MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia made good on its threat to cut off all natural gas supplies to Ukraine on Thursday - but the two uneasy neighbors took great pains to make sure their contract dispute would not leave Europe short of gas just as winter set in....

BAGHDAD (AP) -- The U.S. formally transferred control of the Green Zone to Iraqi authorities Thursday in a pair of ceremonies that also handed back Saddam Hussein's former palace. Iraq's prime minister said he will propose making Jan. 1 a holiday marking the restoration of sovereignty....

SANTIAGO, Cuba (AP) -- Fifty years after triumphant armed rebels descended from the mountains, communist Cuba celebrated the revolution's anniversary Thursday with toned-down festivities following a trio of devastating hurricanes and under the enduring public absence of Fidel Castro....

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Southern California made a strong case of its own to be No. 1....

The man tapped by Illinois' embattled governor to fill an open U.S. Senate seat will be turned away if he arrives for Tuesday's inauguration of new members, according to two Democratic aides. If Roland Burris tries to get past the doorkeeper or causes a scene, U.S. Capitol police would stop him, one Democratic aide told CNN.

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CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Three people were killed Thursday afternoon when two gunmen entered a Vietnamese restaurant in western Canada and opened fire.

Implementing smoke-free policies can lead to a fewer hospitalizations resulting from heart attacks, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A statue worth more than $10,000 that was stolen from the Palm Beach, Florida, estate of Wall Street investment adviser Bernard Madoff has been recovered, police said Thursday.

GAZA, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Israel turned to diplomacy to try to explain its operation in Gaza Thursday amid reports that a Hamas military commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The ugly sales year that was 2008 will haunt U.S. retailers in 2009, with industry experts warning that disastrous holiday sales will spark a domino effect of store closures and bankruptcy filings.

The Gaza crisis is an alarm bell for incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, promising a bumpy ride.

Some Democrats in the Senate have said they will block Roland Burris' appointment by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill President-elect Obama's vacant seat. Can they do that? Conflicting passages in the Constitution make the answer complicated, and a 1969 Supreme Court ruling could ultimately decide how the seat is filled.

As investigators in Florida seek answers in the Caylee Anthony murder case, the grandparents of the girl are asking for immunity when questioned, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Donny Osmond, David Cassidy, and Duran Duran all made the list, but who came in first?

Bad relationships, great movies, hot bodies, awful clothes - a fun look back at 2008

A 16-block area of the resort town of Aspen, Colorado, was evacuated on New Year's Eve after bombs wrapped as Christmas presents were found at two banks. Notes with them threatened "mass death." A man recorded on a surveillance camera delivering the packages was later found dead, police said.

The Coast Guard is searching for a cruise ship employee who reportedly fell overboard early Thursday off Florida's east coast, a Coast Guard spokesman told CNN.

NEWPORT, R.I., Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Former Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., the legislative author of a college fund program named for him, has died at his home in Newport his family said. He was 90.

Former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, who was largely responsible for the Pell grant program for U.S. college students, died Thursday morning at his Rhode Island home, his family said.