CNN

An audio message reportedly from al Qaeda's deputy chief vows revenge for Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza and calls the Jewish state's actions against Hamas militants "a gift" from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

Nine sites in the central Pacific will be set as sanctuaries for marine life and bases of research for scientists, President Bush said Tuesday.

Any cease-fire in the Gaza conflict will require "clear and definitive action" to halt the smuggling of weapons and money into the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday.

We have been trying to report as accurately as possible on the fighting in Gaza.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, has been approached by Barack Obama's transition team about the U.S. surgeon general's post, according to sources inside the transition and at CNN. Gupta, a neurosurgeon, has served as a White House fellow and as a special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton.

Members of Congress won't be allowed to slip earmarks into the economic recovery package Congress will soon take up, President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday.

It had to happen, and it did.

As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars. Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the mother of all hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank. In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service for the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

German billionaire Adolf Merckle, one of the richest men in the world, committed suicide Monday after his business empire got into trouble in the wake of the international financial crisis, Merckle's family said Tuesday in a statement.

The Israeli military said Hamas militants positioned in a U.N. school in northern Gaza fired mortar shells at Israeli forces today, prompting Israeli forces to return fire, according to its initial investigation. Three artillery shells believed to have been fired by the Israeli forces struck near the perimeter of the school in Jabalya, killing at least 30 people and wounding 55, according to a U.N. official.

To most Democrats and many Americans, the Bush/Cheney nightmare is over!

Roland Burris was denied entry to the Senate chambers today as he tried to claim the seat once held by President-elect Barack Obama. Burris said the secretary of the Senate rejected his credentials, and therefore he would not be allowed access to the floor. An attorney for Burris said the rejection was unlawful.

The number of homes under contract to be sold fell 4% in November according to a report released Tuesday.

China has released a blacklist of 19 major online portals and Web sites, including Google and Baidu, that it claims provide and spread pornographic or obscene content, state media reported.

Several European countries said Tuesday their supply of natural gas from Russia had been cut or reduced amid a dispute over payments between Russia and Ukraine.

Proponents of redefining marriage couldn't wait for the new president to be sworn in before demanding that he erase from the inauguration ceremony a prominent American who disagrees with them.

When Apple vice president Philip Schiller takes the stage here Tuesday morning for the keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo, he'll face a good-news, bad-news scenario.

Phil Lesh is on the phone.

Roland Burris, the controversial appointee to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat, planned to go to Washington on Monday as top Democrats and Republicans meet to try to work out a bipartisan solution to their Senate dilemma.

Though Sir David Frost doesn't see his 1977 interviews with former President Richard Nixon as "an intellectual 'Rocky' " -- in the words of "Frost/Nixon" playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan -- he does agree that the sessions had their "adversarial" moments.