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At least seven are wounded after several gunmen in a green minivan opened fire on teenagers waiting for a bus near a school in Detroit. Five of the seven had just gotten out of summer school, and two of the victims are in critical condition. The gunmen got out of the van and asked for someone by name before they opened fire.
Has South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford cheated on his mistress? He told the Associated Press that he “crossed lines” with women other than Maria Belen Chapur, but that he “didn’t cross the sex line.” Also, in an interview with the Associated Press, “Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.” In the interview, Sanford also admitted to seeing Chapur more frequently than he had previously acknowledged.
The lovely state of Minnesota finally has its second senator: The five justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday in favor of Al Franken in the state’s disputed Senate race. "Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled [under Minnesota law] to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota," the court wrote. In a press conference this afternoon, Coleman said "I will abide by the laws" and that he will not pursue the case in the Supreme Court. Governor Tim Pawlenty will sign the election certificate today. Democrats in the Senate will now have the 60 votes needed to overcome any Republican filibuster.
Sarah Palin is itching for a rematch. The Alaska governor told Runner's World magazine that she'd beat Barack Obama in a foot race, according to an article published online today. "I betcha I'd have more endurance," she said. "My one claim to fame in my own little internal running circle is a sub-four marathon. What I lacked in physical strength or skill, I made up for in determination and endurance." Palin said she's been a runner all her life, and was born to marathoners who organized family runs. But don't go scanning the streets of Anchorage for the governor just yet: apparently she's unrecognizable without her usual hair and makeup. "When I run, I'm totally incognito because I'm not wearing a trough full of makeup. I can go running through a mob of tourists and they don't recognize me," Palin said. If only the governor had made these claims before the election run-off, maybe we could've caught a glimpse of the two running laps.
The saga continues: The Associated Press reported today that contrary to previous statements from his parents, a will has surfaced for debt-ridden Michael Jackson, and that he had a net worth of $237 million in recent years. The existence of the will was announced just a day after Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, petitioned to become the administrator of his estate. "If there is a will and if the will is a valid will, the whole petition to be named administrator will just fall away,” said an estate lawyer and partner at a New York law firm. Meanwhile, documents dated March 31, 2007 reveal Jackson’s lofty net worth—-and the fact that only $700,000 of that amount was in cash. While his assets totaled $567.6 million, including a 750-song catalog worth $390.6 million, the five-page report claimed that Jackson owed $331 million in debt. A Jackson family lawyer said that Jacko’s advisers are currently looking for additional documents.
In yet another effort to remain relevant, the Oscar voting committee is offering spots among its ranks to the younger, hipper class. On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued invitations to 134 members of the film community, including Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, James Franco, Emily Blunt, Casey Affleck and comic actors Michael Cera, Paul Rudd, and Seth Rogen. They will join the almost 6,000 other voting members. "These filmmakers have, over the course of their careers, captured the imagination of audiences around the world," Academy president Sid Ganis said. "It's this kind of talent and creativity that make up the Academy, and I welcome each of them to our ranks." New members will be welcomed into the Academy at a Beverly Hills reception in September.
A small funeral was held Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles for actress Farrah Fawcett, led by her long-time partner and father of her only child, Ryan O’Neal. O’Neal served as one of the Charlie’s Angels star’s pallbearers, and also gave a reading; the couple’s son, Redmond O’Neal, was temporarily released from jail, where he is being held on charges of drug possession, to attend the service and read Bible scripture. Fawcett, famous for an iconic hairstyle that defined a generation and her numerous film and television credits, died Thursday after a long and public battle with both anal and liver cancer.
Life may get a little more painful. A federal advisory panel voted on Tuesday to ban Percocet and Vicodin, two of the world's most popular prescription painkillers, because of their harmful effects on the liver. The ingredient in question is acetaminophen--found in Tylenol, Excedrin and other over-the-counter drugs--which, in high doses, is a leading cause of liver damage. In 2005, Americans bought 28 billion doses of products containing the ingredient, and more than 400 people die and 42,000 are hospitalized every year in the U.S. from overdoses. The panel also voted to reduce the amount of acetaminophen in over-the-counter drugs and lower the recommended daily dosage. While the F.D.A. isn't required to heed its recommendations, they usually follow advisory panels' advice.
In one of the most shocking stories of the week, Frank M. Lombard, the associate director of Duke University's Center for Health Policy, was arrested at his home last week in Durham, North Carolina, accused of offering his 5-year-old adopted son for sex on the Internet. Lombard was caught after unknowingly entering an online chat with a task force officer from Washington's Metropolitan Police, where he admitted, among other things, to drugging the boy with allergy medicine and performing various sexual acts on him, before offering him to the task force officer. Upon his arrest, two children were removed from the home, including the 5-year-old. According to university spokesman Keith Lawrence, Lombard—who has already appeared in federal court, and faces up to 20 years if convicted—was placed on unpaid administrative leave, effective immediately. In the course of their on-going investigation, federal agents have already seized his computer, thumb drives, and webcams.
