BusinessWeek Online - Who will be the next President of Russia? Will he be pro-market or pro-state? A democrat or an authoritarian? And will his election be smooth or scandalous? Although the next presidential election isn't until March, 2008, when Vladimir V. Putin has promised to retire, there's only one major topic of political discussion in Russia these days. And there's one question above all others that interests Russians: Who will be picked as Putin's chosen successor?

Reuters - In a maneuver to strike at Iraq war critics, the Republican-led House of Representatives engineered a vote on Friday on a resolution to pull U.S. troops immediately from Iraq, which was defeated nearly unanimously.

Reuters - The United Nations joined devastated Pakistan on Saturday in pleading with donors to give more money to help survivors of last month's huge earthquake, and were immediately answered with another $1 billion.

Reuters - The United States, Australia and Britain have issued fresh warnings about possible terrorist attacks in Indonesia after a militant Web site showed how and where to kill foreigners in Jakarta.

AFP - Cutting agriculture subsidies is key to unblocking global trade talks and preserving the credibility of the WTO, APEC leaders said, putting pressure on Europe to make concessions.

AFP - Pakistan opened an international donors' meeting called to raise the 5.2 billion dollars it needs to recover from last month's earthquake, with survivors under threat from the harsh Himalayan winter.

AFP - Iraqi leaders from across the political and ethnic spectrum were to discuss reconciliation in their strife-torn country during Arab League-sponsored meetings in Cairo.

AFP - The House of Representatives rejected a resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq after an acrimonious debate which brought out bitter divisions over the war.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb killed at least 11 people at a market in southeastern Baghdad on Saturday, a day after more than 80 people were killed in a series of suicide attacks in Baghdad and in a northeastern town.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Quake-devastated Pakistan secured about $3 billion in additional aid on Saturday after the United Nations warned of a second calamity unless donors gave more money to help survivors of last month's huge tremor.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China is expected to agree to buy up to 150 aircraft from Boeing Co. during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Beijing this weekend, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Saturday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States and China hope to strengthen shared efforts to fight terrorism and 'pirate' copying of goods, Washington's top justice official said on Saturday.

AP - Suicide bombers struck in eastern Iraq and the capital on Friday, killing at least 74 Shiite worshippers near the Iranian border and eight Iraqis at a hotel — the second attack against a compound housing Western media and contractors in less than a month.

AP - With the debate over a military pullout growing increasingly bitter back home, President Bush said Saturday that he is determined to keep troops in Iraq until the mission is complete.

AP - Calming winds have helped firefighters battle a 4,000-acre wildfire that prompted a voluntary evacuation of about 200 ridge-top homes.

AFP - Asia-Pacific leaders challenged the European Union to make deeper cuts in farm subsidies, vowed joint action against bird flu and urged North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

AFP - Hawkish Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn in as the fifth president of Sri Lanka after winning 50.3 percent of the vote in a presidential ballot boycotted by minority Tamils.

AP - A car bomb exploded Saturday at a busy market outside Baghdad, killing at least 13 people. Iraqi police said they had arrested four people in the bombing of two Shiite mosques a day earlier, and one man appeared to be a third suicide bomber who did not manage to carry out his mission.

AP - A partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff is charged with conspiring to defraud American Indian tribes of millions of dollars in a scheme that lavished trips, sports tickets and campaign donations on a member of Congress.

AP - Federal officials say the arrest of 125 workers at a construction site for a new Wal-Mart distribution center should serve as a warning to employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush vowed on Saturday "we will stay in the fight" until victory in Iraq, rejected critics' calls for a troop pullout timetable and insisted progress is being made in Baghdad.

Reuters - Pacific Rim leaders joined forces on Saturday to fight threats to their economies from a possible a bird flu pandemic and the impasse in world trade talks.

AFP - President Pervez Musharraf has said India's "donation" to Pakistan's efforts to recover from last month's massive earthquake could be a resolution of their bitter dispute over Kashmir.

AFP - Sri Lanka's new president, Mahinda Rajapakse, has promised to pursue peace and new talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, in an address to the nation he gave after being sworn in for a six-year term.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush vowed on Saturday "we will stay in the fight" until victory in Iraq, rejected critics' calls for a troop pullout timetable and insisted progress is being made in Baghdad.

AFP - Asia-Pacific leaders have announced new measures to fight bird flu as Australia pledged more than 70 million dollars to help prepare the region for a possible pandemic.

AFP - Indonesian police have said they had identified the last of three Islamic suicide bombers in last month's attacks on the resort island of Bali which killed 20 people plus the three attackers.

