Burris determined to take Senate seat today

Barack Obama's appointed successor declared Tuesday he's qualified to take a seat in the Senate and said he'll go to Capitol Hill to do just that.

Holes in health care means teens face future ills
Many adolescents are falling through cracks in the health care system — what a major new report calls missed opportunities to shape the next generation's health.

'Jealous wife' charged in fatal genitals fire
An Australian woman accused of setting her husband's genitals on fire because she thought he was having an affair has been charged with murder.

Franken tops recount, lawsuit looms

On Nov. 5, Norm Coleman stood before TV cameras, declaring victory and saying if he were opponent Al Franken he'd "step aside." Now Coleman finds himself down by nearly the same margin.

Alaska trooper says politics slowed drug arrest

A drug investigator says authorities delayed the arrest of a woman tied to Gov. Sarah Palin's family until after the November election, in which Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate, a newspaper reported.

War tactics used against Rio gangs
Police are using counterinsurgency tactics in battle against gangs in Brazil's favelas, or slums.

'Full-blown' humanitarian crisis in Gaza

Red Cross warns 500,000 civilians in danger; Israel rejects calls for truce.

Report: China faces wave of unrest

China faces surging protests and riots in 2009 as rising unemployment stokes discontent, a state-run magazine said in a blunt warning of the hazards to Communist Party control from an economic downturn.

Cuba allows access to Hemingway papers

Cuba on Monday began accepting requests for electronic access to more than 3,000 documents from Ernest Hemingway's home on the island, including the unpublished epilogue of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and coded messages the author sent when using his yacht to hunt for German submarines during World War II.

Ukraine: Russia slashed gas to Europe
Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz said Tuesday that Russia cut natural gas supplies to Europe by about two-thirds, raising the stakes in a dispute between the two neighbors that bodes ill for European consumers.