One survivor has been found from the Yemenia Airbus A310 plane that crashed in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean with 153 passengers on board. The 14 year-old girl, reportedly from one of the main islands in Comoros, was plucked from the ocean, alive. Earlier reports said the sole survivor of the flight, which included 66 French nationals, was a five-year-old boy. The plane that crashed was found to have several faults in 2007, and Reuters reports that the European Union had banned Yemenia Air from servicing its EU-based planes after failing audits. French officials said they had banned the aircraft from its airports.
More work for Sarah Palin’s handlers: Ex-McCain staffers dish on his vice-presidential choice in the latest issue of Vanity Fair. "They can't quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be," Todd Purdum writes. According to Vanity Fair, she maintained “only the barest level of civil discourse" with her chief handler, Tucker Eskew. "I think, as I've evaluated it, I think some of my worst fears…the after-election events have confirmed that her more negative aspects may have been there,” says one ex-campaigner. "I saw her as a raw talent. Raw, but a talent. I hoped she could become better."
The demonstrations have escalated in Honduras: three major labor unions are planning to strike today, adding to the brutal demonstrations in support of the ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya. It's estimated that 30,000 private and public sector workers will participate in the strikes. Said Oscar Garcia, vice president of the water union: "It will be an indefinite strike. We don't recognize this new government imposed by the oligarchy and we will mount our campaign of resistance until President Manuel Zelaya is restored to power."
Michael Jackson's body is traveling to Neverland Ranch for a public viewing on Friday for fans who want to make the pilgrimage. Jackson's private memorial service is planned for Sunday, though it's unclear where he will be buried. Officials of his hometown, Gary, Indiana, are asking the pop icon be buried next to a planned Michael Jackson museum. The town is holding its own memorial service for Jackson on July 10, which will be "a memorial that's fit for the prince of peace and a memorial that's fit for Gary, Indiana's favorite son, the greatest entertainer that ever lived," according to Gary's mayor.
Say hello to the world’s luckiest woman: According to Reuters, A woman “who inherited some Chinese carved jade from her father has scored the first $1 million appraisal from experts on the U.S. television program ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ the producers said on Monday.” The four jade and celadon pieces are from the Chien Lung Dynasty (1737-1795) and include a bowl crafted for the emperor. They were given a conservative estimate of $1.07 million. “For 13 years, we've been hoping to feature a million-dollar appraisal on Antiques Roadshow; it's been our 'Great White Whale,'" said the show’s executive producer.
You can now add Vibe to the long, sad list of magazines killed by the recession. The hip-hop magazine founded by legendary music producer Quincy Jones (the man behind Michael Jackson's Thriller success) in 1993 couldn't survive continued losses even after recent cutbacks. Wicks Group, the magazine's owner since 2006, had cut circulation, salaries, and its publishing schedule.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have been declared the official winner of Iran’s election on Monday, but his challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, isn’t having it: He renewed his call for peaceful demonstrations in a message on his website on Tuesday. According to The Telegraph, “The candidate's supporters were urged to continue confronting the regime without provoking bloodshed. Among the recommended tactics was to continue the call of Allahu Akbar (God is great) from rooftops at night, writing Mr Mousavi's name on cash bills and hijacking official holidays to make protests.”
She’s come a long way since Carrie Bradshaw: Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have revealed a photo of their twin daughters, Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick and Tabitha Hodge Broderick, born to a surrogate on June 22. In the pic, the couple is curled up with their new bundles and their son, James, 6, at home in New York.
In one of the largest settlements of Amish people, about half the population works in the RV industry instead of on traditional farms. The economic downturn means that many workers like Freeman Wingard, who made $40 per hour working in the RV factory and took his family for vacations in Florida, were laid off from their jobs and had to return to the farm and a more traditional Amish lifestyle. Now instead of going to restaurants and taking vacations, Wingard wakes up at 3:30 a.m. to make 300 jars of jelly by noon, and all the hard work doesn't come close to replacing his former factory income. The decreased income in many of the Indiana Amish have them returning to "core values" of church and family. (In other Amish populations, almost everyone works on the farm or for Amish-owned businesses). Many say they like the change: "The factories can make a robot out of you," said one former RV worker.
President Obama hosted leaders of the gay and lesbian communities at the White House Monday—but it may have been too little too late. In an event to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Obama promised to renew his campaign promises, like his commitment to repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, overturning Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and vowing to pass a federal hate-crime bill named for Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was killed in 1998. And though many have criticized Obama on gay rights policy so far, Monday he was largely met with support. Said Joe Solmonese of Human Rights Campaign, and a former Obama critic, “He reminded us to continue to hold him accountable. There certainly was the appropriate and inspiring acknowledgement that he made of what this community has been through.”
It’s finally here: a drug-resistant strain of swine flu. A Danish patient has been found with a resistance to Tamiflu, the leading drug to fight the virus. The mutation may have occurred because the patient was taking Tamiflu to prevent the illness, which, according to the CDC, is much better than using the drug after contracting drug-resistant swine flu. But, luckily, the resistance may be nothing more than an outlier. According to a spokeswoman for Roche, which produces Tamiflu: “It is possible to see occasional reports of resistance while a drug remains largely effective.”
