Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - A suspected U.S. missile strike by a drone aircraft destroyed a vehicle in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least three foreign militants, said intelligence officials.

NEW YORK - Despite months of economic gloom, revelers throughout the country welcomed the new year with merrymaking and even optimism, though some festivities fell to hard times and others remained subdued.

ASPEN, Colo. - Authorities say they're looking for a former Aspen resident after a bomb scare effectively shut down this resort town on New Year's Eve, one of its busiest nights of the year.

CHICAGO - Roland Burris is battling for a U.S. Senate seat in court and through the media, briefly shifting the spotlight away from the man who picked him for the job, embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

PASADENA, Calif. - Thousands of campers and revelers gathered along the Rose Parade route before the first dawn of 2009, eagerly awaiting the floral floats that will proceed down Colorado Boulevard escorted by marching bands and well-groomed horses on New Year's Day.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft attacked government buildings in the Gaza Strip on New Year's Day and Hamas fired more rockets at Israel after both foes spurned international calls for a ceasefire.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Criticism rained down on embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday for his defiance in appointing the state's new U.S. senator but doubts persisted that anyone could block the move.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said on Thursday the FBI had presented strong evidence to Islamabad of Pakistani links to November's militant attacks in Mumbai that killed 179 people.

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - Russia cut off the gas to its neighbor Ukraine on Thursday after a contract dispute but increased supplies to other European states to try to reassure customers worried about possible disruptions.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viacom and Time Warner Cable reached an agreement in principle on Thursday that avoided a blackout that would have prevented more than 13 million U.S. subscribers from seeing popular TV shows like "Dora the Explorer" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces came under an Iraqi mandate on Thursday for the first time since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and handed control of the Green Zone in central Baghdad to Iraqi troops in a symbol of the dramatic change.

SINGAPORE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many investors said good riddance on Wednesday to one of the worst years on record and prayed that government rescue plans will pull the global economy out of its fierce tailspin later in the new year.

KABUL (Reuters) - Foreign troops suffered their highest death toll in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2008, and with thousands more troops scheduled to be deployed, this year could be even worse.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel launched dozens of New Year air and sea strikes Thursday on Gaza, killing a senior Hamas leader as the death toll from their six-day-old blitz spiralled above 400.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia halted supply of natural gas to Ukraine on Thursday after the two ex-Soviet neighbors failed to agree on payment terms, sparking fresh concerns about the security of energy resources controlled by Moscow.

BANGKOK (AFP) - Police forensic investigators sifted through the charred remains of an upscale Bangkok nightclub Thursday, seeking clues to a blaze that killed 58 revellers ringing in the New Year and injured 243.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Revellers rang in the New Year worldwide Thursday, although global economic jitters, conflict in the Middle East and tragedy in Thailand cast a long shadow on the dawn of 2009.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Leading South African anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman, who for decades served as a lone voice of parliamentary dissent against white minority rule, died Thursday at the age of 91, the SAPA news agency said quoting her daughter.

BEIJING (AFP) - A Chinese court has issued tough sentences to members of a huge software counterfeiting ring, which distributed more than two billion dollars' worth of fake Microsoft goods, the company said.

PRAGUE (AFP) - Former Czechoslovak federation peers made European Union history on Thursday as the Czech Republic took over the EU presidency while Slovakia became the 16th member of the eurozone.