MOSCOW (Reuters) – An Internet bookmaker has stopped taking bets on Russia’s presidential election because the outcome is so predictable.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Imagine a crisis breaking out somewhere in the world, and President George W. Bush suddenly has to get the Kremlin on the hotline. After Sunday’s presidential election in Russia, who’s he going to call?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday dismissed the notion that Russia’s likely new president would be Vladimir Putin’s puppet but said he did not know how much power Dmitry Medvedev would wield with his predecessor still in the picture.

GAZA – Israel killed 46 Palestinians on Saturday in its deadliest and deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip since pulling out in 2005, stoking fears of a broader conflict that could derail renewed U.S.-backed peace talks.

Here are some of Islamist group Hamas’s options in Gaza: TRUCE Hamas has signaled its willingness to reach a ceasefire with Israel that would end rocket launchings by Hamas and other militant organizations. In return, Hamas wants Israel to cease all military strikes in the Gaza Strip and occupied West …

Israel killed 33 Palestinians on Saturday in one of its deepest and deadliest incursions into the Gaza Strip since pulling out in 2005, stoking fears of a broader conflict that could derail renewed U.S.-backed peace talks.

ANKARA – Turkey’s top general said on Saturday the Turkish armed forces withdrew its troops from northern Iraq on schedule and dismissed speculation that it had acted under pressure from its NATO ally the United States.

ISLAMABAD – A suicide bomber killed at least 38 people at a funeral of a policeman in the Swat district of Pakistan, days after the Pakistan army said it had begun to bring the mountainous region under control.

LAHORE, Pakistan – A Pakistani court acquitted the brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday in a case of unlawful killing, paving the way for him to contest a by-election, his lawyer said.

GAZA – Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians during clashes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, said hospital staff, keeping up pressure on the Hamas-ruled territory after a cross-border rocket attack killed an Israeli civilian.