What goes on in the shady world of private banking? The crimes of Hernán E. Arbizu offer insights. As a banker at UBS and J.P. Morgan, Arbizu took millions of dollars from his South American clients, and funneled them into accounts of other clients who he had promised high returns. After being caught, he absconded to Argentina. Putting himself in the “3 percent of bankers who at some point get confused because of the pressure," he is candid now about his experiences: "We feel like we can take risks that other people don’t even dream to do, and that we can manage that risk—I don’t know why,” he tells The New York Times. Among his accusations is that UBS “didn’t have proper control over its bankers.”
Hope Joe Jackson wasn’t hoping to earn any more money from his son, Michael: According to The Wall Street Journal, the 2002 will believed to be Michael’s last completely left out his father. The draft leaves Jackson’s estate to his children, mother, and one or two charities. There are believed to be one or two other versions of the will in circulation, and in court, Jackson’s parents argued he died without a valid will.
Just words—for now. President Obama said on Monday that the weekend coup in Honduras was illegal, but until Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formalizes the statement, U.S. aid will still flow to the Latin American nation. "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there,” Obama said. "It would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition, rather than democratic elections.”
With U.S. troops now officially out of Iraq's cities and villages, Iraq declared June 30th as National Sovereignty Day. Though 131,000 American troops remain in the country and the complete withdrawal isn't expected until 2011, a giant party ensued on the streets of Baghdad on the eve of the changeover. But just before midnight, four U.S. soldiers were killed in combat. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill called the pullback a "milestone," and Prime Minister Nur Kamal al-Maliki announced, "The national united government succeeded in putting down the sectarian war that was threatening the unity and the sovereignty of Iraq." The celebration may, however, be more a government contrivance than public outburst: the New York Times reports that "cars were festooned with plastic flowers as if the entire police force was going to a wedding." According to Al Jazeera, prominent Iraqi politicians are concerned that Iraq's celebrations are premature. Said Usama al-Nujaifi, an Iraqi MP: "We think Iraqi forces are not up to the standards of maintaining Iraq's sovereignty and dignity and this could jeopardize Iraq's security."
Michael Jackson had yet another secret: he was planning a massive video surprise for his comeback tour. Two weeks before his death, Jackson had wrapped the “Dome Project,” a 3-D spectacle for his upcoming London shows. The video reportedy recalled several scenes from “Thriller.” The five-week project began shooting early in the morning in Culver City, C.A. and—stranger still—according to some witnesses, the “Dome Project” included scantily clad male dancers in carpenter’s belts.
Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff might soon have company while he serves his 150-year sentence behind bars. Federal authorities are investigating 10 of Madoff's closest associates, according to an Associated Press source, though it's unknown what the charges will be or if the associates include family members. Only Madoff and one of his accountants have been criminally charged in the fraud so far. Madoff received his sentence Monday for running the multi-billion dollar scheme after victims described him as "a true beast," a "monster' and an "evil low-life" in court.
This is a bit creepy: According to Us Weekly, the biological father of Michael Jackson’s children that were born to Debbie Rowe is Arnold Klein, Jackson’s dermatologist and Rowe’s former boss. "[Klein] and Debbie signed an agreement saying they would never reveal the truth."
North Korea's Kam Nam 1 ship is expected to be the first target of a United Nations' resolution that allows countries to inspect suspicious shipments-but what if the whole thing is a trap? Top officials in President Obama's administration worry that if the U.S. orders the ship to port and finds no nuclear weapons, Obama would look like President Bush searching for imaginary WMDs. The possibility of trickery is not so unlikely: North Korea is known for playing a cunning weapons game. In 2006, President Kim set off a nuclear weapon and then got the U.S. to remove the country from its terrorism list by closing the nuclear facility. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he won't "buy the same horse" again.
Tennis-sister superstars Venus and Serena Williams are on track to meet each other in the Wimbledon final for the fourth time: Both advanced to the semifinals on Tuesday afternoon—Venus beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2, and Serena following her into the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka. Venus will next face Dinara Safina, while Serena takes on Elena Dementieva. Of the three Williams Wimbledon finals, Serena has won two, in 2002 and 2003, and Venus in 2008. Only once in the last nine years has there been a Wimbledon women's final that didn't feature at least one of the Williams sisters.
Although Iraqis were celebrating the newly anointed "National Sovereignty Day" on the streets of Baghdad Monday night, their triumphant moods were tarnished by the explosion of a car bomb Tuesday morning in a crowded Kirkuk vegetable and poultry market that left at least 27 people dead and an estimated 40 wounded—a chilling reminder of the challenges still facing the new Iraqi government. During a nationally televised address, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki assured Iraqis that the government was in control: "Those who think that Iraqis are not able to protect their country and that the withdrawal of foreign forces will create a security vacuum are committing a big mistake," he said. The bombings are the latest in a series that began on June 20th, leaving a total of 250 dead.
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