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Mir Hossein Mousavi will not be speaking to his millions of supporters anytime soon if the Iranian secret police have anything to say about it. Mousavi is under 24-hour guard, and must be "careful what he says," according to Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who has emerged as an unofficial spokesman abroad for reformist sympathizers. Makhmalbaf, an Iranian film director, also claimed that security forces are speaking Arabic, indicating that they are foreign enforcers brought in to crack down on protesters. This claim could not be confirmed by the Independent. Lastly, Makhmalbaf claimed that "Within the last ten days, there has been a meeting between Mousavi and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei," though, judging by his house arrest, nothing positive came of it.
CNN claims that the car of vanished South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was spotted in the parking lot of a Columbia airport on Tuesday, in a new twist to the already bizarre story. (Meanwhile, a local TV station said he was seen boarding a plane in Atlanta last Thursday.) On Tuesday, Sanford's staff said the governor was set to return on Wednesday from his mysterious, six-day disappearance because he was suprised at the media attention his absence caused. His wife claimed to not know where he had gone, but his office now says that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, apparently without security. "It would be fair to say the governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten," his communications director said. Here's an interesting question, though: If Sanford was on the Appalachian Trail, why was his cell phone signal last picked up in Atlanta?
The House will vote Friday on the biggest environmental bill in decades, after a deal was brokered Tuesday by key Democrats. The deal, which would delay the Environmental Protection Agency from hindering the ethanol industry and give the Agriculture Department control over reducing farm-based greenhouse gas emissions, was made hours after President Obama asked the House to pass the legislation. It would also require factories, power plants and refineries to reduce seven types of greenhouse gas emissions—including carbon monoxide, the biggest contributor to global warming—by 80 percent over the next 40 years. Though the bill’s opponents claim that it will hurt the U.S. economy and cost families thousands of dollars a year, estimates by the EPA show that it would raise the average household’s energy costs from only $80 a year to $111. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Henry Waxman, said it should pass as a result of support from three important groups: environmentalists, farmers, and a majority of the industries involved.
For the first time in four years a U.S. ambassador will return to Syria in an effort to mend relations with Islam and the Arab Middle East, The Washington Post reports. President Obama’s decision to reinstate an ambassador was announced Tuesday night by the office of Imad Mustafa, Syria’s ambassador to Washington. The U.S. fell out of favor in the region because of Arab opposition to the Iraq war and a perceived partiality toward Israel. In 2005, the Bush administration withdrew its Syrian ambassador to protest the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harriri, in which Syrian intelligence officials are suspected. “We're determined to engage in a comprehensive way in the region,” said a senior administration official. “This is an important step we are taking as part of that strategy.”
All we ever hear about are the thousands of investors swindled out of their money by Bernard Madoff. But what about the lucky few who profited from the biggest Ponzi scheme in history? Between 1995 and 2008, Jeffry Picower withdrew $5.1 billion from Madoff accounts, ProPublica reports. Picower likely received extra attention from Madoff, as he was one of the Ponzi-schemer's top investors. Now, Irving Picard, the appointed trustee in charge of recovering money for Madoff's victims, is investigating whether Picower was aware of the crime. Yet ProPublica was unable to uncover evidence of Picower's immense fortune; none of his assets come close to $5 billion. Picower, described as a "tax-shelter expert," had no comment on the mystery.
In case there was any doubt, demonstrators in Iran can now strongly be sure that President Obama is on their side: He pronounced himself “appalled and outraged” by the “threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days.” “I strongly condemn these unjust actions,” he said at a news conference. "I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering in Iran's affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place."
