AIRCRAFT SILHOUETTE
The sun silhouettes aircraft on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf, Jan. 18, 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Matthew D. Williams

Labels: aircraft, photos, US Navy, USS Harry S. Truman

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Petraeus to stay in Iraq most of this year: Gates
Saddam admitted he miscalculated, FBI agent says
Suicide bomber kills north Iraq police chief - Video
Emergency Response Unit Reinforces Iraqi Security Forces in An Nasiriyah
Marines Launch Rescue Effort to Save 3-year-old Hadithah Girl

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah
Al Arabiya 'Chickens-to-Terror' Promo Ad Is a Head-Scratcher
Israeli Official: Israel Wants to Cut Ties With Gaza - Egypt Begins to Crack Down on Gaza Crowds
West Bank violence erupts, Gazans stream into Egypt - Video
Al Qaeda's Dentist
Where is Osama? He's in a cartoon, at Sundance
U.S. ready to fight militants with Pakistani troops - Video
Senate delays eavesdropping vote
Bush admin. pays Moussaoui tipster $5M

Troops on Trial
Marine indicted on murder charge in N.C.

Other Military News
It's No Dud: Bomb Squad Disposes of Live Rocket on Display in Veterans' Museum

Religion of Peace??
Dutch Pol, Filmmaker: Islamic Culture 'Retarded'
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Interview With the Filmmaker
Report: Cleric Issues Fatwa Against Bollywood Star

Homegrown Moonbats
Danny Glover convicted of trespassing

Politics / Government
GOP Candidates:More Tax Cuts Now!
McCain: I'm the Democrats''Worst Nightmare'
Immigration not a weak spot for McCain in Florida
Rambo vs. Walker: GOP Supporters Battle
Clinton Pulls Negative Obama Ad in S.C.
Kucinich to Drop Democratic Presidential Bid
Obama dips but still has big South Carolina lead
NY Times back Clinton as presidential nominee (What a stunner)
McCain raises $7 million in January
House Leaders, White House Reach Deal on Economic Stimulus Package
Econ Stimulus Package: At Least $300 Per Person
SPECIAL: Bush, Fighting to the Finish - VIDEO: Pt. I Pt. II
Obama returns to Clinton's war vote
Detroit mayor sends steamy text messages
Colorado House Censures Pol for Kicking Photographer
Ex-World Bank Chief Wolfowitz to Head Arms Panel
U.S. ally Colombia deserves trade pact, Rice says (Frankly, I think there's enough 'trade' coming out of Columbia)
Powerful mayor challenges Ecuador's Correa
Russia wants to ban Kremlin opponent from election

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Side Effects Include Loss of Job...
Woman Gets Maximum Prison Term After Laughing About Murder Victim's Death
Nurse Charged With Sexually Abusing 2 Dozen Patients at Ohio Nursing Home
Judge Disqualifies Kerik Lawyer Due to Conflict
Sex Offenders Questioned in Missing Coed Case
Angry Employee Deletes All of Company's Data
FOXBusiness: Futures Trader Pulls Off $7B Bank Fraud
Feds Raid California Museums for Looted Artifacts

Adventures in Political Correctness
Three Pigs Story Judged 'Offensive to Muslims'

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Cable Company Mistakenly Deletes E-Mail Accounts
WEBCAMS AROUND THE WORLD: Swiss Alps
Murdoch says won't make all of online WSJ free

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
NASA Photo Shows Humanoid Figure on Mars
Scientists Step Closer to Creating Synthetic Life
Birth control pill lowers ovarian cancer risk: study
Group seeks Botox warning after 16 death reports
Australian girl changes blood group, immune system
Doctors report transplant breakthrough
Asteroid will swing by, but won't stop

Mother Nature
Massive California Snowstorm Strands Hundreds on Major Highway
California Braces for More Snow and Rain
Researchers looking at coral threats

Oddities
Mystery May Be Solved for Texas Town Abuzz Over UFO Sightings
Anger-Management Teacher Breaks Student's Finger (Ah, the irony...)
It's official: mail is slow as snails
Australia wild party child turns party pro
Men on motorcycle steal woman's hair
Using a car might have been better...
Ribbit! This green isn't part of salad
Hmmm. Didn't I have a house here?

Other News of Note
Holy Hoops War
Elderly Couple Use Plastic Bags to Suffocate Each Other, Can't Bear to Be Apart (Egads...)

