WORLD at 0400GMT

NEW THIS DIGEST:

US-ELECTIONS. McCain reaches out to conservatives, Clinton discloses $5 million loan to campaign.

BRITAIN-RICE. Rice says NATO facing test in Afghanistan and fight will be long and difficult.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS. Gaza rocket wounds 2 Israeli girls, Hamas calls suicide bombing in Israel 'self-defense'.

CHINA-SNOW. China's weather crisis ends in time for Lunar New Year holiday.

US-SEVERE WEATHER. Tornadoes kill 55 in US South, injure hundreds.

US-SPACE SHUTTLE. Weather outlook for Thursday launch of Atlantis worsens, NASA plows ahead.

US-BRITNEY SPEARS. Britney Spears released from hospital, then leads paparazzi on LA joyride.

TOP STORIES:

US-ELECTIONS

WASHINGTON _ Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama gird themselves for more fierce battles in their tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as Clinton discloses she lent millions of dollars to her presidential campaign to fuel the costly White House fight. Republican front-runner John McCain, meanwhile, reaches out to his conservative critics with an appeal to find "something we can agree on." Developing.

CHAD-FIGHTING

N'DJAMENA, Chad _ Speaking publicly for the first time since rebels tried to seize the capital and oust him from power, Chad's president declares his government is in full control of the nation. "The security forces have repulsed the aggressors," Idriss Deby tells reporters at the presidential palace. By Tom Maliti. AP Photos.

IRAQ-BOY TERROR TRAINEES

BAGHDAD _ Boys in soccer jerseys don black masks and grab weapons. They scramble over mud brick walls, blast down doors and hold guns to the heads of sleeping residents inside. Videos seized from suspected al-Qaida hide-outs show militants training children as young as ten to kidnap and kill. By Lauren Frayer. AP Photos.

WITH: IRAQ

ITALY-POLITICS

ROME _ The second shortest-lived Parliament in postwar Italy is sent packing, and Italians will be back at the ballot box in April. Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi hopes the vote will make him premier for a third time. By Frances D'Emilio. AP Photos.

BRITAIN-RICE

LONDON _ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the military challenge in Afghanistan is sorely testing the NATO alliance, and allied governments should be straightforward in telling their citizens that the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants will be long and difficult. By Anne Gearan. AP Photos.

KENYA-ELECTION VIOLENCE

NAIROBI, Kenya _ A U.N. fact-finding mission arrives in Kenya to assess allegations of grave human rights violations since the country's disputed presidential election, which unleashed weeks of deadly violence. AP Photos.

ALSO: UN-KENYA-ELECTION VIOLENCE

CHINA-SNOW

BEIJING _ China's snow crisis winds down just in time for Lunar New Year holiday, after a striking and uniquely Chinese display of communist mass mobilization, propaganda and state control. Moved. By Christopher Bodeen. AP Photos.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS

JERUSALEM _ A rocket fired from Gaza wounds two young sisters playing outside their home, and a top Israeli Cabinet Minister declared an all-front war on Hamas, as the escalating conflict threatened to bury U.S.-led Mideast peace efforts. By Mark Lavie.

US-SEVERE WEATHER

LAFAYETTE, Tennessee _ Crews search for more victims of deadly tornadoes that killed at least 55 people and injured hundreds more as they tore across five U.S. states, ripping off a shopping mall roof, demolishing mobile homes and blowing apart warehouses. By Ryan Lenz.

GUANTANAMO-SECRET CAMP

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba _ Somewhere amid the cactus-studded hills on this sprawling Navy base, separate from the cells where hundreds of men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban have been locked up for years, is a place even more closely guarded _ a jailhouse so protected that its very location is top secret. By Andrew O. Selsky. AP Photo. Moved.

COMPLAINING IN CUBA

HAVANA _ Taking up Raul Castro's invitation to openly speak their minds without fear of reprisal, many Cubans have begun publicly complaining about everything from low salaries and proposed tax increases to travel restrictions and limits on Internet access. By Andrea Rodriguez. AP Photos. Moved.

ECUADOR-VOLCANO

QUITO, Ecuador _ Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano shoots columns of ash miles (kilometers) into the air, forcing the evacuation of 3,000 villagers living near its slopes. By Gonzalo Solano. AP Photos. Moved.

US-SPACE SHUTTLE

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida _ The severe weather that spawned deadly tornadoes throughout the U.S. South is threatening to delay Thursday's planned launch of shuttle Atlantis, already two months late in getting to the space station with a new lab. Developing; launch set for 1945 GMT. By Marcia Dunn.

US-HEATH LEDGER

NEW YORK _ Australian-born actor Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose of six different drugs _ painkillers and sedatives _ the medical examiner says, leading doctors to warn of the dangers of mixing prescription drugs. By Amy Westfeldt and Stefanie Nano.

WITH: AUSTRALIA-LEDGER.

US-BRITNEY SPEARS

LOS ANGELES _ Britney Spears is quietly released from a hospital and slips away unnoticed, only to be spotted hours later driving through Los Angeles with paparazzi and a television helicopter in tow. By Raquel Maria Dillon. AP Photos.

ANTARCTICA-WHALING

CANBERRA, Australia _ Australia's government steps up its campaign against Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters by releasing grisly surveillance pictures of the slain carcasses of a minke whale and her calf being hauled aboard a ship. AP Photos.

BUSINESS & FINANCE:

US-ECONOMY

WASHINGTON _ U.S. worker productivity, the key factor in rising living standards, slowed sharply in the final three months of the year as overall economic activity weakened considerably while labor pressures increased. By Martin Crutsinger.

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