Children

GAZA CITY, Gaza (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....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Roland Burris failed to capture President-elect Barack Obama's old Senate seat Tuesday in a wild piece of political theater, but the Democrats' opposition cracked when a key chairwoman said seating him was simply the legal thing to do....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama has approached CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, about becoming the country's next surgeon general, the cable network said Tuesday....

WASHINGTON (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....

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (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....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- David West scored 15 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, Chris Paul added 32 points and 15 assists, and the New Orleans Hornets beat Los Angeles 116-105 on Tuesday night to snap the Lakers' 15-game home winning streak....

DENVER (AP) -- Carmelo Anthony didn't care for the color of the new removable splint he was sporting on his broken right hand, preferring it to be Denver Nuggets blue over bright red....

BOSTON (AP) -- Boston College's Jeff Jagodzinski met with New York Jets officials Tuesday to discuss their head coaching vacancy - an interview that was expected to cost him his job with the Eagles....

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Raymond Felton scored 25 points, rookie D.J. Augustin added 11 of his 20 points in overtime, and the Charlotte Bobcats stunned Boston 114-106 on Tuesday to continue the Celtics' sudden slide....

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Tulsa raced through the rain to another GMAC Bowl win and a couple more records, too....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- It's not exactly a presidential pardon, but prosecutors have agreed to drop charges filed against "W." actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright after an incident a Louisiana bar last year....

OCALA, Fla. (AP) -- This small central Florida town is about as far from Hollywood as you can get. Maybe that's why actor John Travolta moved his family here....

LOS ANGELES (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....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Neale Donald Walsch, best-selling author of "Conversations with God," said Tuesday that he unwittingly passed off another writer's Christmas anecdote as his own in a recent blog post....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kara DioGuardi was fretting about being the new face of "American Idol," and she put the blame on hungry mosquitoes....

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else. The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention....

VAIL, Colo. (AP) -- A guy who dangled upside down from a ski lift with his bare bottom exposed probably doesn't want to hear any "ski bum" jokes. Officials at Vail Resorts in Colorado say the 48-year-old man was trying to get on the Blue Ski basin lift on New Year's Day. They haven't said what went wrong....

CHESHIRE, Conn. (AP) -- The Connecticut Department of Development Services has placed an employee on administrative leave after prescription pills were found in a cake served at a home for disabled people....

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- A scorned 21-year-old told her ex-boyfriend that he couldn't prove she was the one who vandalized his apartment on three occasions - but then, police said, she posted a picture of the damage on MySpace. The woman was charged with two felonies for the vandalism....

OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- Talk about deep cleaning. An woman was recovering after spending more than a day lodged inside a vent at her home after falling in while vacuuming it. Ogden police Lt. Scott Sangberg said they came to the 55-year-old woman's house after family members called police to say they hadn't heard from her in more than a day....