Israel rejects humanitarian truce in Gaza
GAZA, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Israel officials said Wednesday its military campaign in Gaza would continue, rejecting a French proposal for a truce for humanitarian reasons.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner proposed a truce that would allow humanitarian aid into the Hamas-controlled Gaza, but an Israeli government spokesman said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his advisers decided to press on with the attacks, CNN reported.
"There is broad international consensus that the residents of the south of Israel must have a real and sustainable solution and not a Band-Aid," spokesman Mark Regev said.
Regev said Israel would work with the international community on humanitarian issues in Gaza. In its fifth day Wednesday, Israel's bombing campaign began in response to the continued rocket and mortar firings by Hamas militants from Gaza into Israel.
Karen AbuZayd, the commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said more than 150 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were permitted to enter Gaza Tuesday, but the humanitarian and medical situations remained dire.
The United Nations called on both sides to end the violence, CNN reported. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon chastised Hamas for the rocket fire and Israel for responding with "excessive use of force."
The office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and the Hamas Interior Ministry were among buildings struck in Wednesday's air assault, Israeli military officials told CNN. Officials said the air assault also took out a maze of tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt.
There was no immediate report of casualties from the latest raids. Since the assault began, more than 375 Palestinians have died, Palestinian medical sources said.
Also Wednesday, two medium-range rockets hit the Israeli city of Beersheva, but caused no injuries, officials said.
Court opinion may protect Burris
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- If Democratic leaders try to block Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment to fill a vacant Senate seat they may run afoul of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Blagojevich has been charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's empty Senate seat for personal gain, among other things. Despite the charge, the governor Tuesday tapped former state Attorney General Roland Burris to fill the seat. Democratic leaders have suggested they may block the appointment and Obama has said Burris should not take the seat.
But a 1969 Supreme Court ruling, in a case involving the late Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., D-N.Y., said Congress can bar the seating of a member only if that member fails to meet "the standing qualifications expressly prescribed by the Constitution" -- principally age, citizenship and residency and the laws of a particular state.
Congressional leaders had tried to exclude Powell for misappropriating funds and making payments to his wife.
The lower courts had supported Powell's expulsion, but the majority opinion by Chief Justice Earl Warren said the high court's "examination of relevant historical materials shows at most that Congress' power under (Article 1, section 5 of the Constitution) to judge the 'qualifications of its members' is a 'textually demonstrable constitutional commitment' ... to judge only standing qualifications which are expressly set forth in the Constitution; hence, the House has no power to exclude a member-elect who meets the Constitution's membership requirements."
Though it severely limited Congress' power to block the seating of a member, the opinion left open the question of a state taking action.
Stimulus bill on track, aide says
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A senior aide to President-elect Barack Obama said escalating turmoil in the Middle East wouldn't derail a new U.S. economic stimulus bill.
"Not that anyone is unconcerned about the situation in the Middle East," David Axelrod said. "But, when you're struggling because you've lost your job … or you can't get a loan for your business or sending your kid to college, it's pretty hard to look past that," he said.
Axelrod said the public would have "little patience" for a protracted debate on the bill, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.
But, Michael Steel, a spokesman for House of Representatives Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans have been afforded little say in the bill that could cost $775 billion in tax cuts and infrastructure projects.
"They've not contacted us," Steel said.
The House could vote on the bill before the Jan. 20 inauguration, while the timing for a vote in the Senate is less certain, the Tribune reported.
Iraq security deal to change U.S. tactics
BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. troops accustomed to staging mass arrests of suspected Iraqi insurgents will be forced to acquire warrants as part of a new security deal, officials say.
The new Status of Forces Agreement, which goes into effect Thursday, asserts Iraqi sovereignty in the area of arrests and demands that U.S. soldiers obtain arrest warrants from local judges before staging raids in such places as Baghdad's Sadr City slum, The New York Times reported.
The change is being welcomed by many Iraqis as an important step toward sovereignty, because many of those arrested by U.S. troops remained imprisoned for years without charges. But others say the change also raises concerns that the longer and more complicated arrest process could jeopardize recent gains in safety in Sadr City, the Times said.
"There will be more steps," said Maj. Hasoon S. Hussein Zoubadi, an Iraqi officer. "It will make it harder for us and easier for the Mahdi Army," the militia run by the anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr.
One American major told the Times Iraqi judges have threatened to prosecute U.S. officers for detaining suspects on inadequate or false evidence.
Year to end on a frugal note
NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Ringing in the new year is expected to be toned down this year, as revelers adjust to the downturn in the U.S. economy, observers said.
Celebrations will go on "in a much more frugal way," Marshal Cohen at trend researcher NPD Group told USA Today.
Signs of a more subdued New Year's Eve include the cancellation of a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Trace Adkins concert in Nashville and trimming party prices at various restaurants.
A traditional four-course meal at the Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Mass, will not be "over the top," this year, owner Ming Tsai said. At some establishments, such as the Divine Bar West in New York City, the theme will be the economy. "Since we're all in the red, let's get Back in Black!" an ad for their New Year's Eve party reads.
Revelers will be offered blackberry-infused champagne and Black Forest ham, the newspaper said.
Many will celebrate with friends at home.
Nancy Bohr of Enola, Pa., said she would attend a dish-to-pass event with her husband this year, skipping a $50 dance she normally attends.
"A lot less money … just as much fun," she said to USA Today.
