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In an interview Sunday, President Obama praised the groundbreaking energy bill that squeaked by the House on Friday, calling it an “extraordinary first step” and adding that he hoped it would “prod” action by the Senate. Still, he suggested a handful of changes to the bill, which is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Before it reaches his desk, he’d like to get rid of a clause that would impose a tax on imports from countries that don’t have their own systems for pricing or limiting carbon dioxide emissions. But Obama is savoring the victory, The Washington Post reports, and noted Sunday that the legislation could make renewable energy into “a driver of economic growth.”
In the first military coup in Central America since the end of the Cold War, Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was ousted by the army on Sunday, amid a growing crisis over his plans to seek re-election. Soldiers arrested Zelaya after storming the presidential palace in a predawn raid. “I was awakened by shots, and the yells of my guards, who resisted for about 20 minutes,” Zelaya said in an interview. The soldiers “pointed their guns at me and told me they would shoot if I didn’t put down my cell phone.” Following the coup, the country has been tense, as TV stations went off the air, electricity was out in parts of the capital, and military jets streaked overhead. The Honduran Congress has named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, to replace Zelaya, who is currently in forced exile in Costa Rica.
In case you were wondering if it was all a publicity stunt: Maria Belen Chapur, the 41-year-old Argentinean woman named as Governor Mark Sanford’s mistress, is confirming that she did, in fact, have an affair with shamed South Carolinian. She also acknowledges that the widely published email exchanges between her and Sanford were leaked by someone who hacked into her account, though she wouldn’t reveal (what she believes is) the hacker’s identity. Back in the States, Sanford has announced that while he initially contemplated leaving office, “resigning would be the easiest thing to do.” Friends and colleagues of the governor have instead encouraged him to fight to restore the public’s trust.
Talk about a quick transformation: Sunday night’s BET Awards went from a traditional ceremony to an all-star tribute to the life of Michael Jackson in less than a day, as a lineup of luminaries paid their respects to the late pop icon. On an extra-long red carpet, swarmed with fans and media, Chaka Khan choked up when she talked about Jackson, and Sean “Diddy” Combs said the King of Pop “made me believe in magic.” A surprise guest was Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson, who accepted condolences. Performances by Beyonce, Ne-Yo and others were changed to feature musical tributes to Jackson—including a medley of Jackson 5 hits performed by a reunited New Edition, again featuring troubled singer Bobby Brown. “Overnight, literally, it changed,” the show’s producer Ron Weisner, told Billboard. “The show was completely rewritten... We’re trying to address a very unfortunate situation.”
Iraq has declared Monday a national holiday, planning festivals and celebrations, as it prepares to mark the end of the U.S. presence on the streets of its towns and cities, more than six years after the Iraq war began. As of Monday, 130,000 U.S. troops will be confined almost exclusively to American bases, leading up to the final U.S. departure in mid-2011—a milestone that’s been highly anticipated by Iraqi officials, who see it as a return to sovereignty. But the festive mood has angered some U.S. officials, who feel that U.S. troops’ contributions are being overlooked. The Iraqi prime minister has fueled the fire by describing the withdrawal as Iraq’s successful bid to “repulse” the invaders.
The stillness in Iran lasted five days--but protesters are out in full force again. Up to 3,000 protesters marched near a mosque in north Tehran on Sunday, fighting against riot police armed with tear gas and truncheons. Because of the extremely restrictive media ban in Iran, it's difficult for reports—including one of an alleged police beating of an elderly woman—to be confirmed. Those in North Tehran form a large base for defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi who, at the end of last week, rejected the Guardian Council's proposal to begin a partial vote recount. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, called for national unity on Sunday, saying, "I admonish both sides not to stoke the emotions of the young or pit the people against each other...Our people are made of one fabric."
A shocking run for the Confederations Cup title has come to an end for the American soccer team, which lost in the final to Brazil 3-2 on Sunday. Following a remarkable, surprise win against European champions Spain last week, the Americans were on a high going into the final game in South Africa. But their opportunity collapsed in the second half when the team lost a 2-0 halftime lead in a heartbreaking defeat to the South American soccer titans, who have won the World Cup five times. With a victory that had seemed so close out of their grasp, the Americans appeared stunned and dejected at the postgame medal ceremony.
Who knew shape-shifting robots were so universal? Director Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, rocked the U.S. box office this weekend with $112 million—its next closest competitor was The Proposal, with a puny $18.5 million—but it also dominated foreign box offices, finishing first in all international markets. The poorly reviewed film brought in a staggering $162 million from foreign screens, for an overseas total of $181.6 million. The movie’s global gross is now $363.2 million. Despite the eye-popping figures, however, it failed to land a record for a foreign box office launch: Finishing before it internationally are the 2007 hits Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Spider-Man 3, and 2006’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The belief that celebrity deaths only come in threes is seriously being tested this week. Famous commercial pitchman Billy Mays died this morning at the age of 50. Mays was the boisterous spokesperson for the cleaning products OxiClean and Orangle Glo and was easily recognizable thanks to his larger-than-life personality and ever-present beard. He was found by his wife in their Tampa home, and TMZ (the Web site that broke the Michael Jackson story) reports Mays struck his head during a rough plane landing the day before. The night before his death, Mays even Twittered: "Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air."
John Edwards has not, apparently, hit the bottom yet: The New York Daily News reports that the book proposal of Andrew Young—the former Edwards staffer who once claimed to be the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby—says that Edwards and Hunter once made a sex tape, according to someone who has seen the proposal. “While he was unpacking, Young discovered a videocassette, according to the book pitch. Hunter had been hired by the Edwards campaign to videotape the candidate’s movements, but this one is said to have shown him taking positions that weren’t on his official platform.” The pitch also alleges that Edwards, and not Young, is the father of Hunter’s baby.
