San Diego Union-Tribune

• Violence in Iraq now at low ebb, Army says
  BAGHDAD – Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level since the first year of the U.S.-led invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general in Iraq said yesterday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.
• Tribal justice not always fair, critics contend
  Millions of people enter Indian reservations each year for work or play, unaware they might be leaving behind things they take for granted elsewhere, such as the right to sue if injured.
• Facebook doubles as sociological petri dish
  About 1,700 juniors at an East Coast college log on to Facebook.com every day to accumulate “friends,” compare movie preferences, share videos and exchange cybercocktails and kisses. Unwittingly, these students have become the subjects of academic research.
• Snow globe video offers cool comfort
  Centuries from now, historians and sociologists will be left to decide what it is about the holiday season that makes people willingly plop themselves down to watch videos of yule logs burning.
• Photo: Deck the hulls
  
• Even with holiday decorations, Pentagon has rules
  WASHINGTON – Someone taped fake snow to the door of an Army Reserve office to create a winter scene. The Defense Intelligence Agency hung a 4-foot candy cane and the inspirational message “Believe.”
• Coppola did it his way
  Francis Ford Coppola says little would change if he were given a chance to do his life over, like the central character in his new movie, “Youth Without Youth.”
• Top names for 2007
  Emma was knocked out of the No. 1 spot for girls' names this year, but Aiden continues in the top spot for boys, in Babycenter.com's new list of the most popular baby names.
• This day in history: 1903
  
• Wind, snow, sleet, rain spook drivers
  BOSTON – Motorists slid off roads yesterday as a wind-blown brew of snow, sleet and freezing rain cut visibility and iced over highways from the Great Lakes to New England. At least three traffic deaths have been blamed on the storm.
• Women's fashions staying on shelves, to retailers' chagrin
  Sales of women's clothing, a traditional pillar of the holiday shopping season, are unusually bleak this year, according to a major credit card company – an ominous sign for the retail industry.
• 2 tainted reservoirs in L.A. are shut down
  LOS ANGELES – Two reservoirs that supply drinking water to parts of the nation's second-largest city have been shut down and will be drained because a rare, sunlight-fueled chemical reaction tainted them with a cancer-causing chemical, utility officials said Friday.
• High school history teacher is sued over alleged anti-Christian remarks
  MISSION VIEJO – A history teacher has been sued for making what one student calls anti-Christian comments in the classroom. The case has sparked a debate about the role a teacher's convictions should play in their lessons.
• Laotian immigrants protest provisions of Patriot Act
  STOCKTON – About 1,800 Laotian immigrants, including more than a hundred Hmong veterans who fought for the United States against the Vietnamese, protested what they consider unfair Patriot Act provisions.
• Photo: Where's Santa?
  
• Spending bill reverses a few of Bush's cuts
  WASHINGTON – Lawmakers unveiled a $500 billion-plus catchall spending bill yesterday, reluctantly sticking within President Bush's budget but still protecting politically sensitive domestic programs from White House cuts.
• Lieberman expected to endorse McCain
  MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sen. John McCain, trying to build momentum toward a reprise of his 2000 New Hampshire primary victory, is piling up high-profile endorsements, including one from another political maverick, Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
• Self-Googling spreads among adults in U.S., survey finds
  NEW YORK – More Americans are Googling themselves – and many are checking out their friends, co-workers and romantic interests, too.
• A handful of numbers will shape how world fights climate change
  BALI, Indonesia – Behind the millions of words in documents, speeches and slick brochures at the Bali climate conference lay a set of simple numbers: 2, 445 and 25 to 40.
• 2.5 million pilgrims are expected for Islamic hajj
  MECCA, Saudi Arabia – Millions of Muslims from around the world gathered in Mecca yesterday for the start of the annual Islamic hajj pilgrimage, as the Saudi Interior Ministry announced tough security precautions.
• President's party leads in Kyrgyzstan
  BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's party appeared headed for an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections in this strategically important Central Asian nation, the election authority said today, based on early results.
• 7 reported dead in Turkish strike on northern Iraq
  ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkey's military said it bombed Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq before dawn yesterday, as part of a U.S.-sanctioned effort to weaken the Kurdish guerrilla group that hides there.
• Daily developments
  As of Saturday, at least 3,893 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war. The latest deaths reported by the military...
• Driveway is prelude to casino
  JAMUL – A court victory has spurred Jamul tribal officials to begin building a driveway for a casino that would be the closest to downtown San Diego, though state officials haven't approved a stoplight on a busy and dangerous road.
• Physician's negligence results in probation
  A prominent San Diego neurologist has been put on probation by the Medical Board of California for negligently prescribing powerful painkillers and sedatives that led to his wife's overdose death in October 2003.
• Peers offer support to police, firefighters
  Police and firefighters are trained to deal with tragedy, but sometimes the stress of the job or the horror of a particular crime can wear them down, no matter how time-hardened they are.
• All who knew him puzzled by 90-year-old's fatal standoff
  CHULA VISTA – It was an odd and tragic ending for a 90-year-old man: Getting gunned down by the police. Sol Oseroff didn't seem the type to die in such a violent fashion.
• Extraordinary trash heap on private property prompts swift action
  THE PROBLEM: The cul-de-sac on Jamestown Road overlooks Marian Bear Memorial Park, but the view to the west is anything but park-like.
• 'Carmel' is a name that turned mine to mud
  At home, I'm regarded rather like a CIA spook stationed for 20-some-odd (some would say very odd) years in North County. I guess I he