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Roberto Madrazo is the presidential candidate of the party that ruled Mexico for 71 years, the PRI. The fortunes of his party have tumbled since it lost the presidency in 2000 to President Vicente Fox. Madrazo is running a distant third in the polls for Sunday's election.

Citigroup stock has moved higher after the government announced a second effort to shore up confidence in the troubled bank. The Treasury Department will backstop the company's bad assets while providing an additional $20 billion in emergency loans.

President-elect Barack Obama comes from the same city and state as Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and it was the Obama seat in the Senate that Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell. Is it possible this scandal will leave the new president unsinged?

Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom has begun shutting off natural gas supplies to Ukraine after a deadline passed for talks over a price dispute. There are fears that the cutoff could affect gas deliveries to parts of Europe at the height of the winter season. In 2006, Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine and caused a brief disruption in gas supplies to Europe. NPR's Gregory Feifer talks with Steve Inskeep about Gazprom's decision.

Michael Steele, the new head of the Republican Party, found himself in hot water again with his fellow Republicans when he told a GQ reporter that women have a right to choose an abortion. The comments could have political implications.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner went to Capitol Hill on Thursday with expansive plans to reduce "systemic risk" in the financial system. He called for new rules and better referees. And he was met with skepticism, particularly from Republicans.

President Barack Obama's budget proposal is placing conservative Democrats in a tight spot. Republicans are asking them to be fiscally cautious. Liberals are targeting them with a barrage of ads, urging them to support the president's budget.

A new translation of Carlo Collodi's 1881 classic Pinocchio reveals a puppet that's much darker than Walt Disney might have you believe. Critic-at-large John Powers has a review.

In Washington, it was a crucial day of meetings between the leaders of the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari huddled first with Secretary of State Clinton and later with President Obama and made a number of key commitments.

President Obama is expected to nominate federal appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. She would be the first Hispanic justice. If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor would succeed retiring Justice David Souter.