On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed a law extending the Russian presidential term from four to six years, in a move that will allow former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to return to office without violating a Constitutional provision that bars the President from spending more than eight years in office. 

Three weeks after gunmen from the Pakistani-based group Laskar-e-Taiba killed 163 people, the targeted hotels in Mumbai have reopened.

Obama has raised his sights on the number of jobs he wants to create in the next two years to 3 million after reports projected that 4 million would be lost if no action was taken.  He challenged his economic team to "think bolder" and outside traditional Washington politics.  Biden will reportedly be heading a team tasked with expanding the middle class.

Obama has announced the leaders of his science team, including Harvard professor John Holden.  Along with the announcement he has put a clear emphasis on scientific progress in marked difference between his and Bush's policies: climate change and stem cell research, for example, will be among his priorities.  Obama referred to science as "the key to our survival."

20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops will reportedly be sent to Afghanistan by early next summer.  According to Admiral Mike Mullen, "it's not a matter of if, but when."  The troops will complement the existing 31,000 already in Afghanistan, some of which are serving in the 51,000 strong NATO force.  The troop increases are a priority of Obama's and are in response to increased activity from the Taliban.

During the last few hours, BabelUp was inaccessible.  Sorry about that.  There were complications outside of our control involving a malicious German guy.  Anyway, everything should be fixed now.

It should come as no surprise that Time magazine named Obama as Person of the Year: none of us need to be reminded of his accomplishments and his rise from obscure senator to the first African-American President.  Congratulations, Obama.  Perhaps more interesting are the runners-up:  U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who orchestrated the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

News on the economy has been both good and bad this week--but mostly good as we find out about plans to move the economy forward.  From the incoming Obama administration to Congress to the Fed and even to Bush, everyone is working to keep us all afloat.  The verdict: life may look tough for some right now, but it's promising to improve.  Read on to learn this week's developments.

Two Indian military planes violated Pakistani airspace on Saturday, in officially unrelated accidents.

Bernard Madoff admitted that the investment firm he runs, which manages a lot of money from other investment firms, essentially rests on a giant Ponzi scheme.  (A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent practice similar to a pyramid scheme, where debts are continually paid back by creating new debt.)  That's $50 billion which is essentially now nearly worthless, including massive investments from Spanish banks among others.