Congress, Obama gird to fight slump

The House and Senate have convened for a new Congress that will immediately confront the country's struggling economy.

Bush creates huge marine sanctuaries

Announcing the largest marine conservation effort in history, President George W. Bush on Tuesday designated three remote Pacific island areas as national monuments.

'Jealous wife' charged in fatal genitals fire
An Australian woman accused of setting her husband's genitals on fire because she thought he was having an affair has been charged with murder.

U.N.: 30 die in strike near Gaza school

Red Cross warns 500,000 civilians in danger; Israel rejects calls for truce.

Burris rejected in bid for Senate seat

Roland Burris failed in his bid to take President-elect Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat on Tuesday in a scripted piece of political theater staged just before the opening of the 111th Congress.

No effort to seat Franken in Senate Tuesday

On Nov. 5, Norm Coleman stood before TV cameras, declaring victory and saying if he were opponent Al Franken he'd "step back." Now Coleman finds himself down by nearly the same margin.

War tactics used against Rio gangs
Police are using counterinsurgency tactics in battle against gangs in Brazil's favelas, or slums.

Toyota to suspend car production in Japan

Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March as it grapples with shrinking global demand.

Policeman feared missing arrested in Vegas

An Alabama police organized crime specialist who vanished last week was arrested in Las Vegas and accused of staging his disappearance to cover up a theft, police said Tuesday.

Europe hit with natural gas shortage

The Russia-Ukraine natural gas dispute hit Europe with the force of a winter storm Tuesday, cutting or limiting supplies to nearly a dozen nations.