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TARP was meant to bail banks out for their bad behavior, but is it simply inspiring more? According to Reuters, “The FBI is working with other U.S. agencies to prevent wrongdoing related to government bailout money and the economic stimulus package, in what could be the ‘next wave’ of financial fraud cases, Director Robert Mueller said on Tuesday.” Mueller said the FBI is working to track the money and shifting its resources to New York and Wall Street. "With billions of dollars at stake—from the purchase of troubled assets to improvements in infrastructure, healthcare, energy and education—even a small percentage of fraud would result in substantial taxpayer losses," Mueller said.
U.S. officials confirmed a Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay prison has died in an “apparent suicide.” Guards found the 31-year-old Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih unresponsive on Monday night, and unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him. The prisoner had been held without charges since February 2002. His death marks the fifth apparent prisoner suicide in Guantanamo, the prison Obama has vowed to shut down. "This kind of desperation is caused by the uncertainty of not knowing whether one will ever be released or even charged," said Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney.
Jacqui Smith, Britain’s Home Secretary, is the latest casualty of the Labour government’s embarrassing and sweeping expenses scandal, where members of Parliament and the Cabinet wrote off large personal sums as work expenses. Smith will step down after news surfaced her husband expensed large sums on her behalf, including two porn films. The Children’s Minister and the Cabinet Office Minister will also leave before the election, which is expected to be one of the worst for the Labour Party. More blood-letting to come: Chancellor Alistair Darling, and others, are also expected to be shuffled out of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s disgraced Cabinet. The shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the government has “lost all authority and the ability to govern.”
John McCain singled out Obama’s $11.2 billion plan for 28 new White House helicopters as the poster child for government waste last February and on Monday the White House put a stop to the costly project. But Obama still needs helicopters, and getting them might end up costing taxpayers just as much as the original plan. About $3.2 billion has already been spent on making new helicopters in the quashed initiative, and the government will also have to fork over half a billion in early termination fees. Renovating existing helicopters or making cheaper models will still add up to billions, causing lawmakers to label the decision to terminate the program as “bizarre.” President Bush ordered a new helicopter fleet after the September 11 attacks.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation process is beginning to look like a condensed version of the Obama campaign, as top Democrats continued praising ad nauseum the Supreme Court nominee's "underdog" background. "We have the whole package here," Sen. Harry Reid said, adding that Sotomayor's life story is "compelling." Sotomayor has been caught in a whirlwind of stereotyping and accusations of racism since her nomination for the Supreme Court, and Senator Patrick Leahy said the venom surrounding the process "demands that she has a hearing earlier than later." Meanwhile, Politico reports that nearly 150 leading conservatives have sent a letter to Republican senators demanding they fight hard against her confirmation.
On Tuesday, President Obama will appoint another conservative to a top spot: Rep. John McHugh, Republican Congressman from New York, will be named his secretary of the Army. McHugh, who has been in Congress since 1993, is the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, and has shown a willingness to work with Democrats. He'll replace Bush's Army Secretary, Pete Geren.
Katie Couric’s speech to Princeton’s graduating class contained a sobering message to female grads—don’t bank on an MRS degree. “You may also have a dream of being married and having a family, and at some point the career may take a backseat. There is no more challenging, rewarding or important job than being a mom. I just want to say this—sometimes dreams of domestic bliss are interrupted by reality. People get divorced. People die. You need to protect yourself,” she said. Couric spoke of her own marriage, when her husband died nine months after being diagnosed with cancer, leaving her with two small children. “Luckily, I had a career and therefore the financial independence to support my children.” The speech wasn't all serious—she also poked fun at a relatively easy target: Rush Limbaugh.
Sandra Boss might have brought home $1 million a year as a high-powered consultant, but her husband, who posed as a member of the moneyed Rockefeller clan, controlled her bank account and life. Her husband “Clark Rockefeller,” whose real name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, is accused of kidnapping their daughter in 2008. "You mistakenly confuse money and power. Money and power are not the same thing in a relationship," she said on the stand on Tuesday about why her husband was able to control family finances while she was the sole breadwinner. Boss attended Stanford and Harvard, and said she never doubted her husband’s phony story about piles of wealth and a storied family heritage. "There's a big difference between intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence," Boss said. "I'm not saying I made a very good choice of a husband. It's obvious I had a pretty big blind spot."
The wreckage and debris found in the Atlantic Ocean Tuesday morning is indeed from Air France Flight 447, Brazilian military confirmed Tuesday afternoon. The military identified a 3-mile path of debris hundreds of miles from the shore. All 228 people on board are presumed to have died when the plane crashed in the sea Sunday night. "The discovery came just hours after authorities announced they had found an airplane an airplane seat, an orange buoy and signs of fuel in a part of the Atlantic Ocean with depths of up to three miles," the Associated Press reported. The cause of the crash is still unknown, though several speculations are emerging: experts believe the plane may have flown into a lightning strike, or into the fiercest part of a tropical storm.
The sixth season of HBO’s Entourage has a secret weapon: High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron. Efron was spotted at a Nike store in Bevery Hills Tuesday morning shooting a scene without the rest of the cast. (A witness says the scene mainly involved Efron talking on his cell phone—how apropos for the show.) Musician Lil Wayne and athletes Tom Brady and LeBron James are also expected to make cameos this season, which debuts June 12. If headliner Adrian Grenier is looking for a way out, perhaps Efron will be happy to slide into his role?
In a tell-all article published today, acclaimed writer and notorious ladies man Martin Amis' dirty laundry is hung out to dry by a former lover, Nureyev biographer Julie Kavanaugh, who tracks his metamorphosis from a "short-arsed" kid into the lady killer he later became. With Amis's blessing, Kavanaugh writes in Intelligent Life magazine of his awkward teenage years, sexual escapades, illegitimate lovechild and eventual transformation into a literary rock star. All as is a preamble to Amis' upcoming "blindingly autobiographical" book, which promises to delve deeper into his private life.
After months of rumors, it's now official: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has anointed his son as the next leader of the communist dynasty by asking his country’s overseas mission to pledge loyalty to young Jong-un, says a newspaper report from the country. The 67-year-old leader reportedly had a stroke in August, and the country’s recent rash of military actions, including a nuclear test in late May, are thought to be his attempt to solidify enough power to be able to name a successor. Jong-un, who is in his early twenties and is one of three sons, was educated in Switzerland, but very little else is known about him. Jong was groomed for decades before taking over the role from his father.
Mel Gibson clearly wasn’t thinking about Christ at church on Sunday. When Gibson attended services at Holy Family Chapel, in Agoura Hills, California, he may have intended to pray, but “completely lost it,” instead. Interrupting the service, Gibson--who has recently faced scrutiny for his extra-marital affair with a Russian pop-star--got on the altar and, in front of two priests, a bishop, and a packed house, “paced back and forth, furiously telling the congregation that he would not stand by and be judged and scrutinized,” a source said. “[His] holier than thou world is falling apart around him–all these years he’s been preaching the good holy word, and now that the wizard’s curtain has been pulled back, we find that Mel hasn’t been practicing what he preaches.”
One-senator state Minnesota will have to find a new governor in 2010: Tim Pawlenty has announced that he will not seek a third term, leading many to speculate that he is paving the way for a 2012 presidential run. According to Ben Smith, “The move also frees him from the strictures of tough Minnesota campaign finance laws, which made presidential fundraising tough.” That’s bad news for Al Franken: Keeping Franken out of the Senate may frustrate Minnesotans, but probably plays well with the national Republican base.
The Chinese government blocked access to Twitter, Flickr and Hotmail two days before the 20th anniversary of the attack on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. The ban came in light of growing tension surrounding the anniversary. Many Chinese citizens rely heavily on Twitter as a means of communication, relying on it to communicate information about sensitive issues like the fire at the Chinese state televisioncomplex. Blogger.com was blocked last month and YouTube has been off-limits to mainlaind China since March. Additionally, censors shut down message boards on more than 6,000 college-related websites. Citizens are unsure whether Twitter will reopen to the public after the Tiananmen Square anniversary.
Pakistan’s high court released the man suspected to be behind the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, provoking a strong response from India on Tuesday. The Indian government condemned the decision, saying Pakistan is not serious about cracking down on cross-border terrorism. Army officers, meanwhile, accuse Indian intelligence agencies of aiding Taliban militants in the Swat Valley, where Pakistani troops are fighting. The released prisoner, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is the head of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist organization formed to fight Indian rule in Kashmir. He was under house arrest, but authorities say there wasn’t enough evidence to detain him longer.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer--or at least invite them to your BBQ. That’s what the United States has done with Iran, with the State Department encouraging its embassies to reach out to Iranians to join the party on Independence Day. The U.S. hasn’t had relations with Iran since 1979—and Hillary Clinton has condemned the nation since taking office—but this new move by the Obama administration shows increased efforts to reach out to Tehran. Said one official: “It is another way of saying we are not putting barriers in the way of communicating. It is another way of signaling that there is an opportunity that should not be wasted.” Failing all else, after a few hot dogs, Obama will surely have Iran right where he wants it.
Red Bull, which is said to "give you wings," has apparently given some Hong Kong locals a tendency to grind their teeth as well. Those looking for a little pick-me-up got much more than they bargained for, as traces of cocaine have been found in Red Bull sold in the city. On Saturday, Taiwan also found traces of the drug in the energy drink. Red Bull denies the charges, saying health officials must have made some sort of mistake when testing the energy drinks.
Since news broke that British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith used public money to pay for adult movies that her husband watched, she has been in full damage-control mode. Now, Smith has announced she will be stepping down from her position as Home Secretary and focus on securing her seat in Parliament. Smith is also being investigated for tax filing chicanery that involved her claiming her sister's home as her primary residence. A grassroots movement called "Jacqui Must Go Now!" is aggressively pursuing Smith's departure in the wake of the expenses scandal in England.
