Obama says his plan with tax cuts to get quick OK (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:27:50 GMT
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.

Obama's intel picks short on direct experience (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:25:29 GMT
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.

Diplomats seek truce as Gaza's civilian toll rises (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:25:00 GMT
AP - Israel's expanding ground and air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers took a heavy civilian toll Monday, including three young brothers reported killed by a crashing shell and wounded who filled hospital corridors.

Burris says he's senator — but Dems won't seat him (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:36:59 GMT
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.

Franken on top in Minn. recount; Coleman to sue (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:23:19 GMT
AP - A Minnesota board on Monday certified results showing Democrat Al Franken winning the state's U.S. Senate recount over Republican Norm Coleman, whose lawyer promised a legal challenge that probably will keep the race in limbo for months.

Congressmen sound off against SEC in Madoff affair (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:23:35 GMT
AP - Republican and Democratic House members said Monday that the alleged $50 billion fraud involving Wall Street figure Bernard Madoff reflects deep, systemic problems at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Milky Way — the galaxy — not snack-sized anymore (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:44:13 GMT
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. The Milky Way is considerably larger, bulkier and spinning faster than astronomers once thought, Andromeda's equal.

Death certificate: Travolta son killed by seizure (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:57:36 GMT
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, as the 16-year-old's celebrity parents prepared for a Florida funeral.

Police: Mexican woman in wheelchair flees on foot (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:17:07 GMT
AP - Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico. Police spokeswoman Sidlayin Robles says 30-year-old Ana Victoria Perez fled on foot after she and her husband allegedly threw a stone through the front window of a furniture store.

AP source: Twins owner Pohlad dead at age 93 (AP)
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:21:36 GMT
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.