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Military confirms 3-hour lull in Gaza to allow aid (AP)

AP - Israel's military says it has suspended its Gaza offensive for three hours to allow aid and fuel into the embattled Palestinian territory.

Stimulus aside, Obama vows future budget restraint (AP)

AP - To a public wary of government spending, President-elect Barack Obama is offering a salve with his massive economic stimulus package: the promise of long-term fiscal discipline.

Democratic opposition to seating Burris cracks (AP)

AP - Senate Democrats are looking for ways to defuse the standoff that has denied Roland Burris the vacated Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama of Illinois, but maybe not much longer.

Russia stops all gas supply to Europe via Ukraine (AP)

AP - Russia has shut off all its gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine — the latest move in a pricing dispute that has reduced or halted fuel deliveries to a dozen countries during a winter cold snap.

Transcript: Mumbai gunmen were commanded by phone (AP)

AP - "We have three foreigners, including women," the gunman said into the phone. The response was brutally simple: "Kill them." Gunshots then rang out inside the Mumbai hotel, followed by cheering that could be heard over the phone.

CNN: Gupta approached about surgeon general post (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's reported choice for surgeon general, CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, could bring a dose of star power to a job that hasn't had that much clout in decades.

Increase of sick brown pelicans baffles experts (AP)
AP - Wildlife experts are trying to figure out why sick, disoriented and bruised California brown pelicans are being found in record numbers along more than 1,000 miles of coastline.

DiCaprio, Eastwood are Palm Springs film winners (AP)

AP - The world economy is in dire straits, but you sure wouldn't know it from the red carpet at the 20th-annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala. The actresses were dripping with jewels, actors donned high fashion, and logos of jeweler Cartier and automaker Mercedes-Benz loomed large behind all as they posed for photographers.

Alcoa to cut 13 percent of global work force (AP)

AP - Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. is cutting roughly 13 percent of its global work force by the end of the year as it slashes costs in the face of a deteriorating world economy.

Tulsa pummels No. 23 Ball State 45-13 in GMAC Bowl (AP)

AP - Tulsa and No. 23 Ball State both had the best seasons in their respective programs' history. Only the Golden Hurricane felt particularly good about it Tuesday night, when they appeared faster and stronger on both sides of the ball and rolled to a 45-13 win in the GMAC Bowl.

Egypt floats truce plan after Gaza school deaths (Reuters)

Reuters - Israel and Hamas studied an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday that won immediate backing from the United States and Europe, hours after Israeli shells killed 42 Palestinians at a U.N. school.

Madoff victims may get some cash within a month: report (Reuters)

Reuters - Investors who lost money in Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud might begin recovering some of their funds as soon as next month, Securities Investor Protection Corp, President Stephen Harbeck told Bloomberg in an interview.

Pakistani spy chief says no war with India (Reuters)

Reuters - The chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has said there will not be a war with India over November's militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai, Der Spiegel reported. Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha told the German magazine in an interview terrorism, not India, was Pakistan's enemy, and he said he took orders from the civilian president.

Russian gas flow halted through Ukraine to Europe (Reuters)

Reuters - Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine shut down completely Wednesday, leaving growing numbers of European Union member states without Russian fuel in freezing mid-winter temperatures.

Cambodians mark 30 years since fall of Pol Pot (Reuters)

Reuters - Thousands of Cambodian survivors of the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" marked 30 years Wednesday since the fall of Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.