Nizar Rayyan, a senior leader of the militant group Hamas, was killed along with several members of his family when Israeli forces bombed his apartment building as the sixth day of air strikes continued in the Gaza Strip. The building was one of about 20 Hamas targets attacked by Israeli naval and air forces today; the death toll now stands at approximately 410 with more than 1,600 wounded. Rayyan served as liaison between Hamas’ political and military wings, and was the first known casualty of a senior Hamas leader during this action. His death was confirmed in a statement issued by Hamas this afternoon.

After a flurry of speculation that Bill Clinton or Mario Cuomo may be appointed to the Senate as stopgaps, allowing the furor over Caroline Kennedy’s shoo-in to be settled by an election for the seat in 2010, the heir to Camelot has won the support of New York’s second most powerful Democrat, Sheldon Silver. The New York Post reports that the previously skeptical Assembly speaker thinks Governor David Paterson is on the brink of naming Caroline to Hillary Clinton’s old seat and will go along with the choice. "I have determined there's a good possibility she will be the appointee of the governor," Silver told the paper. "If she is the appointee of the governor, I will certainly be supportive of her. I will work for her and will work strenuously for her election."

It’s official. Vikram Pandit, Citigroup’s CEO, has sent a memo to staff saying neither he nor Win Bischoff, the bank’s chairman, will be receiving end-of-year bonuses. In a separate announcement, former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, whose role in deregulating the banking industry has been blamed for the financial disaster still unfolding, said he, too, would forgo a bonus this year. He has taken home $119 million since joining the bank in 1999. This doesn’t mean other top executives in the bank won’t get a bonus, though the terms of the Treasury rescue stipulate that all top executive compensation must be approved by the government. In those circumstances, Pandit is only bowing to the inevitable. A bonus for him, Bischoff, and Rubin would have been vetoed. All top bankers have now ruled out bonuses for themselves, with the exception of two notable holdouts: Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America and John Stumpf of Wells Fargo.

The heart of the American occupation of Iraq, the heavily defended Green Zone in the center of Baghdad, is transferred to the Iraqi government today. From now on, The New York Times reports, Iraqis will decide, with input from America, who gets which buildings, what parts should be opened up to the rest of Baghdad, and who can go in and out. Americans will even begin paying rent for the space they use. This is not the end of American occupation, but it is the beginning of the end. Plans to shrink the zone or open up major roads to general traffic, which could reduce Baghdad’s gridlock, could still be months away. One important remaining decision: Who will get Saddam’s Republican Palace, now that diplomats have moved into the new American Embassy?

The global recession has hit China hard, as Americans cut back on purchases of the televisions, cameras and other gizmos that are increasingly manufactured in Guangdong factories. Over the past decade, China has made efforts to move its economy toward these high-tech, higher-wage factory products, and away from lower-skilled, labor-intensive sectors like garment production. But as the American recession chips away at electronics sales, the Chinese government is moving to snatch back the lower-rung industries from countries it had been relinquishing them to, like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Phased out tax rebates for the textile sector are being restored, and minimum wage hikes have been halted. "China will resort to tariff and trade policies to facilitate export of labor-intensive and core technology-supported industries," said the minister of industry and information technology in December.

Another day, another scandal. The FBI is investigating whether former Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) broke the law by employing his mistress, Patricia Allen, in Congress, with taxpayers footing the bill. Mahoney allegedly bought off Allen with $120,000 to avoid a sexual harassment suit, then promised her a $50,000 a year job at his campaign ad agency. He also allegedly helped another lover win a $3.4 million grant from FEMA. Mahoney admits extramarital affairs and concedes he is a heel. "My personal behavior has been unacceptable," he said. But he insists, "I haven't violated my oath of office. I haven't broken any laws." Mahoney won his seat on the slogan "A world that is safer, more moral." His campaign leaflets featured his wife, Terry, under the line, "Restoring America's Values Begins at Home." Voters threw him out in November, and his wife is divorcing him. Maloney succeeded GOP Rep. Mark Foley, caught saucily texting the Capitol’s male pages.