AFP - Saudi Arabia has vowed to continue to provide "enough" oil supplies, but called on leading consumer countries to cut taxes on petroleum products to alleviate hikes in world prices.

AP - Donors on Saturday announced $3 billion in new pledges of quake aid for Pakistan, bringing the total to $5.4 billion in loans and grants and surpassing what the government said it needed to rebuild from its huge Oct. 8 earthquake.

AP - China will buy 70 Boeing 737 airliners, a U.S. official said Saturday.

AP - Tropical Storm Gamma blew along the coasts of Belize and Honduras on Saturday as it threatened to turn onto a path that could threaten South Florida this coming week.

AP - O.J. Simpson on Friday questioned the system that allowed both him and actor Robert Blake to be found liable for murder after being acquitted in criminal court, calling it "double jeopardy."

Reuters - A car bomb killed 13 people in Baghdad on Saturday, a day after more than 80 were killed in suicide blasts across the country and as U.S. President George W. Bush pledged never to relent in his war on terror.

AFP - US President George W. Bush has arrived in Beijing for a three-day visit during which he was expected to raise thorny issues such as human rights and democracy with his Chinese hosts.

AFP - Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for drawing North Korea into large-scale development projects as a way of helping to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula.

AP - His war policies under siege at home, President Bush said Saturday there would be no early troop withdrawal because "sober judgment" must prevail over emotional calls to end the military mission before Iraq is stabilized.

AP - A suicide attacker killed at least 20 people and wounded 20 more in a Shiite funeral procession Saturday north of Baghdad, while a car bomb near a market just outside the capital killed 13 and wounded 21, police said.

AP - President Bush and other Pacific Rim leaders urged Europe on Saturday to show new flexibility on farm subsidies, an issue that has stalled global trade negotiations.

AP - Tropical Storm Gamma blew along the coasts of Belize and Honduras on Saturday as it threatened to turn onto a path that could threaten South Florida this coming week.

Reuters - Branded a "lap dog" of imperialism, Mexican President Vicente Fox has earned contempt from leftist Latin American leaders for his close ties to the United States, and little in return from Washington.

AP - A magnitude 6.5 quake struck an island off the coast of Sumatra on Saturday, triggering a tsunami alert, officials said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

AP - Calming wind early Saturday helped firefighters battle a 3,700-acre wildfire that prompted a voluntary evacuation of about 200 ridge-top homes.

Reuters - Car bombs killed at least 48 people in Iraq on Saturday, a day after more than 80 died in suicide blasts across the country and as U.S. President George W. Bush pledged never to relent in his war on terror.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Gamma doused Central America with heavy rains on Saturday as the 24th cyclone of the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record inched toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

AP - A suicide attacker killed at least 36 people and wounded 50 more in a Shiite funeral procession Saturday north of Baghdad, while a car bomb near a market just outside the capital killed 13 and wounded 21, police said.

AP - President Bush was greeted in China with good news about trade and is making a point about religious freedom in this communist nation by attending church services before meeting top leaders.

AP - The Republican-controlled House spurned calls for an immediate pullout of troops from Iraq in a vote hastily arranged by the GOP that Democrats vociferously denounced as politically motivated.

AP - An earthquake with a magnitude of at least 6.2 struck off the coast of Sumatra on Saturday, triggering a tsunami alert, officials said. There were no immediate reports of a tsunami, damages or casualties.

AP - History is supposed to teach lessons. But past flu pandemics, it turns out, don't teach much about whether today's bird flu will become a human mega-killer or just make some scientists and officials look like Chicken Little.

AFP - US President George W. Bush arrived in China for talks with the leaders of the Asian giant expected to touch on thorny issues, from human rights to economic and trade rows.

AFP - Tens of thousands, attending two separate rallies, gathered in the Kenyan capital as rival camps made a last-minute push ahead of next week's landmark referendum on the new constitution amid increased security in Nairobi.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Simeulue, Indonesia on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but officials there were no reports of a tsunami or other damage or injuries.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Iraqi politicians brought the deep divisions in their country to Cairo on Saturday at the start of a three-day conference meant to promote national reconciliation.

AP - A suicide attacker killed at least 36 people and wounded 50 more in a Shiite funeral procession Saturday north of Baghdad, while a car bomb near a market just outside the capital killed 13 and wounded 21, police said.

AP - In a small, nondescript church, the mutilated body of 14-year-old Emmett Till was put on display in an open casket because his mother wanted the nation to see what racism looked like.

AP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accuses Washington of plotting to overthrow him, calls President Bush a "murderer" and is expelling some American missionaries who he insists have links to the CIA.

