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Israel troops press into city of Gaza

GAZA, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Israel strengthened its presence in Gaza Tuesday, as troops took over skyscrapers in the city of Gaza, expelled residents and shot militants, observers said.

The Israeli military said it sustained casualties from so-called "friendly fire." Three Israeli soldiers died when a tank shell hit a building in which they were, The New York Times reported.

Hamas, which controls the strip, has killed five Israelis since the conflict began Dec. 27, the Times reported. Militants said Tuesday they fired four rockets into Israel overnight.

Since its ground assault began Saturday, Israel said it has killed 130 Hamas fighters. Israeli officials also said planes destroyed smuggler tunnels in the south.

European diplomats traveled to the region seeking a cease-fire while both Israeli and Hamas leaders spoke of victory, the Times said. Recorded messages from the Israeli military told Gazans "We are getting rid of Hamas."

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, speaking in hiding, said in a televised recorded speech, "The Israeli enemy in its aggression has written its next chapter in the world, which will have no place for them."

Palestinian medical officials estimated the death toll since the campaign began in December topped 550 as of Monday. The United Nations estimated about a quarter of the dead were civilians.

The Red Cross said water supplies for 500,000 Gaza residents are expected to run out soon, The Washington Post reported. Conditions inside the territory are difficult to confirm because Israel has banned foreign journalists.

In New York, the Palestinian Authority's foreign minister, Riad Malki, sought passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire and the deployment of foreign peacekeepers to the region, the Post said. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the Security Council about a resolution.

Burris to try to be sworn in as senator

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris plans to try to enter the U.S. Senate chamber Tuesday to be sworn in with the other new senators.

Senate Democratic leaders said they will not allow the 71-year-old Burris to be seated because he was appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Leaders say his appointment is tainted because, among other things, Blagojevich was accused by federal prosecutors of trying to sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder.

Both sides are determined to hold their ground, and the stand-off is expected to be somewhat staged, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Burris said his staff let his intentions be known to Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer, one-time director of the Illinois State Police, who knows Burris.

"We will only go as far as the sergeant-at-arms permits us to go," Burris said. "We will then retreat and meet with our legal team."

Burris said his appointment is legal, and that he is in Washington as Illinois' junior senator. The secretary of the Senate rejected his certification of appointment because it did not include the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who said he wouldn't sign.

Meanwhile, a House panel determining whether to impeach Blagojevich subpoenaed Burris to appear before it Wednesday. During a news conference at Chicago's Midway Airport before he left for Washington, Burris said he was meeting with congressional leaders that day, and was trying to arrange to travel to the Illinois statehouse on another date, possibly Thursday.

Burris said he sent the panel an affidavit in response to their subpoena, sought by Republican members who said he needed to explain how he got the appointment.

India accuses Pakistani agencies in attack

NEW DELHI, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The Indian Prime Minister said unnamed Pakistani agencies supported militants who attacked Mumbai, India, comments Pakistani officials call "unfortunate."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the comments during a security conference in New Delhi Monday, reportedly saying, "Given the sophistication and military precision of the attack, it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan," The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Singh made the comments after India handed over to Pakistan what Indian leaders said was evidence linking Pakistan to an alleged "conspiracy" born in that country.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon declined to say whether the suspected Mumbai conspirators were linked to current or retired officials, only that it was unlikely a raid such as the one carried out in Mumbai "could occur without anybody anywhere in the establishment knowing it was happening."

Mahmud Ali Durrani, adviser to the Pakistan prime minister on national security, said he believes Singh's comments are "unfortunate," the Press Trust of India reported.

Both countries should avoid a "blame game," and India should let Pakistan finish its investigation into the attacks on India's financial and entertainment hub that left roughly 170 dead, Durrani told Dawn News.

Richard Boucher, U.S. assistant secretary of state, said in the region Monday it was "clear" the attackers had "links that lead to Pakistani soil," but that Pakistani authorities have arrested a number of people suspected in different aspects of the attacks.

Boucher declined to answer a question about whether evidence suggested the Pakistani government was either directly or indirectly involved, the Times said. He urged leaders of the two countries to work together to bring the Mumbai attackers to justice.

Pakistani says tortured in terror arrest

LAHORE, Pakistan, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A one-time Pakistani terror suspect says he was subjected to more than six years of torture and abuse by U.S. captors and plans to sue the government.

The man, Muhammad Saad Iqbal, now back home in Lahore, Pakistan, told Tuesday's The New York Times he was beaten, tightly shackled, covered with a hood, given drugs and subjected to electric shocks by Egyptian interrogators at the urging of U.S. agents after being arrested without charges in Jakarta in 2002.

Iqbal said he was later taken to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, where he allegedly was held for nearly a year, deprived of sleep and kept in a small cage with other detainees. He ended up at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. military prison camp, where Iqbal said he tried twice to commit suicide.

Iqbal told the newspaper he was arrested for boasting to friends he knew how to make a shoe bomb, but denies he ever said it. No charges were ever leveled against him. U.S. officials deny they use torture in interrogating terror suspects.

Attorney Richard Cys told the newspaper he plans to sue the U.S. government for the unlawful detention of Iqbal.

Lottery 'misprints' cost man $135,000

TORONTO, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A Toronto-area man who won $135,000 on four scratch-off lottery tickets has been told they were printing mistakes, and he won't be given the prizes.

Thomas Noftall, 27, told the Toronto Sun he scratched the four tickets on New Years's Eve and was ecstatic to see his winnings.

He contacted the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. in Toronto by telephone, and a claims representative said he would be paid, but that he had to come to the lottery headquarters, the Sun said.

That's when Noftall's luck turned sour.

"One guy pulled me into his office and said, 'Between me and you, they're going to void your tickets. They're not going to pay,'" Noftall told the newspaper.

A lottery spokesman told the Sun there were 1,000 misprinted tickets distributed throughout the province.

Noftall didn't disclose his intentions concerning the tickets.

"I've gone from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in the past few days," he said.