Need another reason to keep that resolution? A new study published in the January issue of Pediatrics finds that “third-hand smoke” can linger in your hair and clothing long after you’ve extinguished your cigarette. “When you smoke – anyplace – toxic particulate matter from tobacco smoke gets into your hair and clothing,” says the lead study author. "When you come into contact with your baby, even if you're not smoking at the time, she comes in contact with those toxins.” Small children are especially susceptible to third-hand smoke exposure because they’re likely to touch and mouth contaminated surfaces. The study may be used to justify expanded smoking bans in public places. But not everyone’s convinced: 65 percent of nonsmokers believe that third-hand smoke harms children, but only 43 percent of smokers agree with them. “The dangers of third-hand smoke are very real,” insists the study author.

The ‘90s were a nail-biter for sports fans on a budget. For most of the 20th century, seeing a ball game was a way for average Joe the Plumber types to blow off some steam on a Saturday afternoon. But over the past fifteen years, stadiums developed a habit of courting business execs with expense accounts, and the ticket prices for Major League Baseball and NFL games leapt by 70 percent as a result. Thanks to corporate cutbacks, however, those days are numbered. Teams everywhere are slashing ticket prices to pre-‘90s levels. The Colorado Rockies, one year off a World Series appearance, are offering $1 bleachers seats to seniors and kids, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are selling seats for as low as $7.20. Even playoffs tickets for NFL games are being discounted 10%. “We're too far away from events like the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and March Madness to know how they'll price out, but trust me, you'll be shocked,” says sports business reporter Darren Rovell.

There’s no end in sight for Israel’s war with Hamas as it goes into a sixth day, despite Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s avowals that Israel isn’t interested in a long war. With the Israeli air force hitting more targets in Gaza, Hamas launching more rockets at southern Israel, and the death toll topping 400, the EU has formed a mission to address the war, and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are meeting today in Paris. The UN Security Council’s emergency session last night ended without a vote on a cease-fire resolution. Next up: Israel is poised to launch a ground invasion of Gaza.

Helen Suzman, one of the fiercest internal critics of apartheid, South Africa’s hated system of racial separation, has died at her home in Johannesburg aged 91. The daughter of Lithuanian Jews, she first entered the South African parliament in 1953 and for 13 years was the only MP to condemn South Africa's whites-only regime. She was a frequent visitor to Nelson Mandela when he was held in Robben Island prison for 18 years and was twice nominated for the Noble Peace Prize. Although ailing in recent years, Suzman continued to speak out against what she saw as the failings of South Africa's post-apartheid administration.

Upset at reports suggesting her son-in-law to be, Levi Johnston, fiancé of daughter Bristol and father of Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, born last weekend, is a high school dropout, Sarah Palin has been calling around to set the record straight. "You need to know that both Levi and Bristol are working their butts off to parent and going to school and working at the same time," she told People magazine in a voicemail message. After the Associated Press interviewed Johnston and reported he had dropped out of high school to work on the North Slope as an electrician, Palin called the wire service to say he continues to be enrolled in a high school through a correspondence program. And in a statement Palin confessed that she was not filled with unalloyed joy when Bristol told her she was pregnant. "When Bristol and Levi first told us the shocking news that she was pregnant, to be honest, we all at first looked at the situation with some fear and a bit of despair,” she wrote. And there is a cautionary note in the statement from Bristol: "Teenagers need to prevent pregnancy to begin with—this isn't ideal," she said. “Tripp is so perfectly precious; we love him with all our hearts."

After rumors swirled last month that Vogue editor Anna Wintour was to be ousted by her French counterpart, Carine Roitfeld, The New York Times is asking, “What’s Wrong with Vogue?” Its answer? “For all the fantasy in Vogue, especially the fairy-tale kind…the magazine is actually quite serious. There are things to read, long pieces…Unlike many of her rivals, Ms. Wintour…has largely resisted the pressure to break down content to lists and small bites.” But there is too much of the same old, same old. “There are too many stories about socialites—or, at any rate, too few such stories that sufficiently demonstrate why we should care about these creatures. What once felt like a jolly skip through Bergdorf now feels like an intravenous feed. To read Vogue in recent years is to wonder about the peculiar fascination for the ‘villa in Tuscany’ story. Ditto staff-member accounts of spa treatments and haircuts. It’s embarrassing to see how Vogue deals with the recession. For the December issue, it sent a writer off to discover the ‘charms’ of Wal-Mart and Target.” But “the locus of Ms. Wintour’s harshest critics,” writes Cathy Horyn, is that “many people have all but abandoned traditional media for Web sites and blogs,” and Vogue has failed to keep up.

