Israeli tank fire kills 40 at U.N. school
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli tank shells killed at least 40 Palestinians on Tuesday at a U.N. school where civilians had taken shelter, medical officials said, in carnage likely to boost international calls for a halt to Israel’s Gaza offensive.

Israel orders brief halt, then Gaza fight resumes
GAZA CITY, Gaza – Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rockets resumed after a brief pause Wednesday to allow food and fuel to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where an Israeli warplane dropped leaflets urging some residents to flee because of imminent attacks.

Israel agrees to Gaza “humanitarian corridor”
JERUSALEM – Israel says it has agreed to set up a “humanitarian corridor” to ship vital supplies to the people of the Gaza Strip.

Diplomats say Gaza agreement could take several days
WASHINGTON — With more civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, diplomats accelerated efforts on two tracks Tuesday in search of a formula to end the fighting between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

White Phosphorous Used in Gaza 
As the Israeli army stormed to the edges of Gaza City and the Palestinian death toll topped 500, the tell-tale shells could be seen spreading tentacles of thick white smoke to cover the troops’ advance. “These explosions are fantastic looking, and produce a great deal of smoke that blinds the enemy so that our forces can move in,” said one Israeli security expert. Burning blobs of phosphorus would cause severe injuries to anyone caught beneath them and force would-be snipers or operators of remote-controlled booby traps to take cover. Israel admitted using white phosphorus during its 2006 war with Lebanon.

Rocket fire defines life in southern Israeli town
SDEROT, Israel – Few residents of the Israeli town of Sderot are on the streets these days.

Iraq: Cleric urges ‘revenge operations’ over Gaza
NAJAF, Iraq – Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi resistance Wednesday to stage “revenge operations” against American forces to protest Israel’s Gaza offensive.

Report: Al-Qaida No. 2 blames Obama for Gaza fight
CAIRO, Egypt – Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader lashed out at President-elect Barack Obama in a new audio message Tuesday, accusing him of not doing anything to stop Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to an intelligence monitoring center.

Iraq sends 30,000 troops to guard Karbala pilgrims
BAGHDAD – A female suicide bomber allegedly planning to blow herself up among Shiite pilgrims was arrested Wednesday in northern Iraq, as millions joined processions across the country to honor the martyrdom of one of their most revered saints, Iraqi police said.

Turk police detain 40 in coup inquiry
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police detained about 40 people including three retired generals on Wednesday, the state news agency said, widening a probe into an alleged plot to topple EU aspirant Turkey’s Islamist-rooted AK Party government.

Diplomats push Syria to pressure ally Hamas
DAMASCUS, Syria – France’s president sought Syrian help Tuesday to bring a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to the United Nations for meetings with Arab and European leaders.

US: Troops kill 32 insurgents in east Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S.-led forces raided a Taliban bomb-making cell in eastern Afghanistan, killing 32 insurgents in a battle with scores of armed militants who shot at them from rooftops and alleyways, the military said Wednesday.

Report: Pakistan intel chief says no India war
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s intelligence chief said there will not be war with India over the Mumbai attacks and emphasized terrorism — not India — was the greatest threat to the country, according to a rare interview.

Pakistan PM sacks national security advisor
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani fired his national security advisor late Wednesday, amid an escalation in tensions with India in the wake of the deadly Mumbai attacks.

India says Pakistan officials had to know of Mumbai plans
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — India confronted Pakistan on Monday with a detailed dossier that it said showed that “elements from Pakistan” were behind the November terrorist assault on Mumbai and said it was inconceivable that no one in the Pakistani government knew of the plans.

India says all options open to dismantle terror groups
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – India said on Wednesday it would keep all options open to dismantle “terror outfits” after the Mumbai attacks and Pakistan finally confirmed the lone surviving gunman was Pakistani.

Handlers on phone ordered Mumbai gunmen to kill
NEW DELHI – “Keep your phone switched on,” a handler instructs a gunman by phone in the midst of the Mumbai siege, “so that we can hear the gunfire.”

NKorea sets March date for parliamentary elections
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea announced Wednesday it will hold long overdue elections in March amid indications the impoverished regime plans to fill parliament with finance-savvy legislators and has named new Cabinet ministers with economic know-how.

Toyota to suspend production for 11 days in Japan
TOKYO – Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation’s top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand. The last time Toyota Motor Corp. halted production at all its Japan plants was in August 1993, when demand plunged because of a rising yen, and that was for only one day, according to the company.

