Israel to halt ops for 3 hours for food aid
GAZA CITY, Gaza (AP) - Israel was set to pause its Gaza offensive for three hours Wednesday to allow food and fuel to reach besieged Palestinians, and the country's leaders debated whether to accept an international cease-fire plan or to expand the assault against Hamas. With criticism rising of the operation's spiraling civilian death toll and Gazans increasingly suffering the effects of nonstop airstrikes and shelling, Israel's military said it would open "humanitarian corridors" to allow aid supplies to reach Palestinians.

Stimulus aside, Obama vows future budget restraint
WASHINGTON (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. Budget-conscious lawmakers are pressing Obama to embrace deficit-reduction goals even as he promotes a spending and tax-cutting plan - expected to cost about $775 billion - to jolt the economy out of its downward spiral.

Democratic opposition to seating Burris cracks
WASHINGTON (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. While Burris' paperwork was rejected at the opening of the 111th Congress, he was scheduled to meet Wednesday with the Senate's top two Democrats - Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and assistant leader Dick Durbin of Illinois.