The latest dispute between the United States and Russia deals with an entirely new warfare: cyberspace. The two opposing sides will address the issue next week when President Obama visits Russia. The U.S. rejects governing that would censor the Internet or put constraints upon it. “We really believe it’s defense, defense, defense,” said a State Department official. “They [Russia] want to constrain offense. We needed to be able to criminalize these horrible 50,000 attacks we were getting a day.” Russia favors a treaty to govern Internet safety in military campaigns, while the United States argues for high-tech defense mechanisms like “logic bombs” that can stop computers at specific times or damage circuitry. Most of the technologically advanced world signed the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime in 2004, which allows police to investigate suspected cybercrime in foreign countries without first notifying local authorities. Russia and China have not signed the convention, putting stress on countries like the U.S. that want to improve international cybersecurity relationships.
We may not have heard the last from Michael Jackson: The Wrap reports that “Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal at the Staples Center on Wednesday, the eve of his death, was recorded in multi-camera, high-definition video and multi-track audio, and could be released as the performer’s last album.” Meanwhile, Jackson’s nanny, Grace Rwaramba, tells the Times of London about his drug abuse, saying, “I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it.”
Life was easier when you were in charge, wasn’t it John Boehner? The House Minority Leader and congressman from Ohio complained to The Hill that the climate bill passed by House Democrats on Friday is “a pile of shit.” When asked why he read aloud from the bill for an hour on the House floor, Boehner said, “Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of shit." The bill narrowly passed, 219-212, with eight Republicans voting for it.
Has the trouble in Iran just become an international crisis? The Iran government has reportedly imprisoned eight local workers from the British Embassy in Tehran. The government accuses them of playing a “significant role” in fomenting protest. On a more encouraging note, The Guardian reports, “The power struggle inside Iran appears to be moving from the streets into the heart of the regime itself this weekend amid reports that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani is plotting to undermine the power of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.” Tensions are also rising between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, who has pledged to investigate the violence.
Ruth Madoff just reached a deal with prosecutors that will allow the wife of the Ponzi schemer to continue riding New York subways—provided there are no additional fare hikes. Bernie Madoff originally asked prosecutors to allow his wife to keep $70 million in assets, but on Friday she gave up the claim and kept only $2.5 million in cash. Madoff’s wife reached a settlement that will sell off her properties in Palm Beach, Montauk, and Manhattan to shore up money for the victims. The settlement, however, doesn't prevent the SEC or the Madoff trustee from coming after her funds in the future. On Monday, Bernie Madoff will be sentenced in federal court where prosecutors are pushing for 150 years in prison.
Congratulations—and maybe a little pity, too—should be directed this weekend to the winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog competition. A boxer mix dog named Pabst took home the blue ribbon prize at the Northern California contest. Pabst’s severe under-bite and scrunched face helped him eke out a surprise win over reigning favorite Rascal, a pedigree Chinese Crested. Pabst’s owner took home $1,600 in prize money, pet supplies, a modeling contract with House of Dog, and the knowledge that selflessly rescuing a shelter dog does, in fact, pay off in multiple ways.
The entire world may now be familiar with the contents of Mark Sanford’s love letters, but where, exactly, did they come from? They were leaked anonymously in December to The State newspaper, which now says it may have identified their source: “A business associate of Sanford’s Argentine mistress said Friday that private messages between the lovers had been sent anonymously to The State newspaper in December by an Argentine man the mistress briefly dated. ... Last December, the executive said, Chapur was dating a young Argentine a few months after her affair with Sanford began. The executive, who has direct knowledge of the situation, said the man happened to see the e-mails between Sanford and Chapur and hacked into her e-mail account to see the rest. Infuriated, the man sent the messages to The State.”
It may be the one getting all of the media’s attention, but Iran isn’t the only country with a crackdown. Former first lady Laura Bush takes to the op-ed page of The Washington Post to draw attention to the worsening situation in Burma where, she writes, “In the past 21 months, the number of political prisoners incarcerated by the junta has doubled.” Two Burmese were recently jailed for praying for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and 3,000 villages have been “forcibly displaced.” She suggests a solution that might not make her husband happy: “The Security Council has already referred the crisis in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. It should do the same for Burma.”
Controversy continues to haunt Madonna’s adoption of Mercy, a 6-year-old Malawian girl. Mercy’s grandmother, Lucy Chekechiwa, says in a new documentary that, at first, her family had not agreed to permanently put Mercy up for adoption when they gave her to the orphanage when she was four. "The initial agreement was that Mercy was to be kept in the orphanage for six years. After six years Mercy was supposed to be brought back here and then I would have taken care of her.” The grandma says that Madonna first met Mercy in 2006, but that she refused to release her at that time, so Madonna adopted David Banda. After a family discussion, she says she was convinced to let Mercy go. “I still love Mercy. She is my dearest."
And the verbal spat continues: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck back at President Obama on Saturday for praising protesters who showed “bravery in the face of brutality.” Ahmadinejad responded to Obama’s comments—which also called the current violence in the region “outrageous” and hailed defeated candidate Mousavi as “[capturing] the imagination” of Iranians—by asking: "Why did he interfere and comment in a way that disregards convention and courtesy?" He went on to say the West would regret its “meddlesome stance.” Meanwhile, defeated candidates Mousavi and Karroubi rejected the offer by the Guardian Council to go over the election results by a special committee, saying the review would not be independent or broad enough. At least 17 people have been killed and 100 injured in the post-election violence.
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