The show must go on—just not quite yet. In the wake of Monday night’s episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8, in which the couple announced they’re getting a divorce, the TLC network is putting the reality show on hiatus until August, The New York Times reports. The episode set a record with 10.6 million viewers and became the highest-rated telecast on cable TV this year, but will viewers still tune in now that the couple has split? TLC president Eileen O’Neill said the show will focus on the “parent-child relationship,” and executives think viewers can relate to divorce and will want to watch how the situation unfolds. The decision to push the remainder of the show’s season back to August 3 was made so that “everyone could adjust to the new circumstances,” O'Neill said.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran's Guardian Council may have five more days to receive and investigate complaints about the country's presidential election, Iran's state television reports. The deadline was set for June 24, but the Supreme Leader granted the Council's request for an extension. The Council says it will recount 10 percent of the votes, but has ruled out cancelling the election results. Meanwhile, Opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi has called for a demonstration Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Tehran, but it’s unclear if he’ll be able to attend, since he’s reportedly under 24-hour house arrest.
Ignoring the protests of millions of its own citizens, Iran's parliament has pledged to inaugurate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president by mid-August, the LA Times reports. The announcement is another blow to reformist protesters, who already suffered the disappointment of the Guardian Council's announcement that they found no evidence of "major fraud." The LA Times also reports that the streets of Tehran have been relatively calm today; a likely result of the intensified oppression ordered by Ayatollah Khamenei. Meanwhile, the Iranian government continued lashing out at "foreign influences" by recalling its ambassador to Britain. A Reuters article reveals that Iranian television is claiming the death of Neda, which has become an icon of the reformist movement, was actually staged.
Investigations into Monday’s Washington Metrorail crash honed in on why the train’s computer system didn’t slow it down even though there was evidence the conductor tried to engage the emergency brake, The New York Times reports. All Metro trains were running in manual mode Tuesday as a precaution against crashing, but at the time of the accident the train was operating in automatic mode. "'That train was never supposed to get closer than 1,200 feet, period,'” said Jackie Jeter, president of a union that represents Metro workers. Nine people died and 76 were injured—six critically—when a commuter train on D.C.'s red line, the Metro's busiest line, rammed into the back of a stopped train during rush hour. The dead include the operator of the trailing train, Jeanice McMillian. In 2006, the National Transportation Safety Board had warned Washington Metrorail officials that its aging trains needed to be phased out of its transit system. The cars involved in the crash were some of the oldest in the Metrorail.
Does Manolo Blahnik make baby booties? Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick’s twin girls, conceived with the help of a surrogate, were born today in Ohio, People reports. The couple announced in April they were expecting to the surprise and delight of family and friends, who say Parker has wanted girls for a while. “I'm thrilled for Sarah, Matthew and [their son] James Wilkie,” Sex and the City costar Kim Cattrall said. “More 'fabulous girls' are joining our SATC family.”
In 2006, the National Transportation Safety Board had warned Washington Metrorail officials that its aging trains needed to be phased out of its transit system. Yesterday, at least one of those old trains was involved in a crash on the nation’s capital subway line that has claimed nine lives and sent more than 70 people to the hospital. An NTSB official told the Associated Press that the old trains on the Metrorail system lack important devices, which give officials information on the cause of a crash.
Sad news for late night fans: Ed McMahon passed away shortly after midnight today, CNN reports. He'd suffered from health problems in recent years, including a 2007 neck injury. McMahon is best remembered for his long-running stint as Johnny Carson's sidekick where he played the straight man or laughed boisterously at Carson's jokes. During one of the more memorable Tonight Show episodes, McMahon went to do the in-show pitch for Alpo dog food, only to find that the dog who was supposed to sample the food wasn't hungry. Carson got down on his hands and knees and rubbed his cheek against McMahon's leg, to the audience's laughter. In later years, McMahon hosted Star Search and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes and hawked Budweiser, American Family Insurance, and Cash4Gold.com in commercials. Although he was well-compensated for his work, a string of divorces and bad investments took a toll on his finances and in June 2008 he went into arrears on his home loan, although he was able to strike a deal to stay in the house with his wife.
