AFP - The new US Senate is set to convene in a swirl of allegations of corruption, voter fraud and dynastic nepotism that threatens to dog the early days of Barack Obama's presidency.

Reuters - Democrat Al Franken beat Republican incumbent Norm Coleman to win the U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota, officials conducting a final recount said on Monday, though the loser promised to challenge the result.

Reuters - With the economic outlook darkening, U.S. President-elect Democrat Barack Obama went to Congress two weeks before taking office to try to entice Republican support for a massive stimulus package with talk of big tax cuts.

Reuters - Toyota Motor Corp, reeling from its worst U.S. sales decline in more than a quarter of a century, will shut all its factories in Japan for 11 days as the global economic slump hits demand and company profits.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to lead the CIA, which has been widely criticized for harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects, Democratic officials said on Monday.

Reuters - U.S. prosecutors asked a judge to jail accused swindler Bernard Madoff on Monday, saying he sent jewelry and other items worth more than $1 million to family and friends in violation of his bail.

Reuters - Israel pressed on with its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip for a fourth day on Tuesday despite new international calls for a ceasefire in a conflict in which more than 540 Palestinians have been killed.

AP - Jett Travolta's body shows no sign of head trauma and his death certificate says he was killed by a seizure, an undertaker said Monday, after doctors performed an autopsy on the 16-year-old son of the U.S actor.

AP - Take that, Andromeda! For decades, astronomers thought when it came to the major galaxies in Earth's cosmic neighborhood, our Milky Way was a weak sister to the larger Andromeda. Not anymore.

AP - Senate Democrats struggled to avert a showdown steeped in race and corruption Monday as a defiant Roland Burris declared, "I'm a United States senator" and flew to the capital to claim President-elect Barack Obama's old seat in Congress.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama plunged into rare pre-inaugural crisis talks with congressional leaders Monday, declaring the national economy was "bad and getting worse" and embracing tax cuts now expected to reach $300 billion. He predicted lawmakers would approve a mammoth revitalization package within two weeks of his taking office.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's decision to fill the nation's top intelligence jobs with two men short on direct experience in intelligence gathering surprised the spy community and signaled the Democrat's intention for a clean break from Bush administration policies.

AP - GAZA CITY, Gaza — Israel ignored mounting international calls for a cease-fire Monday and said it won't stop its crippling 10-day assault until "peace and tranquility" are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of Palestinian rocket fire.

AFP - The heaviest fighting of Israel's war on Hamas raged in Gaza City early on Tuesday as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rebuffed appeals to stop the death toll from mounting further.

Reuters - The legal battle over gay marriage in California turned on Monday to whether the state's top court could strike down a change in the state constitution that was approved by voters.

AFP - The new US Senate is set to convene in a swirl of allegations of corruption, voter fraud and dynastic nepotism that threatens to dog the early days of Barack Obama's presidency.

AP - Anthrax mailing suspect Bruce Ivins tormented his wife with rudeness and behaved erratically in the weeks before the Army scientist took his own life by overdosing on Tylenol, according to documents released Monday.

AP - A prosecutor on Monday asked that Bernard Madoff be jailed pending trial, saying the disgraced financier violated an agreement with the court by mailing watches, jewelry, cufflinks and mittens worth more than $1 million to relatives and friends.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama plunged into rare pre-inaugural crisis talks with congressional leaders Monday, declaring the national economy was "bad and getting worse" and embracing tax cuts now expected to reach $300 billion. He predicted lawmakers would approve a mammoth revitalization package within two weeks of his taking office.

AP - The Chicago Cubs and free agent Milton Bradley reached a preliminary agreement Monday on a $30 million, three-year contract, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The deal is subject to a physical scheduled for Thursday, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been finalized.

AP - Police say a 4-year-old boy in southern Ohio shot his babysitter because the sitter accidentally stepped on his foot. Police said 18-year-old Nathan Beavers and several other teenagers were babysitting several young children in a mobile home in Jackson on Sunday when the shooting occurred.

AFP - The heaviest fighting of Israel's war on Hamas raged in Gaza City early on Tuesday as the Israeli government parried appeals to stop the death toll from mounting further.

AP - Pat Burrell went from one World Series team to the other. The Tampa Bay Rays added a big bat to the middle of their lineup, agreeing Monday on a $16 million, two-year contract with Burrell.

Reuters - U.S. prosecutors asked a judge to jail accused swindler Bernard Madoff on Monday, saying he sent jewelry and other items worth more than $1 million to family and friends in violation of his bail.

AP - Carl Pohlad, a billionaire banker whose Minnesota Twins won two World Series titles during nearly his nearly quarter-century as owner, died Monday, a baseball official said. He was 93.