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01/05/2009 08:19 PM
Gaza civilian toll rises; diplomats seek truce (AP)

Palestinians carry the bodies of three toddlers Ahmed, Mohamed, and Issa Samouni, who according to Palestinian medical sources were killed in an Israeli strike, during their funeral in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded Gaza Strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on Monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against Palestinian militants. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)AP - GAZA CITY, Gaza — Israel ignored mounting international calls for a cease-fire Monday and said it won't stop its crippling 10-day assault until "peace and tranquility" are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of Palestinian rocket fire.




01/05/2009 06:44 PM
Obama's intel picks short on direct experience (AP)

In this Sept. 27, 1996 file photo, then-White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. President-elect Barack Obama has selected Panetta to head the CIA, according to an Obama transition official. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)AP - President-elect Barack Obama's decision to fill the nation's top intelligence jobs with two men short on direct experience in intelligence gathering surprised the spy community and signaled the Democrat's intention for a clean break from Bush administration policies.




01/05/2009 06:43 PM
Obama says his plan with tax cuts to get quick OK (AP)

President-elect Barack Obama, flanked by Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, left, and Council of Economic Advisers Chair-designate Christina Romer meets with members of his economic team at his transition office in Washington, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP - President-elect Barack Obama plunged into rare pre-inaugural crisis talks with congressional leaders Monday, declaring the national economy was "bad and getting worse" and embracing tax cuts now expected to reach $300 billion. He predicted lawmakers would approve a mammoth revitalization package within two weeks of his taking office.




01/05/2009 07:05 PM
Burris says he's senator — but Dems won't seat him (AP)

Illinois U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris arrives at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Linthicum, Md., Monday, Jan. 4, 2009. Burris will face a showdown on Capitol Hill about whether he'll succeed President-elect Barack Obama in Congress after being appointed last week by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)AP - Senate Democrats struggled to avert a showdown steeped in race and corruption Monday as a defiant Roland Burris declared, "I'm a United States senator" and flew to the capital to claim President-elect Barack Obama's old seat in Congress.




01/05/2009 06:43 PM
Prosecutor wants Madoff jailed without bail (AP)

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff leaves U.S. District court after a bail hearing in New York, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Prosecutors on Monday said Madoff violated bail conditions by mailing about $1 million worth of jewelry and other assets to relatives and should be jailed without bail. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)AP - A prosecutor on Monday asked that Bernard Madoff be jailed pending trial, saying the disgraced financier violated an agreement with the court by mailing watches, jewelry, cufflinks and mittens worth more than $1 million to relatives and friends.




01/05/2009 06:42 PM
Records reveal anguish of anthrax suspect's wife (AP)
AP - Anthrax mailing suspect Bruce Ivins tormented his wife with rudeness and behaved erratically in the weeks before the Army scientist took his own life by overdosing on Tylenol, according to documents released Monday.

01/05/2009 09:01 PM
Milky Way — the galaxy — not snack-sized anymore (AP)

This undated hand out artist rendering provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows the latest view of the Milky Way's structure. Our Milky Way galaxy may not be the snack-sized collection of stars astronomers have long thought it was. (AP Photo/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Robert Hurt, Mark Reid)AP - Take that, Andromeda! For decades, astronomers thought when it came to the major galaxies in Earth's cosmic neighborhood, our Milky Way was a weak sister to the larger Andromeda. Not anymore.




01/05/2009 06:38 PM
Death certificate: Travolta son killed by seizure (AP)

Undated picture released by the Travolta family shows actor John Travolta (R) with his son Jett. Officials in the Bahamas on Monday conducted an autopsy on Jett Travolta, the teenage son of actor John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston, who died here last week during a family holiday, police said.(AFP/HO)AP - Jett Travolta's body shows no sign of head trauma and his death certificate says he was killed by a seizure, an undertaker said Monday, after doctors performed an autopsy on the 16-year-old son of the U.S actor.




01/05/2009 06:08 PM
Boy, 4, shoots babysitter for stepping on his foot (AP)
AP - Police say an angry 4-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter. Nathan Beavers, 18, was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Police say another teen was also injured.