AP - Christina Aguilera has found out what a girl wants, and now she's marrying him.

AP - Juan Palacios had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 7 Louisville past Tennessee-Martin 78-61 on Saturday in the season opener for both teams.

AFP - Bickering marred the first day of Iraqi reconciliation talks in Cairo, amid confessional tensions heightened by a strain of bloody sectarian attacks in the war-torn country.

AFP - Rivals India and Pakistan have opened their frontier in earthquake-hit Kashmir to allow people to cross on foot for the first time in nearly six decades and search for relatives.

AP - A suicide bomber detonated his car in a crowd of Shiite mourners north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 36 people and raising the death toll in two days of attacks against Shiites to more than 120. Five American soldiers died in roadside bombings.

AP - Kara Borden sat with her four siblings in the chapel of Lancaster Bible College for her parents' funeral on Saturday. On the Bordens' street, white ribbons were affixed to mailboxes to honor their memory.

AP - Ohio State overcame a slew of mistakes just in time to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title.

AP - Tropical Storm Gamma deluged the coast of Central America on Saturday, killing at least six people — three in flooding in Honduras and three in the crash of a small plane belonging to a Belize lodge owned by the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

AP - The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism blasted conservative religious activists in a speech Saturday, calling them 'zealots' who claim a 'monopoly on God' while promoting anti-gay policies akin to Adolf Hitler's.

AP - Johnathan Wendel's blue eyes stare raptly at the computer screen, his long, thin fingers gliding the mouse side to side as he moves through dark corridors of a video game where a lethal opponent lurks. Before long, seemingly without effort, he has annihilated his foe.

AP - Welcome to the BCS, JoePa. Joe Paterno and No. 5 Penn State locked up their first Bowl Championship Series bid after the Nittany Lions defeated Michigan State 31-22 on Saturday to win their first Big Ten title in 11 years.

AFP - US President George W. Bush opened a visit to China by attending services at a government-approved church, reinforcing his message to leaders in Beijing that they should broaden religious freedoms.

AFP - Nine people were dead and 14 missing after tropical storm Gamma flooded parts of northern Honduras with heavy rains, a government emergency agency said.

AP - President Bush and President Hu Jintao sought to ease tensions Sunday over China's rapid rise, grappling with disputes over trade, human rights and religious freedom and trying to emphasize common ground about North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

AP - Tropical Storm Gamma deluged the coast of Central America on Saturday, killing at least six people — three in flooding in Honduras and three in the crash of a small plane belonging to a Belize lodge owned by the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

AP - Muhammad Ali can still draw a big crowd. The boxing great took center stage in his hometown Saturday night to celebrate the opening of the Muhammad Ali Center, a six-story tribute to Ali's storied career and a legacy to his humanitarian ideals of peace and tolerance.

AP - A 16-year-old boy accused of killing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent has escaped from a juvenile prison for the fifth time in three years — just as he promised, an official said Saturday.

Reuters - Car bombs killed 48 people in Iraq on Saturday, a day after more than 80 died in suicide blasts across the country and as U.S. President George W. Bush pledged never to relent in his war on terror.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Gamma lashed Central America with heavy rain on Saturday, killing at least nine people and cutting off part of the Honduran coast as the 24th major storm in a record Atlantic hurricane season cut an erratic course toward Cuba.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush plans to press Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday to rein in China's swelling trade surplus and push forward currency reform after calling for greater religious freedom.

AP - President Bush called on China on Sunday to expand religious, political and social freedoms and urged steps to reduce Beijing's huge trade surplus with the United States. President Hu Jintao promised steps to resolve economic frictions.

AP - Muhammad Ali can still draw a big crowd.

AP - Christina Aguilera has found out what a girl wants, and now she's married him. The 24-year-old pop singer tied the knot with music executive Jordan Bratman in a Saturday evening ceremony at Staglin Family Vineyard in northern California's Napa Valley, Us Weekly reported on its Web site.

AP - Georgia Tech sacked Kyle Wright seven times, took advantage of key penalties on two touchdown drives and made a pair of late defensive stands to upset the third-ranked Miami Hurricanes 14-10 Saturday night.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Gamma lashed Central America on Saturday and killed at least 12 people, three of them in a plane crash on their way to a luxury jungle lodge owned by film director Francis Ford Coppola.

AFP - US President George W. Bush has opened a visit to China by attending a church service and, in a human rights message to leaders in Beijing, said a "healthy society" thrives on religious freedom.

AFP - Disgraced 1970s glam rock star Gary Glitter has been arrested trying to flee Vietnam for Thailand and accused of having sex with underage girls.