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Associated Press
Published: January 9, 2009

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS
    UPDATE: Israeli government says Gaza offensive to continue

Israel’s government says it will press ahead
with its military offensive in the Gaza Strip despite a U.N.
Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire.
    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office says the military “will
continue acting to protect Israeli citizens and will carry out the
missions it was given.“
    The statement says Palestinian rocket fire Friday shows the
Security Council’s call for a cease-fire “is not practical.“
    The statement is the first official Israeli response to the
council’s resolution calling for an “immediate” and “durable”
cease fire. The council passed the resolution 14-0 late Thursday.

MIDEAST DIPLOMACY
    US abstains from UN vote on Gaza cease-fire

The U.S. says it supports a U.N.
resolution that calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.
    But Washington says it abstained from the Security Council vote
because it is awaiting the outcome of Egyptian-mediated talks with
Hamas and Israel.
    The U.N. resolution, which was passed 14-0 last night, calls for
“an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to
the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.“
    The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki says Israel “must
immediately implement this resolution,“ saying the moment they do
“Hamas will do the same.“
    After the vote, an intense bombardment of missiles from Israeli
jets and helicopters and a barrage of Hamas rockets indicated there
may be no quick end to the fighting.
    About 760 Palestinians, at least a quarter civilians, had been
killed along with 13 Israelis in the operation.

AFGHANISTAN
    Afghan governor says 6 killed by suicide bomber

An Afghan provincial governor says
six people died when a suicide bomber exploded in a produce shop in
southern Afghanistan.
    The official says the bomber, who had explosives strapped to his
body, was apparently targeting a police official who was inside the
shop. The explosion today in the provincial capital killed the
police official and five civilians.
    The governor now says an earlier report of 10 dead was based on
erroneous information. Four shops were also destroyed in the blast.
    Separately today, the U.S. military says coalition forces killed
five militants in an attack on a bomb-making network in the
southern province of Zabul.

OBAMA-ECONOMY
    Lawmakers wary of Obama’s economic package

After listening to his dire warnings,
Democratic and Republican lawmakers remain skeptical of
President-elect Barack Obama’s plan to revitalize a weakened
economy.
    Obama is urging Congress to “act boldly and act now,“ saying
that if the government doesn’t step in “this recession could
linger for years.“
    Leading lawmakers have set an informal goal of mid-February for
enacting tax cuts and government spending that could cost as much
as $1 trillion.
    But they are letting the president-elect know they plan to put
their own fingerprint on the economic recovery effort.
    Some Democrats argue the proposed tax cuts are too small to get
consumers drowning in debt out shopping. Republicans are fearful of
a deficit that soars beyond $1 trillion.

SOLIS-LABOR
    Senate holds confirmation hearing on labor pick

President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for labor
secretary will go before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee today.
    California congresswoman Hilda Solis isn’t expected to have any
difficulty getting confirmed to Obama’s cabinet. In her appearance
today, she’s expected to lay out her vision for a department that
Obama says he wants to “again stand up for working families.“
    Solis has won widespread praise from union officials who expect
her to step up oversight of wage and hour laws, job safety
regulations and rules covering overtime pay and pay discrimination.
    But her liberal record and support of the Employer Free Choice
Act has some in the business community wary of the choice.
    The legislation makes it easier for workers to form unions by
doing away with secret ballot elections.

    OBAMA-INTELLIGENCE
    NEW: Obama to finalize national security team Friday

President-elect Barack Obama is slated to
formally announce his surprise choices for CIA director and a
national intelligence director this morning.
    The choices of Leon Pannetta to head the CIA and retired Adm.
Dennis Blair as national intelligence director haven’t been sitting
well with everyone.
    Black could face some tough questioning over how he confronted
the Indonesian military as head of U.S. Pacific Command when
civilian massacres were occurring in East Timor.
    He’ll also likely be asked about his resignation from a Pentagon
think tank, which happened after the Senate Armed Services
Committee raised questions about him serving on the boards of two
defense contractors the think tank was reviewing.

FINANCIAL MELTDOWN
    Job losses stack up as recession deepens

Analysts are bracing for another expected blow
to a battered economy as the Labor Department prepares to release
last month’s unemployment report.
    Economists expect to learn Friday that the unemployment rate
jumped to 7 percent in December from 6.7 percent in November. If
they’re right it’ll mark the highest unemployment rate in more than
15 years.
    Economists are forecasting that employers axed another 550,000
jobs last month. If so, that would bring the net number of jobs
lost for all of last year to 2.46 million. But there are some who
think the figure could be as high as 600,000 or 700,000.
    Either way, 2008 is shaping up to be the worst year in terms of
job losses since 1945, when 2.8 million jobs were cut.

AUTOS-MELTDOWN
    UPDATE: GM’s $13.4 billion federal loan deal bars strikes

A provision of General Motors’ $13.4 billion in
federal loans automatically places them in default if GM’s union
workers go on strike, and newspaper reports say Chrysler LLC’s $4
billion loan includes similar terms.
    A General Motors Corp. filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission detailed the loan provision. The Detroit Free Press and
The Detroit News reported Friday, citing unnamed sources, that
Chrysler’s loan deal has a similar provision.
    Chrysler spokeswoman Lori McTavish declined to comment on the
newspaper reports.
    The United Auto Workers union isn’t a party to the deal and
hasn’t threatened a strike, its most potent weapon against the
Detroit automakers.
    The UAW and the automakers have a Feb. 17 deadline to agree to
concessions to lower labor costs.

WORLD MARKETS
    International markets mostly lower

Most international stock markets lost ground
today amid more corporate gloom and worries that a key U.S. jobs
report could show a deepening recession.
    After fluctuating in the morning, Asian markets trended down
later in the session as investors awaited closely watched U.S.
non-farm payrolls data, due out later Friday.
    It’s expected to show massive job losses, as many as half a
million or more in December, as a weakening economy led employers
to lay off workers and curb hiring. Economists say the report could
show the U.S. unemployment rate jumped from 6.7 percent in November
to 7 percent in December, which would be the highest in 15 1/2
years.
    Markets in Shanghai, Australia, and Singapore were moderately
higher, the only Asian exchanges to post gains. Markets in Britain,
France and Germany were all lower in early trading.
    U.S. futures pointed to losses on Wall Street ahead of the
government jobs report.
    Dismal corporate news out of Asia also weighed on investors.

UKRAINE-RUSSIA-GAS
    UPDATE: Gazprom may resume gas shipments to Europe today

The chief of Russia’s Gazprom says the company
could resume natural gas shipments to Europe on Friday if EU
observers begin monitoring Ukrainian pipelines.
    Alexei Miller says a final agreement on sending the team will be
signed Friday.
    He says the Russian state gas monopoly will resume European
shipments right after that.
    Miller says no progress has been reached on negotiating a new
contract for supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine.
    Gazprom stopped natural gas shipments to Ukraine on Jan. 1 amid
a debt and pricing dispute, and to Europe via Ukraine’s pipelines
on Wednesday. Russia said it made the move because Ukraine siphoned
gas intended for European customers - a claim Ukraine denied.