International

Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 20:02:08 -0500
TOP STORIES as of 0900 HKT -- 06 January, 2009

HAMAS DEFIANT OVER ROCKET STRIKES
A senior Hamas official says the Gaza leadership has no
intention of stopping its rocket attacks on Israel, despite
claims from Palestinian sources that more than 500 have died
during Israeli reprisals.

DOCTOR IN GAZA: PATIENTS 'LYING EVERYWHERE'
Gaza's main hospital, already overloaded with Palestinians
wounded in the week-long Israeli air assault, has reached
critical mass, according to a Norwegian doctor volunteering at
Shifa Hospital.

MASKED GUNMEN ATTACK RIOT POLICE IN ATHENS
Gunmen attacked a riot police unit in Athens Monday, seriously
injuring an officer following weeks of violent protests sparked
by the deadly police shooting of a teenager last month.

NEW U.S. EMBASSY OPENS IN BAGHDAD
Just days after the U.S. military formally handed authority of
Baghdad's "Green Zone" over to the Iraqis, the new American
Embassy opened in Baghdad.

OFFICIALS: PANETTA, BLAIR PICKED FOR INTEL JOBS
Leon Panetta, chief of staff in President Clinton's White House,
will be President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be director of
the CIA, two Democratic officials told CNN on Monday.

BOARD CERTIFIES FRANKEN WIN; LAWSUIT LOOMS
In a move that leaves a post-election legal challenge the last
hope for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota's high court
has denied his campaign's request to consider about 650
additional rejected absentee ballots.

MEETING TO END UKRAINE GAS CRISIS
European and Russian leaders are holding crisis meetings Monday
to try to defuse a dispute between the Russian energy giant
Gazprom and Ukraine's state-run gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy.

INDIA HANDS MUMBAI ATTACKS FILE TO PAKISTAN
India says it has handed evidence it says links the November
massacre in Mumbai to "elements in Pakistan" over to Pakistani
government officials.

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BUSINESS

MARKETS REOPEN AFTER TURBULENT 2008
Europe's major markets open higher at the start of the first
full trading week of 2009. London, Paris and Frankfurt were all
up less than a percent.

BRITISH FINE CHINA MAKER CALLS IN RECEIVER
Fine china and glasswork maker Waterford Wedgwood has called in
a receiver -- the British equivalent of bankruptcy.

RICHARDSON BOWS OUT OF U.S. COMMERCE JOB
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's pick for commerce secretary,
Bill Richardson, is withdrawing his nomination, citing the
distraction of a federal investigation into ties to a company
that has done business with his state.