Any cease-fire in the Gaza conflict will require "clear and definitive action" to halt the smuggling of weapons and money into the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday.

Three Israeli artillery shells struck near the perimeter of a U.N. school in northern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 55, a United Nations official said. The Israeli military said Hamas militants had fired mortar shells at Israeli forces, prompting return fire, according to an initial investigation.

A leading Zimbabwean human rights activist must remain in custody until the Supreme Court decides whether the charges against her are valid, a judge ruled Tuesday.

John Travolta and Kelly Preston have returned to Ocala, Florida, with the remains of their teenage son, a family friend told CNN on Tuesday.

Far more civilians than Hamas fighters are arriving for treatment of war wounds at Gaza's main hospital as Israel's military incursion into the territory continues, two doctors say.

Several European countries said Tuesday their supply of natural gas from Russia had been cut or reduced amid a dispute over payments between Russia and Ukraine.

When Apple vice president Philip Schiller takes the stage here Tuesday morning for the keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo, he'll face a good-news, bad-news scenario.

As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars.

German billionaire Adolf Merckle, one of the richest men in the world, committed suicide Monday after his business empire got into trouble in the wake of the international financial crisis, Merckle's family said Tuesday in a statement.

A full-scale rescue operation is underway for French sailor Jean Le Cam after his solo yacht VM Materiaux capsized west of Cape Horn, near Chile.

The Twitter accounts of President-elect Barack Obama, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Britney Spears, Fox News and 29 others were hacked Monday according to the microblog site, leading to false and inappropriate messages being posted on their accounts.

An outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has prompted neighboring Angola to close its border with that country, Angola's state news agency reported Tuesday.

China has released a blacklist of 19 major online portals and Web sites, including Google and Baidu, that it claims provide and spread pornographic or obscene content, state media reported.

Toyota announced Tuesday it will idle all 12 of its wholly owned factories in Japan for an extra 11 days in response to the slumping auto market.

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.

Children in Gaza and Israel say they are frightened, having witnessed terrible images of tragedy during the conflict. Psychiatrists worry that the violence will sow the seeds for future violence.

International envoys scrambled to the Middle East Sunday to try to end an Israeli assault on Gaza in response to months of rocket fire from Palestinians.

U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday will designate nine sites in three areas of the central Pacific as marine national monuments, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday.

Foreign ministers from several Arab nations huddle in New York -- the eve of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' address to the U.N. Security Council -- to work up a U.N. draft resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

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.