In Tuesday's press conference, Barack Obama directly called upon Huffington Post reporter Nico Pitney and appeared to prompt him for a question that he already knew was going to be asked. Pitney, in turn, asked a question which came directly from an Iranian: "Would Obama accept the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?" And with that seemingly innocuous exchange, the blogosphere was set aflame. Writing for Politico, Michael Calderone was suspicious of the breach in protocol, as the Huffington Post blogger asked his question second, after the Associated Press and before Reuters. The White House downplayed the coordination, saying that it was merely an innovative means "to get a question from an Iranian." On the other hand, Michael Tomasky, writing on the Guardian, says that the moment is much more significant because it foreshadows a time when the press won't be needed. Tomasky predicts that the "'press conference' may give way to the 'news conference' (that is, no press involved), in which a president takes questions via social media from the people."
Politico has a fascinating piece up about Hillary Clinton—and how, despite initial assumptions that she would be the most famous woman in the world, the “Cabinet’s brightest star,”—she’s actually been toiling away out of the public eye. Senior officials are singing her praises: "Her star power has been an enormously effective tool for us," said Tom Donilon, the deputy national security adviser with a central role in running foreign policy day to day. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that he and Secretary Clinton get along as if they were old friends. She’s drawn some recent criticism, including from one unnamed former senior Clinton aide, for not bringing any foreign policy experts into her personal staff at the State Department, although her choices are hardly unprecedented.
The Guardian reports that Iran has imposed life bans from the sport on the players on its national soccer team who recently sported green wristbands in a World Cup qualifier. Four players have been “retired,” while the fates of two others who wore the bans are unknown. The banned players include one of Iran’s biggest stars, Ali Karimi, and the team’s captain, Mehdi Mahdavikia.
Some species are too tasty for their own good. Scientists think they've finally discovered the fate of the giant prehistoric kangaroo. The Times of London reports that these huge marsupials stood 6'5", weighed in at over 500lbs, and practically marinated themselves by consuming saltbush grass. An international team of scientists who published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, believe they've finally hit on the reason the species went extinct 45,000 years ago. The marsupials' eating habits suggest that the giant kangaroo drank more water and therefore spent more time at waterholes, making them vulnerable to hunters. The scientific team concluded that "human hunting was a much more likely extinction cause" than changing environmental conditions.
So having eight kids isn't the secret to marital bliss? Jon and Kate Gosselin announced on their popular reality show Monday night that they are filing for divorce after 10 years of marriage. The show will go on, since both have committed to 40 episodes of Jon & Kate Plus 8, and the pair will switch off living in the house with their sextuplets. "I was too passive," Jon said on the show. "I just...went along with everything. Now I finally stood up on my own two feet and I'm proud of myself." The Gosselins filed for divorce in a Pennsylvania courthouse this afternoon, according to People. The stars of TLC’s now infamous reality show have been scrutinized for their marital woes. Jon was rumored to have had an affair with a 23-year-old and Kate has been portrayed as a demanding, bad wife and mother. For the past week, the network advertised Jon and Kate would be making a “major announcement” in the episode.
“Outright evil” is how a high-profile defector of the Church of Scientology describes the actions of its leader, David Miscavige, in the final part of an investigative series by the St. Petersburg Times. What were Miscavige’s abuses? Miscavige forced his executives to “confess sins they had committed against Miscavige, reveal their bad thoughts about Scientology and make personal disclosures, including sexual fantasies.” According to one person who sat in on the meetings, “Everybody in that damned room—people are wild and out of control. I punched somebody. Everybody was punched. And screaming and yelling. It just got like, What the hell is going on here? '' And how’s this for office life? “[30 or so of the highest ranking officers] could leave only once a day, for a shower, otherwise they stayed put. Food was brought in. They slept on the floor, men around the conference table, women in the cubicles and small offices ringing the room. Miscavige called meetings at odd hours, 2 a.m., 4 a.m. Day after day, the exhausted executives puzzled through management structure and the pricing system for church services, trying to guess what their leader wanted.”