Fox News
Heath Ledger's Massage Therapist Called Mary-Kate Olsen First After Finding His Body
Jack Nicholson Says He 'Warned' Heath Ledger
Funeral Arrangements for Heath Ledger Completed; Relatives to Arrive in NYC Friday
Jerry O'Connell Parodies Tom Cruise Scientology Videos on Internet
Report: 'Cloverfield' Makes Some Oklahoma City Moviegoers Nauseous
Heath Ledger Blame Game About to Start

Reuters
Italy seeks way out of crisis after Prodi quits
Verbal attacks stoke Kenya crisis, despite talks - Video
Lionsgate, Marvel reach deals with striking writers
Gates calls for "creative capitalism" - Video
Plastic surgery patients want Angelina's lips
Garth Brooks on fire for five-concert benefit
Amy Winehouse checks into rehab clinic
Fed says was unaware of SocGen losses - Video
Microsoft profit rises 79 pct - Video
U.S. at recession edge but not there yet: Greenspan
Northwest pilots want stake in merged carrier
Stimulus plan called not much help to consumers
Boeing, Lockheed join forces to compete for bomber
Investors push 90 companies for say on CEO pay
Battered tech darlings look cheap
Wall St. jumps with tax-rebate deal, Qualcomm - Video
Oil continues rally
Gold near historic high
IndyMac soars on hopes for loan growth, profit
Ambac jumps after report of takeover talks
Sun Micro 2nd-qtr profit doubles, shares rise
Juniper Networks shares rise
Euro edges up on rate view, yen pressured lower
SunPower outlook disappoints, shares slide
"Lite" loans may sideline lenders
Tax-deferred saving can bite

AP World News
Woods 2 shots back at Buick Invitational
Mexico City rolls out women-only buses
Nadal derailed by unseeded Frenchman
Treasure hunters in dispute with Spain
Existing single-family home sales drop

CENTCOM: News Releases

USJFCOM
USJFCOM readies for Noble Resolve 08 - podcast
More about Noble Resolve
Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Mission Rehearsal Exercise prepares forces to help “Africans solve African problems” -podcast
Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Mission Rehearsal Exercise commences - podcast
2007 -- The Year in Review - photos

Multi-National Force-Iraq
Patrol Base Medics Helping Heal Community
Al Qaeda Can Run, But Can’t Hide in Northern Iraq, General Says
Iraqi Army, MND-North Soldiers open key route between Baghdad and Baqubah
Update: Large house bomb explodes in Mosul
Explosion in Mosul kills 12, wounds 132
MND-B Soldiers detain suspected extremist cell leader (Baghdad)
Iraqi Security Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain suspected terrorists in separate raids (Balad)

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
Gates: U.S. ‘Ready, Willing, Able’ to Aid Pakistan
Petraeus to Stay in Job; Tour Lengths Remain Untouched
Colombia Making Progress Against Narcoterrorists
Bono, Gates Discuss Africa During Singer’s Pentagon Visit

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
General Assesses Afghan Air Corps
Team Brings Supplies to Villagers - Photos
Forces Kill, Detain Insurgents
Paratroopers Help School Children

FACE OF DEFENSE
Sailor Helps Save Woman's Life

IRAQ NEWS
Iraqi Air Force Builds on 2007 Growth
U.S. Officials Denounce Mosul Terror Bombing
Iraq Still in Al Qaeda’s Grip, Admiral Says
Joint Raid Yields Capture of Terror Cell Leader
Medical Operation Helps Children, Families
With Al Qaeda Gone, Combat Outpost Goes Up

MILITARY NEWS
Stuttgart Opens Transition Unit

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Airman Flies High After Pulling off Proposal

