Two Commonwealth Coast Championships, a 15-home-game winning streak, and 9 female athletes: Those words describe the Salve Regina University women’s basketball team, and they’re out to defend it all. The Lady Seahawks hit their home court for the first time this semester in early December to battle league rival, the University of New England (UNE).

Many Salve students will be celebrating the upcoming holiday season. However, the ways in which they plan to observe the season are all very different. The season is one that is filled with long lived traditions.

In the United States, most people are used to the traditional Christmas, with decorations, a Christmas tree, tons of gifts set beneath the tree, Christmas carols, and a large feast with the whole family gathered around the table.

But this year, increasing numbers of people are taking their holiday traditions on the road.

While the fall semester draws to a close, seniors are busy with finals and contemplating where their future as graduates may lead them. How many seniors can say, though, that they’ve already signed a contract sealing part of their fate for the next four years?

Seniors in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) like Cadet Capt. Danielle Dippolino can be sure, since she has already signed a contract with the U.S. Army.

BAGHDAD, Iraq _ A top-secret report prepared for the American military command in Iraq just before Saddam Hussein was caught predicted that guerrilla attacks would increase after his arrest, as more anti-Saddam Iraqis joined the resistance.

The report argued that seizing Saddam could provoke more attacks by making the insurgency more acceptable to Sunni Muslims who weren’t members of Saddam’s Baath Party elite, according to senior administration officials who’ve seen it.