The formal transfer of power doesn't take place until Jan. 20, but don't tell that to financial markets. They are already taking their cues from Obama and his team.

Wall Street surged by nearly 500 points on Friday after reports that Obama would pick Timothy Geithner, the well-respected head of the New York Federal Reserve, to be his Treasury secretary.

Obama was to formally present his economic team on Monday and elaborate on his weekend call for a sweeping economic stimulus to save and create 2.5 million jobs over the next two years.

It is not that Bush did not have his own successes in Lima at his eighth and final summit of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The leaders of Pacific Rim countries endorsed the action plan drafted a week ago in Washington by the Group of 20, representing the world's richest nations and major developing countries such as China, Brazil and India.

The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve have been in discussions over the weekend to devise a strategy to stabilize the company, according to people familiar with the talks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were ongoing.

One option being considered is taking some of the risky assets held by Citigroup off its balance sheet, a move that would give the company more breathing room and put it in a better position to raise capital. It was unclear, however, exactly how that option might be structured, the people said. Another option would be for the government to make another cash injection into the company.

A spokesman for New York-based Citigroup declined comment.

The company has seen its shares lose 60 percent of their value in the past week, reflecting a crisis of confidence among skittish investors. They are worried all the risky debt on Citigroup's balance sheet will turn into losses as the economy worsens and the markets stay turbulent — losses that could be nearly impossible to reverse.

Citigroup is such a large, interconnected player in the financial system that if it were to collapse it would wreak havoc on already fragile financial and economic conditions. The company has operations stretching around the globe in more than 100 countries.

Analysts consider Citigroup the most vulnerable among the major U.S. banks — especially after it failed to nab Wachovia Corp., which was bought instead by Wells Fargo & Co. That was a missed opportunity for Citi to gets its hands on much-needed U.S. deposits that would bolster its cash position.

The gunman opened fire just before noon Sunday inside the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, in northern New Jersey.

Officials say some 200 people were attending a service inside the house of worship.

The New Jersey State Police and Passaic County law enforcement agencies say they are hunting for the gunman.

A law enforcement official says said the shooting may be a result of domestic violence.

Members of the church are mostly first-generation immigrants and their children from Kerala, India.

Ali al-Marri has been held in virtual isolation in a Navy brig near Charleston, S.C., for nearly 5 1/2 years. He is challenging President George W. Bush's authority to subject a legal resident of the United States to indefinite military detention without being charged or tried.

The justices are expected to consider al-Marri's case when they meet in private on Tuesday. If they agree to hear arguments, over the Bush administration's opposition, they could say so the same day.

Bush's legal team has claimed authority for such detentions and has argued aggressively for it in court papers.

But the case would not be scheduled for argument until sometime in the late winter or early spring, during Obama's first months in office.

Al-Marri's fate will wind up in Obama's hands in any event, but a decision by the court to hear his challenge would force the new president to confront the issue quickly.

In the event the dispute makes it as far as a court hearing, the new administration's lawyers would have to argue the same basic position urged by Bush's team, despite Obama's repeated criticism during the presidential campaign that Bush was too aggressive in asserting executive authority.

The Red Army Faction, which emerged from German student protests against the Vietnam War, killed 34 people before disbanding in 1998. It subscribed to Marxist-Leninist ideology and sought to overthrow the capitalist West German government and fight perceived U.S. imperialism.

The Stuttgart state court ruled that it found no grounds for Christian Klar, 56, to remain behind bars any longer, spokeswoman Josefine Koeblitz said. After his Jan. 3 release he will remain on probation for five years, the court ruled.

The judges found "no evidence of a continued threat," Koeblitz said.

The court noted that Klar had shown himself "completely changed," urging against armed struggle.

Klar was convicted of involvement in nine murders, including those of federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback, industrialist Hanns-Martin Schreyer and Dresdner Bank chief Juergen Ponto — all in 1977, when the movement was at its peak.

He was sentenced to six concurrent life sentences, as well as individual 15-year, 14-year and 12-year sentences.

Before the ruling, Buback's son Michael called on Klar to divulge all the details of the killing, including who fired the fatal shots.

Trevor L. Blackann, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court to not reporting more than $4,100 in illegal gifts from lobbyists on his 2003 tax forms, including tickets to the World Series, concerts and sporting events, free airfare and transportation, free meals and gifts and entertainment at a "gentleman's club."

The guilty plea came in U.S. District Court before Judge Richard W. Roberts.

In court documents, Blackann said two unnamed lobbyists worked directly with Abramoff, who has been sent to prison for corrupting Capitol Hill lawmakers with expensive meals, golf junkets, luxury sports tickets and other gifts. These lobbyists gave him the World Series tickets, among other items.

Abramoff is now helping prosecutors go after other people he bribed. With his help, the Justice Department has won convictions against former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles and several top Capitol Hill aides.

Blackann said he pushed for a political appointment at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as "official action beneficial" to Equipment Rental Co., a construction rental company. Blackann worked for Blunt from 1998 to 2001 and for Bond from 2001 to 2005.

Blackann said in court documents he knew "the lobbyists gave these things of value for or because of official actions they were seeking from him or had obtained from him."