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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 24 Nov 2008 [PDF]
• DoD News: DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• Nov. 23 airpower summary: F-15Es provide armed overwatch AFNS 24 Nov 2008 -- Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during operations Nov. 23, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
• Coalition, Iraqis Capture Terror Suspect, Seize Weapons AFPS 24 Nov 2008 -- Coalition and Iraqi forces captured a suspected terrorist and seized two weapons caches in Iraq over the past four days, military officials said.
• Reconstruction Teams Work ‘One Block at a Time’ in Iraq AFPS 24 Nov 2008 -- Reconstruction in Iraq means more than fixing broken walls and stocking store shelves. It means securing a future where Iraqis can sustain themselves, a provincial reconstruction team leader said.
• Ordnance clearance mission in Iraq ends, new mission emerges Army News 24 Nov 2008 -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has accomplished its mission of mobile ordnance cleanup in Iraq, and will now move refocused operations to a stationary location near Baghdad
• Coalition Kills Seven Militants, Hit Taliban Bomb Network AFPS 24 Nov 2008 -- Coalition forces killed seven armed militants yesterday during an operation to disrupt Taliban roadside bomb and foreign-fighter networks in eastern Afghanistan, military officials reported.
• Investment in Afghanistan Makes Economic Sense, Gates Says AFPS 24 Nov 2008 -- Tough economic times are no excuse for the international community to withhold support for Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters returning with him Nov. 21 from a two-day defense ministerial in Nova Scotia, Canada.
• AFGHANISTAN: WFP starts food aid deliveries to over five million people IRIN 24 Nov 2008 -- The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has started delivering food to over five million people affected by drought and high food prices.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Iraqi Political Showdown Looms Over Status Of Forces Agreement RFE/RL 24 Nov 2008 -- Thousands of supporters of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held a raucous but otherwise peaceful rally in downtown Baghdad last week that was both reflection of events in parliament and a portent of things to come over continued U.S. military presence in the country
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Stephen Jones From the Pentagon DoD 24 Nov 2008 -- Presenter: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Stephen Jones
• 7th Air Force officials welcome new commander AFNS 24 Nov 2008 -- The leadership of 7th Air Force changed hands during a change-of-command ceremony here Nov. 24.
• Weather flight forecasts ensure mission efficiency AFNS 24 Nov 2008 -- As the thunder rolls and the lightning strikes in the distance, aircrews at an air base in Southwest Asia stand by eagerly waiting on the seemingly clairvoyant counsel of Airmen in a specialized unit there.
• Post-Combat Coping Methods Vary, Troops Say AFPS 24 Nov 2008 -- Methods of coping with combat and its after effects vary as greatly as the effects themselves, six warriors participating in a conference panel here said.
• DoD, VA Laud Bridges Between Electronic Health Databases AFPS 24 Nov 2008 -- Software platforms that bridge the medical databases of the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are improving military health care, officials said today.
• Army transforming NCO education system Army News 24 Nov 2008 -- A redesign of the Army's noncommissioned officer education system will bring it's curriculum closer to what has been taught to officers in the past, said Command Sgt. Maj. Ray Chandler
• SECAF visits base to discuss future of space power AFNS 24 Nov 2008 -- Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley visited Vandenberg Nov. 22 to meet with 14th Air Force leaders and tour the Joint Space Operations Center here.
• Secretary Donley: U.S. can retain space leadership role AFNS 24 Nov 2008 -- Solid leadership and the coordination of resources will enable the United States to retain its leadership in space, Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley said Nov. 21 during the Air Force Association's Global War Symposium in Los Angeles.
• Forward air controllers prepare for war AFNS 24 Nov 2008 -- In the profession of arms where timeliness, precision and control are the rules of the day, sometimes a little confusion, disorder and mayhem are good things.
• Russian Navy Increases Activity in Foreign Waters VOA 24 Nov 2008 -- Russia is increasing its naval activity in two far-flung parts of the world, as Moscow seeks to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia and to project power in the Western Hemisphere.
• Involuntary manslaughter charge for submariner on Russia's Nerpa RIA Novosti 24 Nov 2008 -- A serving crew member on the Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine, on which 20 people recently died, has been charged with "criminally negligent homicide," a Russian top investigator said Monday.
• Russian president ratifies treaties with Abkhazia, South Ossetia RIA Novosti 24 Nov 2008 -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed off on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance treaties with Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Kremlin press service said on Monday.
• Iran Navy to become powerful force soon: commander IRNA 24 Nov 2008 -- The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy will become the most powerful force in the region in the near future, Commander of the Army's Naval Forces, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told IRNA Sunday evening
• Press Briefing by Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto The White House 24 Nov 2008
• Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 24 Nov 2008

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for November 24, 2008
• General Dynamics NASSCO Lays Keel of Third Product Carrier General Dynamics 24 Nov 2008 -- General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), today held a keel-laying ceremony for its third product carrier.
• NATO Moves Forward With Agreement to Acquire Boeing C-17s Boeing 24 Nov 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that the NATO Airlift Management Agency (NAMA) general manager, on behalf of the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) nations, has signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance with the U.S. government for the acquisition of two Boeing C-17 Globemaster III long-range cargo jets.

