Cheat Sheet

Another day, another push for universal health care from President Obama: He said in a speech on Wednesday that health insurance reform is necessary to create stability for families, businesses, and the government. "Deferring reform is nothing more than defending the status quo--and those who would oppose our efforts should take a hard look at just what it is they're defending," Obama said. He focused on health care costs—with reform, he promised consumers, “you’ll save money.” Obama has demanded health care legislation from Congress by the end of the week.

Bill Pugliano / Getty Images

A bill designed to help troops on the frontlines has created a new frontline—on Capitol Hill. In spite of a vocal pro-fighter-jet contingent in Congress, President Obama has long argued that funds used to manufacture F-22s would be better spent providing troops with more useful weapons and equipment. On Wednesday, the president announced that he will veto a pending $680 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2010 if lawmakers allocate funding for more F-22 fighter jets than the Defense Department has requested. "The administration strongly objects to the provisions in the bill authorizing $1.75 billion for seven F-22s in FY 2010," the White House said. Obama's intervention in the hot-button debate over ending the F-22 program has heightened pressure on lawmakers to respect his military priorities.

Some may call it bullying—or threatening—but former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls his involvement in Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch "appropriate," according to The Wall Street Journal's account of remarks Paulson prepared for a House panel on Thursday. Last year, when BofA Chief Executive Ken Lewis was having second thoughts about the deal—after learning the extent of Merrill's problems—Paulson stepped in, telling Lewis that abandoning it would show a "colossal lack of judgment" and "jeopardize Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and the financial system." He also suggested that BofA management could be ousted if he walked away. Paulson's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will defend his actions and will mark one of his first public appearances since leaving office in January—and a rare attempt by the former Goldman Sachs Group chairman to defend his legacy.

Thanks to a rush of diehard Muggle moviegoers, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has surpassed Hollywood's midnight-ticket box-office record. The sixth Potter film grossed $22.2 million in midnight sales at 3,003 locations, according to Warner Bros., slashing the mark set last year by The Dark Knight. But the record-breaking is just getting started. Unlike the last two Potter films, the new one is rated PG, instead of PG-13, positioning it to draw an even broader audience. (The first three movies also were rated PG.) Half-Blood is expected to gross more in the U.S. than the previous film—and as of Wednesday evening, it stood a chance of surpassing the record set by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the biggest single day at the box office ever.

With Intel forecasting a pickup in the second half of the year and sunny news from the Federal Reserve, all three major indicators surged today. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 256 points or 3.1 percent. The S&P 500 went up 27 points or 3 percent. The Nasdaq composite climbed 63 points or 3.5 percent. Investors were cheered by news from the Fed that the end of the recession might be in view and were encouraged by an announcement from chipmaker Intel that it had bettered forecasts. Of course, even after the biggest quarterly climb in a decade, the S&P 500 is more than 40 percent below its October 2007 apex.

After another quiet day of confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, it seems the real news may have taken place outside of the U.S. Capitol: Gunfire on the fringe of Capitol Hill caused police to seal off part of the Capitol Building as precaution. Officials have not confirmed any details of the incident, but there are unconfirmed reports of one injury. According to one tourist who was visiting the Hill, “There were so many gunshots being fired my family got down.” The tourist said he first noticed trouble when he saw a car being chased by police vehicles.

Natalia Estemirova, a prominent human-rights activist in Russia, was awarded the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Prize in 2007, which was named after the prominent Russian journalist who was murdered. Tragically, Estemirova met the same fate as Politkovskaya: Estemirova's bullet-riddled body was recently found in Russia. According to her employer, the advocacy group Memorial, she was earlier kidnapped in a van. Estemirova had collaborated in the past with Politkovskaya, as well as Stanislav Markelov, another activist who was killed this year. Human Rights Watch said that Estemirova had recently been researching "highly sensitive" cases in Chechnya. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was "outraged" at the crime and ordered a "top-level" investigation.

How many doctors did it take to feed Michael Jackson's alleged drug habit? Fox News reports that nine doctors from New York, Nevada, Texas, and Florida are under investigation for overprescribing medication to the fallen pop star. One of Jacko's security guard's said in an interview with police that the King of Pop took 10 Xanax a night and that the number indicated that "Jackson was doing better because he was down from 30 to 40 Xanax pills a night." A doctor's note from Dr. Alimorad "Alex" Farschchian of Florida looks suspicious. It reads, "Buprinex is the potent narcotic I told you about last week. It is just like the D (likely Demerol) but better."

Surely the journalist Timothy O'Brien knew that when he wrote Donald Trump was only worth $250 million (as opposed to the $4 billion Trump himself claims), there would be repercussions. Not surprisingly, Trump sued the journalist for defamation. On Wednesday a New Jersey judge dismissed the case, saying that there was no evidence of "actual malice" in the estimate of the real-estate mogul's fortune in O'Brien's book Trump Nation: The Art of Being the Donald. Trump didn't pull his punches in the failed lawsuit; his lawyers tried to portray the book publisher, Warner Books, as an accomplice.

Isn't war gruesome enough without a robot scavenging the battlefield, ingesting corpses for fuel? An experimental robot produced by a military contractor can consume just about anything to keep running. Dubbed the "Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot" (EATR), the robot could theoretically run for years on fuel it consumes in the field. Fox News reports the robot could be used to build "a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a mobile gunship." The company that developed the robot describes its ability to "forage," rather than presenting it as a Cyberdyne-worthy nightmare.

Good news for fans of hilariously inept women. Variety reports that Bridget Jones will live on in a third installment of the series starring Renee Zellweger. The film will likely use author Helen Fielding's weekly columns for the Independent from 2005, in which the 40-something Bridget attempts to get pregnant before her biological clock ticks down. No word on who will write or direct yet, but the film will probably go into production at the end of next year. Zellweger is expected to pack on the pounds as she has for the previous installments to play Jones.

When former-treasury secretary Henry Paulson threatened to fire Bank of America execs if they backed out of a deal to buy Merrill Lynch, some observers got a little nervous. Could the government make such a threat? Paulson thinks so, and will defend himself before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday. In prepared remarks, Paulson says that if BofA had backed off the deal, it would have indicated "a colossal lack of judgment" that would have endangered the entire financial system. Therefore, his strongarm tactics were appropriate. Paulson has been out of the public eye since stepping down from his position in January. The Wall Street Journal reports that his remarks stand "as a rare attempt...to defend his legacy."

Life often imitates art—but sometimes art can ruin lives. Robert De Niro’s estate lost more than $1 million after abstract Expressionist paintings by his late father sold without permission as part of a scam by a New York gallery. Art dealer Lawrence Salander was indicted on additional charges for stealing $5 million from several estates as part of an $88 million art investment scam (for which he was arrested in March). Former tennis champion John McEnroe and Bank of America were duped in the original scam. The Lachaise Foundation and the estate of sculptor Elie Nadelman were also victims.

Bad business is somehow good business for Goldman Sachs, which posted a record $3.44 billion profits last quarter despite a flagging economy. But the giant profits could give way to popular resentment when the bank's employees receive their bonuses. Some $11.4 billion is earmarked for employee compensation so far, meaning that workers would earn an average of $770,000, close to their payouts were before the recession. Because Goldman paid off its loans from the government, it doesn't have the same restrictions on bonuses as other banks. But that doesn't mean the bousus wouldn't present a public-relations disaster. Another issue at hand is that these profits, which come with higher risks than other banks, could encourage its rivals to overextend themselves trying to match Goldman.

Abstinence be damned: Teens in Britain are getting one often overlooked bit of advice—that sex can be fun. The National Health Service is recommending teachers stress the healthy and pleasurable sides of sex rather than only harping on mechanics and deterrence, and have distributed a pamphlet titled Pleasure. Aside from boasting a section on masturbation entitled “an orgasm a day,” the pamphlet (which is given to teachers, not students) promotes sexual awareness and responsibility on an emotional level and is being touted by professionals as the cure for out-of-date sex education. The initiative is not without its dissidents: “I think this is medically wrong and emotionally wrong and will increase teenage pregnancy and impact negatively on the formation of a long-term loving relationship,” said the headmaster of one college. But proponents acknowledged the failure of the current system to teach adequate sex ed and want teachers to be given a new way to discuss sex with students.

After much debate and delay, House Democratic leaders have finally unveiled the health-care-reform bill. Despite the inclusion of a government-run insurance option, a surtax on the wealthy, and rebates that will cost drug companies more than $50 billion, the bill lacked a price tag. Democrats assure that they will be able to foot the rumored $1 trillion bill, with lawmakers making the decision to tax the wealthy up to 5.4 percent. President Obama approved the bill, saying in a statement, “The House proposal will begin the process of fixing what’s broken about our health-care system, reducing costs for all, building on what works, and covering an estimated 97 percent of all Americans. And by emphasizing prevention and wellness, it will also help improve the quality of health care for every American.”

The wave of violence in Mexico is becoming even more gruesome. Twelve bodies of federal police officers were found on the side of a remote highway in Michoacán, Mexico, with signs of torture. The ambushed officers were apparently killed execution style, with single shots to the head. The killings are the latest in violence spurred by President Felipe Calderón's declaration of war on the drug cartels in 2006, which has since led to the deaths of almost 10,000 people. In the past month, 13 other bodies have been found along the same stretch of highway, and 16 police officers were wounded over the weekend in Michoacán, with at least 32 people killed in the past few days.

This Bastille Day, the French celebrated their country in what is becoming a grim, albeit historically appropriate tradition: riots. Der Spiegel reports that at least 317 cars were torched yesterday in French cities despite the deployment of 10,000 police officers. Bastille-Day-eve violence has become traditional in France as disaffected young men seize the occasion to express anger at unemployment rates and failed policies toward ethnic minorities. The cars torched represented a seven percent increase over last year and police arrested almost double the number of protesters—240—despite a new law that has toughened punishments against rioters. Last night marked the third day of rioting in Lyon, and the second day of unrest in Paris, as people demonstrated against two unrelated incidents of alleged police brutality that took place on July 8.

The latest dispatch from Osama Bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al Zawahri, sounds more like a PBS pledge drive than a terrorist threat. Accusing the Pakistani government and the country's leading citizens of "lining up under the cross of the modern Crusade and competing for American bribes," al Zawahri called on supporters to send money to his terror group. "It is the individual duty of every Muslim in Pakistan to join the Mujahedeen, or at the very least, to support the Jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan with money," he said, according to the Associated Press. Al Qaeda has become dramatically more unpopular with the Pakistani public in recent months as a series of terror attacks against civilians have cost them support.

Could they be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome? At least nine survivors of shark attacks—many of whom lost limbs—have descended on Washington in one of the world's strangest lobbying jags, The Washington Post reports. The group, possibly the largest gathering of American shark-attack survivors to date, intends to press Congress to restrict fishing for sharks, including practices such as "finning" in which fisherman slice off a shark's fin and dump the carcass overboard. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature classified 32 percent of sharks and rays on the open ocean as "threatened" this year, and the loss of predators at the top of the pyramid could be devastating for ocean ecosystems. "We're seriously scarred... and some of us are missing limbs, and we have every right to hate sharks," one survivor said. "I think the message is: If we can see the value in saving sharks, everyone should."

This isn't like to quell England's debate over assisted suicide: conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife, Lady Joan, ended their lives at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, The Times of London reports. British authorities said they are investigating the Downes' deaths. The 85-year-old maestro, famous for his devotion to Prokofiev and above all to Verdi, had said that one of his few regrets was only conducting 25 of Verdi's 28 operas. At the time of his suicide, Downes was virtually blind and partially deaf, while his 74-year-old wife suffered from cancer. More than 100 Brits have traveled to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, in order to end their lives.

Sina Shiri, ISNA / AP Photo

Sad news out of Tehran Wednesday: a Caspian Airlines flight from Tehran to Yerevan in Armenia crashed near the city of Qazvin, killing everyone aboard, Reuters reports. Iranian state television said 150 people aboard the plane died, while a later ISNA news agency report put the number at 169—153 passengers and 16 crew members. The plane crashed 16 minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Big Brother is turning an eye to India. The Times of London reports that the world's second-most-populous country will issue cyberage biometric identity cards to all 1.2 billion of its citizens, millions of whom do not currently have any identity documents. At a total predicted cost of $4.9 billion, the ID cards will contain a chip imprinted with personal data, proof of identity such as fingerprint or iris scans, and possibly criminal records and credit histories. India's bureaucrats currently issue at least 20 proofs of identity, from driver's licenses to ration cards, but none are universally accepted, which makes moving from one state to another difficult, and possibly disastrous for the millions of poor relying on government handouts for survival. It will be hard to track everyone down, as only 7 percent of India's population is registered to pay income tax, and at least 60 government departments will need to cooperate.

Though Ted Kennedy could not be present for the vote, he must be proud to be chairman of the Senate health committee, which approved a $600-billion health care overhaul by a 13-10 vote. The bill requires all individuals to get health insurance, and would provide aid to families making up to four times the federal poverty level. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the House passed a $1.5 trillion plan.

It took six months, but Hillary Clinton is finally giving her first major address as Secretary of State on Wednesday. Politico reports that Clinton, in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, will promise that the U.S. will "remain clear-eyed about our purpose," and warn opponents that they "should never see America's willingness to talk as a sign of weakness to be exploited." She also sets out the administration's foreign-policy priorities, which include preventing nuclear proliferation; isolating terrorists and reaching out to Muslims; facilitating peace in the Middle East; pursuing global economic recovery; combating climate change; and defending human rights.

Perhaps he also got some tattoos? The Wall Street Journal reports that Bernard Madoff hired a prison coach to prep him for life behind bars at a medium-security penitentiary in North Carolina, and the coach tells The Wall Street Journal that his new digs will be a welcome improvement over the Manhattan jail where he was previously housed. Still, it's not going to be all fun and games. Another prison coach warns that Madoff can expect ample harassment due to the intense media coverage surrounding his legendary Ponzi scheme. The coach adds that there is a real possibility of inmates being paid by Madoff's victims to "intimidate" the 71-year-old swindler.