Carbon monoxide kills 11 girls at China school
Eleven girls died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a school in northern China's Shaanxi province, an education official said Tuesday evening. The girls had reportedly lit a fire to keep warm.

Gloom returns to world markets

European stocks were little changed Tuesday as hopes of a modest rebound on Wall Street — following the previous day's savage retreat — helped offset an overnight slump in Asia.

NYT: Pardon back in focus for Justice nominee

In the career of Eric H. Holder Jr., President-elect Barack Obama's attorney general choice, there is one notable blemish: Holder's role in the 2001 pardon of billionaire financier Marc Rich.

Pirates open fire on U.S. cruise liner

Pirates near Somalia chased and shot at a U.S. cruise liner with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel, a maritime official said Tuesday.

Official: 3 die, 29 hurt in India blast
A bomb exploded in a train coach in India's insurgency-hit northeast on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring another 29, a state government official said.

Rice gives piano recital fit for a queen

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a piano recital for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

Canada's opposition moves to oust PM

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper faces two highly unpalatable choices after opposition parties signed an unprecedented deal on Monday to bring down his minority Conservative government.

Ga. runoff could decide balance of power

Georgia voters are returning to the polls Tuesday to decide one of two unresolved U.S. Senate races that Democrats need to win for a 60-seat majority impervious to GOP filibusters.

Panel: Biological attack likely by 2013
The U.S. can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden.