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1 | Russia This Is Just A Test Russia has deployed 8,500 troops, 200 tanks and a number of artillery units to the Caucasus region near the Georgian border for a weeklong session of war games expected to be the biggest since its clash with Georgia last year. Russia admits that the exercises--which are scheduled to end on July 6, the day President Obama arrives for his first official visit to Moscow--are "quite major" but says they're simply for practice. Tbilisi is worried they presage another attack similar to last summer's skirmish over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Georgia has readied its armed forces in the event of another Russian invasion.

2 | New York City Madoff Loses His Shirt ... and Cuff Links On June 29, a judge sentenced swindler Bernie Madoff to 150 years in prison for perpetrating a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Meanwhile, federal marshals prepared to seize assets from the disgraced financier and his wife to reimburse victims. While Ruth Madoff will get to keep $2.5 million in cash, the couple handed over everything from a $39,000 Steinway piano to a $25 pair of cuff links.

Madoff assets up for grabs

Real estate in New York and Florida $22 million

Everything in their homes $3.9 million

Ruth's two mink coats $48,500

Jewelry $2.6 million

Art collection $2.5 million

Yachts value undisclosed

Municipal bonds and securities worth $46.7 million and $13.5 million in cash

SOURCE: U.S. DISTRICT COURT--SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DOCUMENT

3 | Washington A Ruling on Race In the most anticipated case on its docket, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a group of white and Hispanic firefighters who sued after their passing scores on a promotion exam were thrown out because black applicants performed poorly on the test. The workplace-discrimination case, Ricci v. DeStefano, had drawn intense scrutiny because Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor had come to the opposite conclusion while sitting on a federal appeals court. The narrow 5-4 ruling, issued on the final day of the term, found that officials in New Haven, Conn., relied too heavily on "raw racial results" in deciding to toss the test rather than on evidence that the exam was flawed. A dissent argued that the city reasonably feared a discrimination lawsuit and noted a history of bias in firefighting.

4 | Tehran Sore Winner Iran's Guardian Council has officially confirmed the re-election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, following a recount of some 10% of the ballots cast in the country's disputed June 12 election. Tehran has warned that it won't tolerate further protests; the harsh government crackdown has killed as many as 20 people and caused Iran's worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The formal results were met with skepticism abroad. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. has not decided whether to recognize Ahmadinejad's victory, noting that the protests have underscored the theocracy's "credibility gap" with its own people.