Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Another Weapons cache Seized, Two People Detained MNF-I/MNC-I 26 Dec 2004 -- Elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit seized another weapons cache and detained two more individuals during a security patrol Saturday night.
• Senior Iraqi Police Officer Assassinated In Baghdad RFE/RL 26 Dec 2004 -- A high-ranking Iraqi police officer was shot and killed today in southwestern Baghdad.
• Iraqi Insurgents Release Tape of Mosul Bombing VOA News 26 Dec 2004 -- An insurgent group in Iraq has released a videotape that purports to show the suicide bomber who killed 22 people last week at a U.S. military base in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
• In Iraq's "City of Mosques," Marine logistics unit provides lifeline for U.S., Iraqi security forces USMC News 26 Dec 2004 -- Like a line of floats in a holiday parade, a Marine logistical convoy rolls through Fallujah's empty streets to reach Marine and Iraqi forces operating throughout the city.

Defense Policy / Programs

• First 'Big Deck' Amphib VBSS Team Certified Aboard USS Bonhomme Richard Navy NewsStand 26 Dec 2004 -- Afloat Training Group (ATG) Middle Pacific certified the Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) team aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Dec. 14 during a port visit at Naval Station Pearl Harbor.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS VOA 26 Dec 2004 -- Israel's Cabinet adopted a series of measures Sunday, aimed at facilitating Palestinian elections on January 9th.

News Reports

• U.S. Ready To Help Nations Affected by Bay of Bengal Earthquake Washington File 26 Dec 2004 -- The United States will offer assistance to the nations in South and Southeast Asia most affected by the earthquake and tsunamis in the Bay of Bengal.
• ASIA/EARTHQUAKE VOA 26 Dec 2004 -- More than three-thousand people have been killed in South and Southeast Asia (Sunday), after one of the largest earthquakes in a century struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Most of the dead were victims of a tidal wave that spread out across the Indian Ocean, devastating coastal communities as far as Sri Lanka and Thailand.
• INDONESIA EARTHQUAKE VOA 26 Dec 2004 -- What may be the strongest earthquake in 40 years has struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra (Sunday 7 am local), sparking deadly tsunami waves that have impacted as far away as India. Hundreds have been killed in Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Indonesia is bracing for high casualties, but little is know as telecommunications to northern Sumatra have been cut.
• QUAKE SIDEBAR: SOUTHEAST ASIA VOA 26 Dec 2004 -- The eight-point-nine magnitude earthquake off Indonesia Sunday - one of the strongest in a century - sent deadly tidal waves across some of Southeast Asia's famous beaches during the height of holiday tourism. Thai officials report 120 people were killed and some 400 injured, while officials in neighboring Malaysia say at least seven are reported dead in their coastal resorts.

• UKRAINE RE-RUN VOA 26 Dec 2004 -- Millions of voters in Ukraine are casting ballots in an historic re-run of presidential elections to replace outgoing President Leonid Kuchma. The race has been bitterly contested, including dual legal challenges in the nation's Supreme Court, which cleared the way for Sunday's re-run.