AP - France and Egypt announced an initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza late Tuesday, hours after Israeli mortar shells exploded near a U.N. school sheltering hundreds of people displaced by the onslaught on Hamas militants. At least 30 Palestinians died, staining streets with blood.

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.

AP - Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russia had cut off all gas supplies through pipelines crossing Ukrainian territory, the latest move in a devastating pricing dispute between the two neighbors that has already left a number of countries without gas.

AP - The Capitol rang loud with vows to fix the crisis-ridden economy Tuesday as Congress opened for business at the dawn of a new Democratic era. "We need action and we need action now," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Republicans agreed, and pledged cooperation in Congress as well as with President-elect Barack Obama — to a point.

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.

AP - Former Gov. Jeb Bush announced Tuesday that he won't run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 to replace the retiring Mel Martinez, saying that it was not the right time to return to elected office.

AP - Lisa Marie Presley is expressing her condolences over Jett Travolta's death and defending Scientology, the religion that Presley, John Travolta and Kelly Preston follow.

AP - The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday.

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.

AP - Tulsa raced through the rain to another GMAC Bowl win and a couple more records, too. Tarrion Adams rushed for 207 yards and three touchdowns in the 45-13 victory over No. 23 Ball State on a soggy Tuesday night. The Golden Hurricane (11-3) finished with a school-record 11 victories.

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.

Reuters - Roland Burris proclaimed himself the new junior senator from Illinois -- but it appeared only one fellow Democrat in the U.S. Senate chamber publicly agreed with him.

Reuters - Alcoa Inc said on Tuesday it would slash more than 15,000 jobs, halve capital spending and sell four businesses as it reduces aluminum production in the face of the global economic downturn.

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.

Reuters - Russian gas supplies to Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were halted on Wednesday, adding to the list of EU states left without Russian fuel in freezing mid-winter temperatures.

Reuters - Bernard Madoff is cooperating with government investigations into his alleged $50 billion fraud, one of his lawyers said on Tuesday, as prosecutors sought to revoke his bail and jail him.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama said on Tuesday he expects to inherit a U.S. budget deficit approaching $1 trillion and his administration would have to make some tough budget choices.

Reuters - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates estimates the Pentagon will need about $70 billion more to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, on top of the $65.9 billion already approved by Congress.

AFP - Israel pounded Hamas fighters with artillery shells and air missiles in Gaza on Wednesday as diplomatic efforts sped up to end the war on the Islamists that has killed at least 666 Palestinians.

AFP - Russia on Wednesday halted all shipments of its gas bound for European customers that pass through Ukrainian territory, a spokesman for Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz told AFP.