WASHINGTON, D.C.

Clinton on blood thinners for clot Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to recover in New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she's being treated for a blood clot in her head. Her doctors say blood thinners are being used to dissolve the clot and they are confident she will make a full recovery. Clinton didn't suffer a stroke or neurological damage from the clot that formed after she suffered a concussion during a fainting spell at her home in early December, they said. Clinton, 65, was admitted on Sunday when the clot was found in a follow-up exam.

MARYLAND

Same-sex marriage ceremonies begin Same-sex couples in Maryland were greeted with cheers and noisemakers held over from New Year's Eve parties, as gay marriage became legal in the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line. James Scales, 68, was married to William Tasker, 60, shortly after midnight by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake at City Hall. The ceremonies follow a legislative fight that pitted Gov. Martin O'Malley against leaders of his Catholic faith. Voters in the state sealed the change by approving a November ballot question.

IVORY COAST

61 die in stampede after fireworks A crowd stampeded after leaving a New Year's fireworks show in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city, killing 61 people -- many of them children and teenagers -- and injuring more than 200. Thousands had gathered at a stadium to see only the second New Year's Eve fireworks display since peace returned to this West African nation. Families had brought children, and they watched the rockets burst in the night sky. But only an hour into the new year, as the crowds poured out after the show, something caused a stampede, said fire department Col. Issa Sako.

KOREAN PENINSULA

N. Korea's Kim calls for peace with south In a domestically televised New Year's Day speech, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un said he wanted to "remove confrontation" on the divided peninsula and called on "anti-reunification forces" in South Korea to cease their hostility. The lengthy address, which laid out the national goals for 2013, marked Kim's first formal remarks since the election two weeks ago of Park Geun-hye as South Korea's next president. Kim asked for a detente -- but with prerequisites that the conservative Park will be reluctant to agree to.

WEST BANK

Israeli-Palestinian clashes follow raid An arrest raid by undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors ignited rare clashes in the northern West Bank, leaving at least eight Palestinians wounded. Israeli army raids into Palestinian areas to seize activists and militants are fairly common. The raids are normally coordinated with Palestinian security forces, and suspects are usually apprehended without violence. The clashes began after regular army forces entered the town, prompting youths to hurl rocks. Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition.

NEWS SERVICES