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
0772 - Stephen III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0817 - St Paschal I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Stephen IV
1076 - Synod of Worms German King Henry IV fires Pope Gregory VII
1118 - Giovanni Caetani elected Pope Gelasius II
1328 - King Edward III of England marries Philippa of Henegouwen
1458 - Matthias I Corvinus chosen king of Hungary
1534 - François I signs classified treaty with evangelical German monarchy
1568 - In the Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw
1616 - Jacques Le Maire discovers Street Lemaire/Cape Receiver
1634 - Emperor Ferdinand II declares Albrecht von Wallenstein a traitor
1639 - Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders
1644 - Battle at Nantwich Cheshire Parliamentary armies win
1652 - Duke of Orléans joins Fronde rebels
1656 - 1st Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
1679 - King Charles II disbands English parliament
1722 - Czar Peter the Great begins civil system
1742 - German leaders elect Charles VII Albert Emperor
1764 - Governor Winthrop Telescope, is destroyed in a Harvard fire
1839 - Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society
1847 - 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price
1848 - James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma CA
1861 - Arsenal at Augusta GA seized by Confederacy; Federal troops from Fort Monroe are sent to Fort Pikens
1862 - Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza
1874 - General J van Swieten conquers Kraton Atjeh, after 1000's die
1892 - Battle at Mengo, Uganda French missionaries attack British missionaries
1899 - Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan
1900 - Battle at Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)
1901 - Emily Hobhouse views Lord Kitchener's concentration camp at Bloemfontein
1902 - Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA
1908 - General Baden-Powell starts Boy-Scouts
1915 - German-British sea battle at Doggersbank & Helgoland
1922 - Lehman Caves National Monument established
1923 - Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico established
1924 - Mussolini disallows non-fascists work union; Russian city of St Petersburg renamed Leningrad
1925 - Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Island; Sandler follows Branting as premier of Sweden
1935 - 1st canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale", is sold by Kruger Brewing Co in Richmond VA
1939 - 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile; Spanish government moves to Figueras
1941 - British troops march into Abyssinia
1943 - Hitler orders nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death; Jewish patients/nurses/doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau
1944 - Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy
1945 - Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg
1948 - Dutch Liberal Party forms-People's party for Freedom & Democracy (VVD)
1951 - Dutch government Drees-van Schaik resigns
1952 - Fire in main building of French Port Martin Antarctic base
1958 - After warming to 100,000,000º, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion
1962 - 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany; Jackie Robinson is 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1964 - Martin Kresses final comic strip of Eric the Viking
1969 - Spanish General Franco announces state of emergency
1977 - 5 lawyers murdered by fascist in Madrid
1978 - Carter Executive Order on Intelligence (#12036)
1985 - 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
1986 - Voyager 2 makes 1st fly-by of Uranus (81,593 km), finds new moons
1990 - Japanese MUSES-A (Hiten) launched towards moon
1993 - Polish ferry boat John Heweliusz sinks, 52 killed; Soyuz TM-16 launches

Birthdays
0076 - Publius A. Hadrianus, 14th Roman Emperor (117-138)
1712 - Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia (1740-86)
1800 - Sir Edwin Chadwick, British social reformer
1820 - John Milton Thayer, Union Brevet Major General
1828 - Adam Jacoby Slemmer, Union Brigadier General
1832 - John Pegram, Confederate Brigadier General
1888 - Ernst Heinrich Heinkel,German inventor (1st rocket-powered aircraft)
1891 - Walter Model,German field marshal
1895 - Hans Fischböck, Austrian Finance minister (Nazi-occupied Holland)
1907 - Maurice Couve de Murville, French Premier (1968-69)
1913 - Mark Goodson, TV game-show producer (Goodson-Toddman)
1921 - Bernard J. Dwyer (Representative-NJ)
1924 - Robert W. Kastenmeier (Representative-WI)
1927 - Paula Hawkins (Senator-FL, 1981-86)
1931 - Kees Zÿlstra, Dutch MP (PvdA)
1940 - Flip Buurmeijer, Dutch MP (PvdA)
1946 - John Harrison, South African correspondent (BBC)
1948 - Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State/supplied arms to the Contras
1949 - John Belushi, comedian/actor (SNL, Blues Brothers); Bart Gordon (Representative-TN)
1952 - William F. Readdy, astronaut (STS 42, 51, 79)
1961 - Krasimir Mikhailov Stoyanov, cosmonaut

Passings
0041 - Caligula (G.C. Germanicus], Roman emperor (37-41), assassinated at 28
0661 - Ali ibn Abu Talib, Kalif of Islam (656-61), murdered
0772 - Stefanus III/IV, Pope (768-72)
0817 - Stefanus IV [V/Colonna], pope (816-17)
1336 - Alfonso IV the Benignant, King of Aragon (1327-36), dies at 36
1547 - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, executed for treason
1678 - Joan Maetsuyker, Governor-General of Netherlands East-Indies, dies at 72
1862 - James McIntosh, Confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at about 33
1864 - Stephen Gardner Champlin, Union Brigadier General, dies at about 36
1943 - John Burns, English minister of Local Government (1905-14), dies
1953 - (Karl R) Gerd von Rundstedt, General-field marshal (Normandy), dies at 77
1965 - Winston Churchill, PM of Britain (C) (1940-45, 51-55), dies at 90
1989 - Ted Bundy, serial killer of up to 100 women, executed in Florida at 42
1993 - Thurgood Marshall, 1st Black Supreme Court Justice (1967-91), dies 84
1995 - Wim H. Sinnige, Amsterdam PvdA alderman of Finance, dies at 60

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Booze, Delmar G., USMC (NE); F4B shot down (navigator/bombardier, w/Sprick, same incident as Pitt and Helber)

Helber, Lawrence N., USMC (OH); F4B shot down (navigator, w/ Pitt - different plane, but same incident as Booze)

Pitt, Albert, USMC (NY); F4B shot down (pilot, w/Helber, same incident as Booze and Sprick)

Sprick, Doyle R., USMC (NM); F4B shot down (pilot, w/Booze - same incident as Pitt and Helber)

1967
Simpson, Max C., US Army (NM); drowned while swimming, body not recovered

Labels: Headlines, History