2008-09-01: ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - Republicans open their convention on Monday to nominate presidential candidate John McCain with no pomp and little politics, shelving the usual celebration out of deference to the approaching threat of Hurricane Gustav.

2008-09-01: AP - David Paulison was having trouble with the little things — an agency phone number, remembering what day it was.

2008-09-01: AP - With Hurricane Gustav spinning toward landfall, lobbyists, corporations and industry groups are scrambling to put a solemn face on their glitzy GOP convention parties and still revel with big donors, delegates and members of Congress.

2008-09-01: CNET - The owner of an opposition Internet news site in Russia's volatile Ingushetia region was shot and killed Sunday after being detained by police.

2008-09-01: Agriprocessors, a kosher meat producer, is trying to persuade the Supreme Court to rule that illegal immigrants do not have the right to join labor unions.

2008-09-01: AFP - New French energy giant GDF Suez said Monday its first half net profit and sales rose by double digits, allowing it to confirm its forecasts for the year.

2008-09-01: AP - Three years after being punished by Hurricane Katrina, utilities along the Gulf of Mexico were buffeted by 110 mph plus winds from Gustav with customer outages topping 500,000 and growing.

2008-09-01: AP - The European Union will postpone talks scheduled with Russia this month on a wide-ranging political and economic agreement unless Russian troops pull back from positions in Georgia in line with a cease-fire agreement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says.

2008-09-02: Reuters - Merrill Lynch & Co , battered by more than $40 billion of write-downs tied largely to mortgages, said on Tuesday it hired Michael Nierenberg from JPMorgan Chase & Co to head its mortgage and securitization businesses.

2008-09-02: A one-bedroom penthouse apartment with panoramic views of Montreal is on the market for $1,866,400.

2008-09-01: This is the first of a three-part question-and-answer series provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers for The Star readers on various aspects of Budget 2009.