GAZA (Reuters) - Hundreds of embattled Palestinians ventured outside to shop for food on Wednesday during a three-hour Gaza truce, a first step toward an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire under discussion by Israel and Hamas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deficit will swell to a record $1.186 trillion in fiscal 2009 as the global recession saps the economy, congressional forecasters said on Wednesday, presenting a daunting challenge to President-elect Barack Obama who has said tough choices will be necessary.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In an abrupt switch, Senate Democratic leaders began talks on Wednesday about swearing in former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris, nominated by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Job losses and plans to lay off workers hammered the struggling U.S. economy in the final month of 2008, according to private reports that foreshadow grim labor market data from the government on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff sent valuables including diamond Cartier and Tiffany watches to relatives and others in violation of a court order and should be immediately jailed because he is now a flight risk, prosecutors said in court papers released on Wednesday.

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - Russia shut down all gas flows to Europe through Ukraine on Wednesday, sharpening a dispute that has left industries and homes in southeast Europe without power and disrupted supplies to major economies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama should seek tougher sanctions against Iran, which will be his biggest Middle East challenge, outgoing White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Global job woes worsened on Wednesday on bleak employment data from the United States and Germany, while microchip giant Intel Corp warned that slack demand for computers would hurt its revenue.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has said there will not be a war with India over November's militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai, Der Spiegel reported. Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha told the German magazine in an interview terrorism, not India, was Pakistan's enemy, and he said he took orders from the civilian president.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Thousands of Cambodian survivors of the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" marked 30 years Wednesday since the fall of Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.