Russia's new prime minister, Viktor Zubkov, got off to a strong start in his new job even as the head of Russia's upper house of parliament was indicating Zubkov could be a candidate for another job.

According to news reports, Zubkov made a trip to Penza oblast, warned the governor of Arkhangelsk oblast that economic development in the region wasn't keeping pace and wagged a finger at Russian banks for not lending enough to industry. But the week got off on an interesting foot when Reuters reported that upper house speaker Sergei Mironov said Zubkov could become president in 2008 and Vladimir Putin should return to office in 2012. Putin is serving his second consecutive four-year term as president and should step down next March, when his term expires. But nothing in the Russian constitution prevents Putin from running for president again four years later.

Russia unveiled a passenger jet it is betting will be a big hit with regional carriers worldwide. The 110-seat Superjet 100 is being built by the Sukhoi company in the Russian Far East and will be going up against rival models from Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier. The Superjet will have its test flights later this year, but it already has 73 orders in hand. Most are from Russian airlines but an Italian regional carrier has ordered 10 of the planes.

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has again raised his stake in a British soccer club. Usmanov's investment company now owns 23% of Arsenal and says he wants to own at least 25%. But Arsenal is saying, thanks but no thanks: It released financial results this week showing a 46% jump in income for the fiscal year ended May 31.

And billionaires, Russian or otherwise, may have to cut back their caviar purchases. Russian police this week seized almost half a metric ton of contraband caviar, with a value of $600,000. According to Russian officials, the contraband caviar had been flown from Khabarovsk in black garbage bags and was intercepted at an airport near Moscow. The officials said that, to get that much caviar, the smugglers had caught and destroyed over 23 metric tons of sturgeon.

What then to give the billionaire who has everything? Authorities in Sochi, the Krasnodar region city that will host the 2014 Winter Olympics, have unveiled plans to build an artificial island complex. There will be seven main islands and several smaller ones, and they will offer luxury housing, shopping and entertainment for up to 30,000 people.

And while there was no adoption news this week, there was a baby in the news. A very, very big baby. A woman in the Altai region gave birth to a girl--you can hardly call her a little girl--weighing 17.5 lbs. The baby, who was delivered by Caesarean section, joins eight sisters and three brothers, who had all weighed more than 11 pounds each.

For information on how to subscribe FREE to your favorite AdoptionBlogs, please click here