Chris Brown may have claimed on YouTube that he "ain't no monster," but his guilty plea certainly suggests the contrary. Brown pled guilty to one felony count of assault against his ex-girlfriend, Rihanna. Brown entered the plea as the pre-trial process was set to begin, the Associated Press reports. Brown's lawyer also said that the plea deal involves "five years of probation and six months of community labor." It appears he will be able to serve out the sentence in his home state of Virginia, despite the assault having occurred in Los Angeles.
This is a criminal investigation as only Silvio Berlusconi would have it: with lots and lots of women. The Telegraph reports that Italian prosecutors will question up to 30 women as they investigate whether an acquaintance of the Italian prime minister hired prostitutes to attend Berlusconi’s parties. On Monday, a photo emerged of two young women in what they claim is the bathroom of Berlusconi’s private residence in Rome. One of the women, Barbara Montereale, claims that a high-class prostitute named Patrizia D’Addario was paid 1,000 euros to sleep with Berlusconi that night. "Go and wait for me in the big bed," the prime minister allegedly told D’Addario.
How do octogenarians like Gloria Vanderbilt and Justice John Paul Stevens stop the effects of aging? Those two are prolific and active despite their ages. A new study finds that the best way to avoid mental decline is to always keep your brain active with physical and mental exercises. The study, published in the journal "Neurology," found that older people that were not overweight, didn't smoke, had a good education, and active social lives held steady on intellectual tests—and some even improved. As it turns out, all those advertisements for brain-boosting puzzles, DVDs and software aren't the cure-alls they claim to be.
A federal judge vigorously ordered the release of Guantánamo detainee Abd al Rahim Abdul Rassak on Monday. According to the Associated Press, the Syrian Rassak ended up at Gitmo after a Kafka-esque series of mishaps: in 2000 Rassak spent a few days at a Taliban guesthouse, then attended a terror-training camp for three weeks. Al Qaeda suspected him of spying for the U.S. and tortured him for 18 months. The U.S. arrested Rassak after mistaking him for a suicide martyr in an Al Qaeda videotape of his own torture, then imprisoned Rassak "when he tried to provide information to us about his torturers," according to his lawyer. Of government claims that Rassak maintained allegiance to his torturers, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote, "I disagree!" adding that officials were "taking a position that defies common sense," and explaining, "surely extreme treatment of that nature evinces a total evisceration of whatever relationship might have existed!"
This must warm former Miss California’s heart, just a little: According to the Associated Press, Perez Hilton instigated his fight with Will.I.am at a Toronto nightclub by calling the Black Eyed Peas frontman and producer a “faggot.” Here is how Hilton describes it: "He was like 'You need to respect me.' He was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me. I was like 'I don't need to respect you. I don't respect you and I did say this, and I knew that it would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him because he was acting the way he was. I said 'You know what, I don't respect you and you're gay and stop being such a faggot.'" Police have charged the performer with assault, but gay-rights groups have demanded an apology from Hilton.
The writer of a Newsweek article profiling Iran's opposition presidential candidate has been detained without charge by Iranian authorities. Maziar Bahari’s article, entitled “Anyone but Ahmadinejad,” was published last month and contains rare personal details about Mir Hossein Mousavi. The leader was the prime minister after the Iranian Revolution, and clashed with current Supreme Leader Khamenei over Mousavi's more leftist views. But Khamenei visited the candidate's ailing father in May, which was seen as a sign he was willing to support a Mousavi victory. When a new regime abolished Mousavi's prime minister position in 1989, he returned to a private life of creating abstract art, his major passion, and completely dropped out of politics. Mousavi refers to himself as a “reformist principalist,” an ambiguous term in both English and Farsi. Bahari argued that at 68, Mousavi may not have the ability to modernize the Iranian government to the liking of voters, dubbed “logical principalists.” “‘I'm sure those young people in Milad Hall who were chanting idealistic slogans know in their heart of hearts that those ideals are not realizable at the moment,’” said Mohammad Khatami, President Ahmadinejad’s predecessor. Khatami was "furious" when Mousavi decided to run, and rescinded his candidacy. Bahari has not been heard from since he was arrested on Sunday.
