. McCoy of Indiana appointed US minister to Liberia
1897 - M.H. Cannon becomes 1st woman state senator in US (Utah)
1904 - Herero people of South West Africa, now Namibia, begin uprising
1913 - 1st sedan-type car (Hudson) goes on display at 13th Auto Show (New York City, NY); Bread & Roses Strike begins
1916 - French troops capture/Serbian army flees to Corfu
1919 - 3 year old German communist party (Spartacus) crushed; Romania annexes Transylvania
1920 - French passenger ship Afrique sinks near La Rochelle; 553 die
1922 - Insulin 1st used to treat diabetes (Leonard Thompson, 14, of Canada)
1923 - French & Belgian troops occupy Ruhr to collect reparations
1925 - Franc B. Kellogg replaces Charles Hughes as US Secretary of State
1935 - Amelia Earhart flies non-stop from Honolulu, HI to Oakland, CA
1936 - Charles Anderson enters Kentucky House of Representatives
1938 - Frances Moulton elected 1st woman president of a US national bank
1942 - Japan conquers Kuala Lumpur, Malaya
1943 - US & Britain relinquish extraterritorial rights in China
1944 - Crakow-Plaszow Concentration Camp established
1946 - People's Republic of Albania established; Enver Hoxha declares People's Republic of Albania with himself dictator
1949 - Snowfall 1st recorded in Los Angeles
1960 - Chad declares independence from France
1962 - Nelson Mandela leaves South Africa, travels to Ethiopia, Algeria & England; Volcano Huascaran in Peru, erupts; 4,000 die
1963 - 1st discotheque opens, The Whiskey-a-go-go in Los Angeles CA
1964 - US Surgeon General Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous; Panamá ends diplomatic relations with US
1966 - 550 die in landslides in mountains behind Rio de Janeiro after rain
1968 - Explorer 36 (GEOS-B) launched into earth orbit (1080/1570 km)
1971 - 1st "Quickie" Divorce granted in UK
1972 - Abu Sayeed Chudhury becomes president & sheik Mujib ur-Rahman premier; East-Pakistan becomes independent state of Bangladesh
1973 - Trial of the Watergate burglars begins in Washington DC
1975 - Soyuz 17 carries 2 cosmonauts to space station Salyut 4
1976 - Military coup in Ecuador, President Guillermo Lara leaves
1977 - France releases Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of involvement in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics
1978 - Soyuz 27 links with Salyut 6 & Soyuz 26 (1st time 3 spacecraft link)
1981 - British team led by Ranulph Fiennes completes longest & fastest crossing of Antarctica, reaching Scott base after 75 days (2,500 miles); Palau adopts constitution
1982 - Atlanta GA's temperature goes below zeroº F; Honduras adopts constitution
1984 - Supreme Court reinstated $10M award to Karen Silkwood's family
1986 - 1st black Lieutenant-Governor since reconstruction sworn in (Douglas Wilder of Virginia)
1989 - 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons (poison gas, etc); Kindergarten student caught with loaded handgun at Bronx school
1990 - 200,000 demand return of Lithuania's independence
1991 - Congress empowers George H.W. Bush to order attack on Iraq; Soviets storm buildings in Vilnius to block Lithuania independence
1992 - Algeria's President Chadli announces his resignation
1993 - Independent presidential candidate Ross Perot publicly returns to politics
1994 - Irish government announces end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on IRA
1995 - DC-9 crashes near Maria La Baya, Colombia 51 die, 9 yr old girl lives
1996 - Space Shuttle STS 72 (Endeavour 10), launches into space
1997 - Telstar 401 Satellite Fails

Birthdays
1403 - Jan IV, Duke of Brabant/Limburg
1720 - Gijsbert John van Hardenbroeck, Utrechts regent
1757 - Alexander Hamilton, 1st US Secretary of Treasury ($10 face)
1807 - Alfred Eugene "Mudwall" Jackson, Confederate Brigadier General
1814 - James Paget English surgeon (disease of Paget); Richard Griffith, Confederate Brigadier General
1815 - Sir John A. MacDonald (C), 1st PM of Canada (1867-73)
1816 - Fitz-Henry Warren, Union Brevet Major General
1818 - John Reese Kenly, Union Brevet Major General
1831 - James Ronald Chalmers, Confederate Brigadier General
1852 - Konstantin Fehrenbach, German chancellor (1920-21)
1878 - Theodorus Pangalos, Greek General /dictator (1926)
1903 - Alan Paton, South African writer (Cry, the Beloved Country)
1904 - Frederick Boland, Irish diplomat/President (UN General Assembly)
1905 - Pierre Mendes-France, French Premier (1954-55)
1906 - Albert Hofmann, chemist (discovered LSD)
1910 - Trygve Martin Bratteli, Norwegian PM (Labour) (1971-72, 1973-76)
1912 - Roger Lewis, aviation exec (Lockheed, Curtiss Wright, Pan Am)
1916 - James H. (Jimmy) Quillen (Representative-TN, 1963-1997)
1922 - Neville Duke, English test pilot
1926 - Grant Tinker, broadcasting executive (NBC-TV); Lev Stepanovich Demin, cosmonaut (Soyuz 15)
1934 - Jean Chrétien, Canada PM (Liberal, 1993-2003)

Passings
0705 - John VI, Catholic Pope (701-05)
1055 - Constantine IX Monomachos, emperor of Byzantium
1775 - Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, Cossack rebel, executed by tsarist Russia
1797 - Francis Lightfoot Lee, US farmer (signer Declaration of Independence), dies at 62
1843 - Francis Scott Key, composer (Star Spangled Banner), dies at 63
1891 - Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French senator/baron, dies at 81
1893 - Benjamin F. Butler, US General /presidential candidate (anti-monopoly), dies at 74
1914 - Ambrose Bierce, writer, dies at 71
1923 - Constantine I, King of Greece (1913-17, 20-22), dies at 54
1929 - Julio Antonio Mella, Cuban revolutionary, murdered at about 28
1943 - Carlo Tresca, NY's Italian newspaper editor/anti-fascist, murdered
1944 - Galeazzo, Count of Cortellazzo Ciano, Italian politician
1952 - Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, General (North-Africa/Indo-China), dies at 61
1953 - Ernst H. Ridder Rappard, Dutch Nazi founder (NSNAP), dies at 53; Noach Zjordanija, Georgian Premier (1918-21), dies at 84
1955 - Rodolfo Graziani, Italian East-Africa Minister of Defense, dies at 72
1959 - Dr Mohammed Zakaria Ghoneinl discoverer of 6,000 year old pyramid
1966 - Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian premier (1964-66), dies at 61
1983 - Nikolaj V. Podgorny, president USSR, dies at 79
1988 - Gregory (Pappy) Boyington, ace WWII pilot, dies at 75 of cancer; Isidor Isaac Rabi, nuclear physicist (Nobel Prize-1944), dies at 89
1995 - Adrian J. "Ad" Kaland, Dutch MP (CDA 1977-93), dies at 72

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Godfrey, Johnny Howard, USAF (AZ); A1H shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1968
The following USN personnel reported MIA when their OP2E crashed; all determined KIA, body not recovered:
Anderson, Denis L. (KS)

Buck, Arthur C. (OH)

Mancini, Richard M. (NY)

Olson, Delbert A. (ND); pilot

Roberts, Michael L. (MS)

Siow, Gale R. (CA)

Stevens, Phillip P. (MI)

Thoresen, Donald N. (MI)

Widon, Kenneth H. (MI)

1970
Chorlins, Richard David, USAF (MO); A1H shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Labels: Headlines, History