Seeing money changers and hawkers doing business in God’s house, Jesus responds forcefully and angrily in this Sunday’s gospel. Riot police responded with force Monday to angry demonstrators in Moscow protesting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s victory in Russia’s presidential election after a campaign slanted in Putin's favor and mired in reports of widespread irregularities in Sunday's balloting.

A day after claiming an overwhelming victory, Putin on Monday faced a range of challenges to his legitimacy, including charges of fraud from international observers and a defiant opposition that vowed to keep him from serving his full six-year term. Putin shrugged off claims the election was unfair, saying any violations were not significant enough to affect the vote’s outcome.

“Those who lose never like their defeat,” a beaming Putin said Tuesday. But he also sounded a conciliatory note, offering a seat in his cabinet for one of his opponents, Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire businessman and owner of the National Basketball Association’s New Jersey Nets. The suggestion is unlikely to placate many of Putin’s biggest critics, and Prokhorov had previously rejected the idea of joining the government unless it undertakes fundamental reform.

Sources: Articles by the Associated Press, Agence France Presse,
and Ellen Barry and Michael Shwirtz for the New York Times