A family in Iran whose son was caught and killed in the protests' crossfire Saturday was asked to pay the equivalent of $3,000 for the bullet used by security forces, The Wall Street Journal reports. 19-year-old Kaveh Alipour, who was engaged to marry his fiancé next week, was leaving an acting class when he was shot in the head at an intersection in downtown Tehran. Alipour’s father reportedly told police all of his possessions wouldn’t amount to $3,000. The morgue agreed to waive the fee but ordered that Alipour not be buried in the city of Tehran as retribution. He is one of dozens killed in the violent protests in the last week.
Unlike President Bush, a staunch supporter of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Barack Obama has refused to support any candidate in the race for Afghanistan’s top job. To date, at least 41 challengers have entered the race to govern the country whose borders continue to shrink due to an advancing insurgency. In a recent poll, only 30 percent of Afghanis said their country is going in the right direction. One leading candidate is attracting support by promising to remove foreign military presence from the country. According to the Boston Globe, Karzai still has the upper hand in Afghanistan thanks to the incumbent’s political machine and “genius for neutralizing rivals by giving them plum political posts.” Although, experts say he still might lose the election as support among fellow ethnic Pashtuns seems to be faltering.
The mystery is solved! Vanished Governor Mark Sanford has apparently been out for a hike on the Appalachian Trail, which explains why he hasn't been heard from since Thursday. His spokesman released the statement late Monday after First Lady Jenny Sanford said she hadn't heard from her husband since Thursday, including on Father's Day. Earlier, the South Carolina governor's office released a statement saying that he had taken some away to "recharge...and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside." The statement added that his office would not discuss the details of his whereabouts or security, suggesting his office had no idea of his location, either. Sanford's critics are using the governor's vanishing act as an opportunity to portray him as reckless. "As the head of our state, in the unfortunate event of a state of emergency or homeland security situation, Governor Sanford should be available at all times," one of the critics said.
Nine people died and 76 were injured—six critically—on Monday when a commuter train on D.C.'s red line, the Metro's busiest line, rammed into the back of a stopped train during rush hour. The dead include the operator of the trailing train, Jeanice McMillian, the Los Angeles Times reports. The front end of the rear train jack-knifed into the air and landed atop the stationary one, ripping open cars from both trains. According to The Washington Post, experts have several theories around the crash: the electronic failsafe system, which detects distances between trains may have failed in an episode similar to a near-miss crash on the Metro system four years ago. There is some evidence that a small portion of failsafe devices used by the Metro have manufacturing defects causing them to fail after 25 years instead of their projected 70-year lifetime. Operator error could also be responsible for the crash.
The stage is set for further conflict in Iran: The nation’s top electoral body, the Guardian Council, announced on Tuesday that it found “no major fraud” in the June 12 elections and that it would not annul the election results. “The announcement on Iran's state-run English language Press TV is another sign the regime is determined to crush post-election unrest, the worst since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, rather than seek compromise with the protesters,” writes the Associated Press. Russia, meanwhile, also said Tuesday that it supports the declared results.
A letter from Bernard Madoff's lawyer to the judge set to sentence him declares, "We seek neither mercy nor sympathy." But honestly, isn't begging for a meager 12-year sentence after swindling billions of dollars doing just that? The 71-year-old Madoff is hoping that the "non-violent nature" of his crime, as well as his cooperation with the authorities, will move the judge to leniency; the Ponzi schemer faces up to 150 years. Madoff even went so far as to hire a consulting firm that conducted a study that found that "white-collar offenders facing life in prison received an average sentence of 184 months, or about 15 years," Bloomberg reports. So far, prosecutors have identified 1,341 investors who lost more than $13 billion. Madoff's legendary Ponzi scheme amounted to roughly $65 billion.
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