AP - Israel's top leaders are meeting to discuss whether to accept a cease-fire plan or expand their military offensive in Gaza.

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.

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 - "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.

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 - 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 - 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 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.

AP - Israel's top leaders are meeting to discuss whether to accept a cease-fire plan or expand their military offensive in Gaza.

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 - "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.

AP - The rising civilian death toll in Israel's campaign in Gaza highlights the pitfalls of Israel's powerful army using lethal force against often invisible Hamas guerrillas taking cover among civilians.

AP - A cease-fire initiative Tuesday to halt the increasingly bloody Israeli offensive in Hamas-rule Gaza won support from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on rival sides to follow up on the proposal.

AFP - All deliveries of Russian gas through Ukraine were halted on Wednesday, officials from both sides said, amid growing prospects European consumers could suffer from the crisis amid freezing weather.

AP - An Iraqi official says 30,000 policemen and soldiers have been deployed to the holy city of Karbala to protect two million Shiite pilgrims there.

AFP - The nine crew members taken hostage with their vessel at the weekend off the coast of Nigeria have been released, the ship's owner Bourbon said Wednesday.

AFP - Coalition soldiers killed 32 insurgents in an operation against a Taliban cell near the Afghan capital Kabul, the US military said Wednesday, as officials announced eight women had died in a rocket blast.