Roland Burris tried to take President-elect Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat Tuesday but failed in a scripted piece of political theater staged just before the opening of the 111th Congress.

Israeli mortar shells struck outside a U.N. school where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge Tuesday, killing at least 30 people. Meanwhile, Venezuela ordered the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to protest Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

President-elect Barack Obama has approached CNN's chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, to be the country's next surgeon general, the cable news network said Tuesday.