US envoy in Beijing for 30th anniversary of ties
BEIJING – It was the small game of pingpong that got the big ball of diplomacy moving on U.S.-China relations, and on Wednesday, the two countries commemorated 30 years of formal ties with a friendly exhibition game of table tennis.

Cambodia marks Khmer Rouge fall
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Thirty years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the specter of the murderous regime still haunted Cambodia on Wednesday as victims remembered the countless dead and the country prepared to finally try the movement’s leaders.

Canada to see “pretty terrible” start to ’09: panel
TORONTO (Reuters) – The Canadian economy is in for a rough ride through the first half of the year and will see little or no growth in 2009 as the recession takes hold, top economists from Canada’s largest banks said on Wednesday.

Gulp! Mexico tells citizens to swallow their gum
MEXICO CITY – The country that gave the world chewing gum is getting gummed up: The average square yard (meter) of Mexico City sidewalk has 70 blobs of discarded chew.

Venezuela expels Israeli ambassador over Gaza
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela ordered Israel’s ambassador expelled from the country on Tuesday in protest over the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Sinking oil prices threatening Hugo Chavez’s revolution
CARACAS — High oil prices allowed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to spend freely to spread his Socialist gospel and challenge the U.S. role as the dominant player in Latin American and the Caribbean.

Friend of America’s poor? Chavez shuts off free oil
CARACAS — Venezuela’s state oil company is suspending a much-promoted program that provided free heating oil to hundreds of thousands of poor people throughout the U.S., the company announced Monday.

Ireland orders new probe into Catholic sex abuse
DUBLIN, Ireland – The Irish government has ordered a new investigation into how a Roman Catholic bishop mishandled complaints against sexually abusive priests in his diocese.

12 deaths blamed on snow and cold across Europe
MILAN, Italy – Freezing temperatures and exceptional snowfall caused travel delays Wednesday across Europe and were blamed for at least 12 deaths, including that of a man in Milan who was crushed when a canopy collapsed under the weight of snow.

AP NewsBreak: No trial for Nazi hit man in Germany
BERLIN – A German court ruled Wednesday that an elderly former Nazi hit squad member is medically unfit to stand trial for the World War II reprisal killings of three Dutch civilians.

Greek interior minister survives Cabinet reshuffle
ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s embattled leader reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday but retained his interior minister, who has been sharply criticized for the government’s handling of riots across the nation last month.

Russian gas disruption spreads across Europe
MOSCOW/KIEV, Jan 7 – Russian gas flows to Europe through Ukraine shut down completely on Wednesday, reducing power to industries and homes in south-east Europe and disrupting supplies to major economies. The shutdown, triggered by a price dispute between Moscow and Kiev, hit gas supplies as far West as France and Germany as Europe faced freezing mid-winter temperatures.

Ghana president takes office after tense election
ACCRA, Ghana – Ghana’s new president took office Wednesday vowing to “heal wounds and unite our dear nation” following a peaceful but tense election that secured the country’s status as one of the continent’s few stable democracies.

Rival poses problems for DR Congo rebel leader
KINSHASA (AFP) – Congolese rebels were to meet Wednesday amid an open challenge to the leadership of Laurent Nkunda in a split likely to complicate the search for a solution to the conflict in eastern DR Congo.

Congo talks resume with truce call
NAIROBI (AFP) – Direct talks between Kinshasa and Congolese rebels resumed Wednesday in Nairobi with the UN mediation pushing for a fresh regional summit and urging the belligerents to agree on a truce.

7 Zimbabwe opposition members charged in bomb plot
HARARE, Zimbabwe – Seven members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party were the first of dozens of jailed dissidents to be formally charged Wednesday, and they pleaded not guilty in a bombing plot.

Detained Zimbabwe activists ‘severely tortured’, says lawyer
HARARE (AFP) – Seven Zimbabwean opposition activists accused in a series of bombings have been “severely tortured” by state security agents, their lawyer told a court Wednesday, urging a probe into the alleged abuse.

Zimbabwe delays school opening
HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe has delayed the opening of schools by two weeks, state media reported Wednesday, amid fears that teachers may not show up for classes due to the country’s worsening humanitarian crisis.

Beshir warrant ‘disastrous’ for Darfur: Chinese envoy
KHARTOUM (AFP) – China’s special envoy to Darfur on Wednesday warned of “disastrous consequences” if an arrest warrant is issued by the world court for the Sudanese head of state for alleged war crimes.