Illinois U.S. Senate Appointee Roland Burris (center right), escorted by Senate Sergeant of Arms Terrance Gainer, left, he arrives on Capitol Hill.

Chuck Kennedy / MCT

Illinois U.S. Senate Appointee Roland Burris (center right), escorted by Senate Sergeant of Arms Terrance Gainer, left, he arrives on Capitol Hill.

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Obama's Justice nominees signal end of Bush terror tactics

By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers

In filling four senior Justice Department positions Monday, President-elect Barack Obama signaled that he intends to roll back Bush administration counterterrorism policies authorizing harsh interrogation techniques, warrantless spying and indefinite detentions of terrorism suspects. Obama's pick of Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to take charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit that churned out the legal opinions that justified harsh detainee treatment, was especially telling. » read more

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MIDEAST-HOSPITAL

Ahmed Abu Hamda/MCT

Doctors at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital tend to Asmaa Bahtatete, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl injured in an Israeli strike.

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Crisis takes toll on Gaza's seasoned doctors, medics

By Ahmed Abu Hamda and Dion Nissenbaum | McClatchy Newspapers

Shifa Hospital has long been crisis central for the Gaza Strip. In a seemingly endless series of conflicts, the wounded always come here. Even doctors seasoned in Gaza's many emergencies, however, are reeling from the scale and intensity of the latest Israeli assault, which has killed more than 550 Palestinians and injured 2,500 others in 10 days of fighting. » read more

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Swelling food stamp requests driving Florida budget gap

Florida now leads the nation in food stamp requests, with much of the new enrollees coming from people who've never received such aid before. The new stat was among a list of sobering statistics released as lawmakers began a budget-cutting session: Florida also has a record number of home foreclosures and job losses. » read more

Airstrike kills 3 at Gaza school U.N. using as refugee center

U.N. officials said an Israeli strike directly hit the elementary school compound where more than 400 Palestinians had come to escape fighting in northern Gaza, and which was clearly marked as a U.N. installation. The U.N. said it was strongly protesting the incident and called on Israel to investigate it immediately. » read more

Health spending slowed in '07, but that's cold comfort

U.S. health care spending in 2007 grew at its lowest rate in nine years, due mainly to a slowdown in prescription drug spending and lower administrative costs for the Medicare program, according to a new government report released Monday. » read more

Obamas to attend 10 balls on night of inauguration

The presidential inaugural committee will announce today that the Obamas will attend 10 inaugural balls, including five arranged by regions — for the South, Midwest, the West, the East and the Mid-Atlantic states. There will also be a ball for young people 18 to 35 and one each for Obama's home states of Hawaii and Illinois. » read more

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