With 20 days to go before Obama’s inauguration, Congress has some serious work to do when it reconvenes next week. End the Great Recession, you say? Well, yes, but more important is the Obama team’s confirmation hearings. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s top aide says the first priority before the inauguration will be the national security and finance teams, though dates for the Hillary Clinton and Timothy Geithner hearings have yet to be set. First up: Health appointee Tom Daschle on January 8 and Labor Secretary-select Hilda Solis on January 9. Prospective Education Secretary Arne Duncan faces a January 13 grilling, while the most intriguing hearing of all may be attorney general hopeful Eric Holder on January 15. Holder’s role in pardoning terrorists and fraudster Mark Rich is sure to give him trouble.

Fifty years to the day after Che Guevara marched into Havana, the Los Angeles Times says it is time to end America’s economic blockade of communist Cuba. “Since that New Year's night in 1959, 10 U.S. presidents have tried to overthrow, undermine or cajole Castro, to no avail,” the paper argues in an editorial. “Fifty years of failure is too long. The incoming Obama administration should move quickly to embark on a rapprochement with Cuba and bring an end to punitive policies…Tourists carrying books and ideas serve as ambassadors for democracy. Manufactured goods speak for the creativity of an open economy.” The key is Obama’s unique freedom of action. In the presidential election, Obama won Florida without the support of Cuban0American hard-liners, freeing himself from restraints that inhibited his predecessors.

Rick Warren, beware: Obama’s inaugural celebrations coincide with the 25th annual gay fetishists’ bash in the capital. Leather Weekend 2009, a four-day festival of all things gay, leather, rubber, and denim, is designed for "men with an enthusiastic interest in motorcycles, leather, and other men" and is expected to draw an enthusiastic crowd of up to 3,000 gay bikers, according to Centaur Motorcycle Club spokesman Larry Barat. The leather crowd was oblivious of the main event when they made their arrangements. "Had we known it was going to be such a busy weekend, we might have scheduled otherwise," said Barat, who thought “some people will be attending both.” Seems like Obama will be a no-show. "Let's just say it's likely the president-elect will be occupied with many other activities," said transition spokeswoman Linda Douglass.

In a chilly New Year greeting to its next door neighbor, Russia’s Gazprom will cut off all supplies of heating gas to Ukraine at 7am New Year’s Day. Talks in Moscow on a new contract between the Russian state owned gas giant and its pro-Western neighbor collapsed this afternoon, leaving the prospect of a freezing January for Ukrainians who are dependent on their former Soviet masters for energy. Gazprom blamed the breakdown on “political forces” in Ukraine. And Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, threatened “very real consequences” if Ukraine intercepted gas piped through its territory from Russia to customers in the European Union.

Seven years after 9/11, the world’s most famous prison camp, once home to 300 terror suspects from more than 40 countries, is now overgrown with weeds. Today the temporary detention center, famous for haunting images of bound and kneeling terrorist suspects dressed in orange jumpsuits, is sun-bleached and abandoned. As the Daily Mail reports, “Coils of razor wire look like tumbleweed as wild grasses have taken over.” Journalists have been allowed to inspect the redundant facility, which closed in 2002 when nearby Camp Delta was opened. Obama has promised to close Gitmo, which at its peak housed 778 prisoners. Of the 263 believed to be still in custody, US authorities have indicated only 70 will be tried.

Try Andy Borowitz’s glimpse into the future as he shares his impending Facebook updates. Among the choice entries: Andy is not surprised that Bush texted the Libby pardon during the inauguration; Andy thinks the warden should've checked to see if Blago was hiding an iron file and hacksaw under that hair; Andy wishes former President Bush good luck in rehab; Andy is enjoying Malcolm Gladwell's new book Do: Why Some People Do Some Things and Other People Do Other Things; and Andy is pissed that he bought the new iPhone one week before they cut the price to $29.