N.Y. house fire kills 8

The Nation

N.Y. house fire kills 8: A house fire killed eight people, including children, early Sunday morning in upstate New York. Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd said one person escaped the fire in Richland, 37 miles north of Syracuse. Officials said there were no smoke detectors in the two-story home.

Boy left by mother's killer: Authorities searched Sunday for a gunman who killed a woman at her home, then abandoned her 4-year-old son at a highway rest stop. A Maryland couple found the boy Friday wandering around a rest area along Interstate 70 in central Ohio. Police later found the boy's mother, Jennifer Nelson, 29, dead in her home.

Helicopter crash kills 8: Eight people were killed and a ninth injured aboard a helicopter bound for the offshore oil fields that crashed Sunday afternoon in marshlands about 100 miles southwest of New Orleans.

The World

Gas clash: Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, raised its asking price again Sunday for the sale of fuel to Ukraine, deepening a politically tinged dispute that led to a complete halt in supplies to Ukraine and disruptions to four other Eastern European countries.

Mall fire kills 1: A blaze in a shopping and residential plaza in Bangkok's Chinatown district killed one person and injured at least 38 others, police said today. The fire broke out Sunday night at the Sua Pa Plaza, trapping a number of residents who tried to reach the roof for evacuation by helicopters.

Suspect in Brazil death: A man suspected of piloting a motorboat that struck and killed 70-year-old New York winery owner Christian Wolffer as he swam off Brazil's coast was briefly detained Sunday, police said.

Pirates thwarted: A French navy vessel stopped two attacks on Sunday by heavily armed Somali pirates as they tried to take over two cargo ships — one Croatian and the other Panamanian — in the dangerous Gulf of Aden. On Thursday, another French warship intercepted eight pirates as they tried to take over another Panamanian ship in the area.

Odds & Ends

Another Bush in White House?: Former President George H.W. Bush, who has already seen one son, George W., serve in the Oval Office, told "Fox News Sunday" he would like to see a second son, Jeb, be president one day. "I'd like to see him run. I'd like to see him be president someday. Or maybe senator. Whatever. Yes, I would. I mean, right now is probably a bad time, because we've had enough Bushes in there."

Travolta "heartbroken": In his first public statement since his son Jett's death, actor John Travolta said Sunday he and his wife, Kelly Preston, are "heartbroken" over the death of the chronically ill 16-year-old, who was found in a bathroom after he collapsed at the family's vacation home on Grand Bahama. Michael McDermott, an attorney for the actor, said Sunday the boy, who was diagnosed with Kawasaki syndrome, "was spectacularly supervised" by two nannies.

Bon Jovi helps Hillary: Jon Bon Jovi is performing Jan. 15 at a fundraiser at Manhattan's Town Hall for former presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as she tries to close out her campaign debt, which stood at $6.3 million as of last month. Ticket prices range from $75 to $1,000. Clinton must pay down her debt to clear the way for confirmation as President-elect Obama's secretary of state, since federal ethics rules prohibit Cabinet officials from actively soliciting campaign contributions.

Passages

Pat Hingle, 84, a veteran actor whose career in movies and television spanned six decades, died Saturday in Carolina Beach, N.C., after battling blood cancer.

Today in History

1781: A British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Va.

1896: An Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of radiation that came to be known as "X-rays."

1925: Nellie T. Ross became governor of Wyoming; she was the first female governor in U.S. history.

1998: Sonny Bono, the 1960s pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; he was 62.

Today's Birthdays

Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, 81. Actor Robert Duvall, 78. Talk-show host Charlie Rose, 67. Actress-director Diane Keaton, 63. Actor Ted Lange, 61. Singer Iris Dement, 48. Rock singer Marilyn Manson, 40. Actress January Jones, 31.

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