01/05/2009 06:37 PM
AP Source: Bradley, Cubs agree to $30M, 3-yr deal (AP)
AP - The Chicago Cubs and free agent Milton Bradley reached a preliminary agreement Monday on a $30 million, three-year contract, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The deal is subject to a physical scheduled for Thursday, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been finalized.

NPR Topics: News


01/05/2009 02:03 PM
Expectations Tempered As Obama Returns To D.C.
It's been a rough start for President-elect Barack Obama in his first week back at work in Washington, from violence flaring in Gaza to showdowns brewing in the U.S. Senate. But Obama is staying focused on his economic stimulus plan, even if key Republicans remain skeptical.

01/05/2009 01:49 PM
As Ill. Works To Impeach Gov., Burris Heads To D.C.
Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris has said he intends to go the Capitol Tuesday and begin serving as the state's junior U.S. senator. That looks unlikely, however, because the man who appointed Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is facing corruption charges.

01/05/2009 01:16 PM
Bush In Historic Marine Conservation Move
President Bush plans to designate three remote Pacific island chains as national monuments. The move will mark the largest marine conservation effort in history.

01/05/2009 01:00 PM
Obama Names Intel Picks
President-elect Obama named former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to head the CIA and retired Adm. Dennis Blair to be national intelligence director.

01/05/2009 01:00 PM
In Meetings, Obama Pushes Stimulus Plan
Democrats and President-elect Barack Obama are putting together a short-term stimulus package of up to $1 trillion aiming to jolt the economy and create jobs. It includes about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses, but it probably won't be on Obama's desk when he takes office.

Reuters: Top News


01/05/2009 08:37 PM
Israel keeps up ground attack despite truce calls
GAZA (Reuters) - Israel pressed on with its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip for a fourth day on Tuesday despite new international calls for a ceasefire in a conflict in which more than 540 Palestinians have been killed.


01/05/2009 06:13 PM
Prosecutors seek to jail Madoff
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors asked a judge to jail accused swindler Bernard Madoff on Monday, saying he sent jewelry and other items worth more than $1 million to family and friends in violation of his bail.


01/05/2009 07:48 PM
Obama picks former Clinton aide Panetta for CIA
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to lead the CIA, which has been widely criticized for harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects, Democratic officials said on Monday.


01/05/2009 08:45 PM
Toyota shuts plants as crisis bites
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp, reeling from its worst U.S. sales decline in more than a quarter of a century, will shut all its factories in Japan for 11 days as the global economic slump hits demand and company profits.


01/05/2009 06:37 PM
Obama seeks swift passage of fiscal package
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the economic outlook darkening, U.S. President-elect Democrat Barack Obama went to Congress two weeks before taking office to try to entice Republican support for a massive stimulus package with talk of big tax cuts.


FOXNews.com


01/05/2009 02:47 PM
U.S. Embassy in Iraq Largest, Most Expensive Ever
After much delay the United States opened its new $700 million embassy in Iraq on Monday, inaugurating thd largest, and most expensive, embassy ever built.

01/05/2009 07:56 PM
Israeli Troops, Hamas Fighters Clash Near Gaza City
Israeli troops engaged in major clashes with Hamas gunmen in northern Gaza Monday night, marking Israel's first incursion into Gaza's densely populated urban centers as air support and artillery shelling backed up the ground troops.

01/05/2009 08:35 PM
Obama: We Must Act Now
President-elect tries to build bipartisan support for economic stimulus as he warns of the consequences of inaction
• Lawmakers Raise Concerns With Obama CIA Pick
• PHOTO ESSAY: Busy Day on the Hill

01/05/2009 08:35 PM
Mr. Burris Goes to Washington
Blagojevich appointee Roland Burris says he's 'ready, willing and able' to become a senator as Dems vow to deny him
• FOX FORUM: GOP Should Support Burris | YOU DECIDE

01/05/2009 07:38 PM
Guatemala Mudslide Kills at Least 35 on Highway
Rescuers dug through tons of mud late Monday in search of more victims of a massive landslide that buried a long stretch of highway in northern Guatemala, killing at least 35 coffee workers and travelers using the road.