J.D. Salinger never had much tolerance for phonies: the reclusive author filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Manhattan seeking unspecified damages against the writer of the copycat book 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. In the new book, written by a man with the pen name JD California, Caulfield is 76 and an escapee from a retirement home. The book is dedicated to Salinger, but the lawsuit says the book is “a ripoff pure and simple,” that doesn’t parody or comment upon the original. The character Holden Caulfield belongs exclusively to Salinger, the suit continues. California said he didn’t mean to cause Salinger, who lives in rural New Hampshire and hasn’t published for decades, any trouble.
When Oprah features a product on her show—a wrinkle cream, book, or type of food—it immediately starts flying off the shelves. But what happens when her endorsements are bad for viewers’ health? Newsweek reports that Oprah had actress Suzanne Somers on her show to praise non-FDA-approved “bioidenticals,” hormone injections that keep the actress feeling younger but increase risk for heart disease, cancer, and other illness. "We have the right to demand a better quality of life for ourselves," Oprah said, after she allowed a few doctors to argue against the hormones. "And that's what doctors have got to learn to start respecting." Oprah also had anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy launch her platform on her show, praised risky cosmetic surgery procedures, and featured medical experts spouting half-truths about weight loss and various medical conditions.
President Obama is holding his ground on Israel: As he prepares to travel to the Arab World, he reiterated on NPR that he supports a freeze on settlements and said “Part of being a good friend is being honest. And I think there have been times where we are not as honest as we should be about the fact that the current direction.” Israel obviously does not like the demand, but neither do some Democrats. “My concern is that we are applying pressure to the wrong party in this dispute,” Shelley Berkley tells Politico. Reps. Anthony Weiner and Gary Ackerman also go on the record to criticize the plan.
My, that was fast. General Motors isn’t wasting any time in combating some of the worst PR in the history of corporate America. A 60-second commercial for the “new” GM takes a practical, even apologetic approach. “Let’s be completely honest,” the announcer says. “No company wants to go through this…General Motors needs to start over, in order to get stronger.” He adds: “There was a time when our cost structure could compete worldwide. Not any more.” But the ad isn’t free of grandiosity. “This is not about going out of business. This is about getting down to business,” the announcer intones. Inspirational images flash in the background: an American flag, a moon landing, a sports team. A for effort?
A federal judge ruled the government must declassify secret evidence that is used to justify the continued imprisonment of more than 100 Guantanamo prisoners. The government provided the secret evidence against the detainees called factual returns, in response to prisoners who petitioned the court for their release. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ruled authorities must release the information and must seek court approval to keep information secret. "Public interest in Guantanamo Bay generally and these proceedings specifically has been unwavering," Hogan wrote. "Publicly disclosing the factual returns would enlighten the citizenry and improve perceptions of the proceedings' fairness." President Obama has vowed to shut the prison down, but has run into some hefty roadblocks in the process.
Two soldiers trained for combat, and dressed in fatigues, encountered violence where they least expected it on Sunday: in a shopping mall in Little Rock, Arkansas. A Muslim convert shot two soldiers--killing one--outside an Army Navy recruiting station. The shooter is a 24-year-old Little Rock-native named Carlos Bledsoe, who goes by Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad. Though he had never been in the military, he appeared to be upset with it. A 24-year-old solider named William Long died in the fire, and an 18-year-old, Quinton Ezeagwula, was critically wounded. Both were visiting Little Rock for two weeks to talk to locals about joining the military.
Oh what do you know, Bill O’Reilly isn’t sorry. Responding to criticism that his attacks on George Tiller—he aired 29 segments about him in the past few years—may have helped incite his killer, O’Reilly said “No backpedaling here … I report honestly. Every single thing we said about Tiller was true, and my analysis was based on those facts.” While O’Reilly said that “Americans should condemn the murder,” he went on to say that “When I heard about Tiller’s murder, I knew pro-abortion zealots and Fox News haters would attempt to blame us for the crime. … Those vicious individuals want to stifle any criticism of people like Tiller. That — and hating Fox News — is the real agenda here. Finally, if these people are soooo compassionate — so very compassionate, so concerned for the rights and welfare of others — maybe they might have written something, one thing, about the 60,000 fetuses that will never become American citizens. Or am I wrong?”
Why was Susan Boyle hospitalized? According to The Sun, Boyle lashed out at producers for Britain’s Got Talent after her surprise defeat before passing out in her bedroom. When police arrived, she apparently lashed out at them too. "Susan couldn't stop crying and couldn't calm down,” says a source. The Sun writes, “As she entered the clinic on Sunday she called out for her beloved cat, wailing ‘Where's Pebbles?’ until medics arranged a phone call to the purring pet”
This certainly won't help the world's largest country reduce carbon emissions: GM has reportedly signed a deal to sell Hummer to a Chinese company. GM is keeping mum on both the name of the buyer and the price, but a source tells CNN that the company is Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd. GM, which will begin making more eco-friendly cars on American soil, said it sold 5,013 Hummers in the first quarter, down 62 percent from the same period a year before. The deal, according to GM, should protect more than 3,000 jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and dealerships.
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