Other Conflicts

• Gaza’s desperate population receives restricted amount of aid today – UN agency UN News Centre 24 Nov 2008 -- Israel reopened crossings into the Gaza Strip today, allowing limited supplies to reach the 1.5 million inhabitants largely dependent on humanitarian aid, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) reported today.
• Visiting Chad, top UN relief official calls for stronger refugee protection UN News Centre 24 Nov 2008 -- The top United Nations humanitarian official wrapped up a four-day visit to Chad today during which he called for stronger action to restore stability and rein in criminal activity besetting nearly half a million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the strife-torn east.
• Marking Day of Solidarity, Ban calls for easing hardships of Palestinians UN News Centre 24 Nov 2008 -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Israel and the Palestinians to continue their negotiations, as well as to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, despite the goal of reaching a peace treaty between the Israelis and the Palestinians by the end of this year now seeming unlikely.
• Two Somali parties agree to tackle problem of impunity, UN reports UN News Centre 24 Nov 2008 -- Welcoming a workshop at which the parties to a recent Somalia peace accord tackled the challenge of impunity, the top United Nations official for the strife-torn country has called on the international community to support them in the endeavour, which could include a commission of inquiry and an international court.
• UN checks charges of Sudanese Government bombing in renewed Darfur fighting UN News Centre 24 Nov 2008 -- The joint United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has sent a team to verify allegations by the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) of Government attacks on a village in South Darfur province following reports of renewed fighting in the war-torn region.
• SOMALIA: Talks resume amid continuing violence IRIN 24 Nov 2008 -- Talks aimed at ending the conflict in Somalia have resumed in Djibouti, amid reports that dozens of civilians died in weekend violence in Mogadishu.
• 43 Sri Lankan soldiers killed: Tamil Tigers claim IRNA 24 Nov 2008 -- Sri Lankan army's attempt to broaden the offensive arc on the Tiger stronghold of Kilinochchi received a setback when a push to capture the major town of Nalloor was beaten back by LTTE cadres, who claimed to have killed 43 soldiers
• Somali Peace Talks Agreed to Tackle Issue of National Unity Government VOA 24 Nov 2008 -- A two-day meeting between Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and exiled opposition leaders represented by the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) ended Sunday in Djibouti.

News Reports

• GUINEA-BISSAU: Coup attempt highlights vulnerability IRIN 24 Nov 2008 -- An apparent coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau on 23 November has underscored the country’s chronic political volatility.
• African Union Condemns Guinea Bissau Coup Attempt VOA 24 Nov 2008 -- The African Union has condemned Sunday's attempted coup d'etat by in Guinea Bissau. Heavily armed gunmen reportedly attacked President Joao Bernardo Vieira's residence yesterday (Sunday) with machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The government said the president and his family were not harmed although a presidential guard was killed during the coup attempt.
• Second phase of polls passes off peacefully in Kashmir: Report IRNA 24 Nov 2008 -- Significant number of voters driven by a desire for good governance and solutions to their everyday problems queued up outside polling booths in strike hit Kashmir Sunday to elect pro-India politicians to the state Assembly even as thousands others defying strict restrictions held anti-election demonstrations in curfew bound Valley
• Alleged Shooting Fuels Tensions Between Moscow And Tbilisi RFE/RL 24 Nov 2008 -- As Georgia marked the fifth anniversary of its Rose Revolution, tensions were again rising between Moscow and Tbilisi
• Pirates Holding Saudi Tanker Dismiss Islamist Threats VOA 24 Nov 2008 -- The leader of a Somali pirate group holding a Saudi-owned supertanker carrying $100 million in oil has denied reports the group has moved the vessel away from the coast of the central Somali town of Haradhere, where it had been anchored for more than a week.
• Economist Says IMF Can Handle Spate Of Aid Requests, For Now RFE/RL 24 Nov 2008 -- Two months ago, Iceland became the first country whose economy collapsed because of the global economic crisis, and it became the first to apply for aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).