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The G-20 Finance Ministers spent the holiday weekend coming to agreement on the hotly debated topic of bankers’ bonuses. Instead of the formal cap on bonuses proposed by France and Germany, the officials drafted a proposal that rewards long-term success instead of short-term risk-taking, reports BBC News. This would also stop up-front cash bonuses, and they agreed more transparency was necessary. And while France and Germany wanted to talk “exit strategies” for their participation in the stimulus, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said such tactics would be a “serious mistake” that may cause a “downward lurch” in the economy. These talks are preparation for the G-20 summit held in Pittsburgh later this month.
President Barack Obama plans to reach out to Republicans and reassure Democrats in his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday on health-care reform. Obama will warn them that perfectionism could result in no bill at all, as happened in 1994, Politico reports. Top aides say Obama will lay out a "President's Plan," which will make clear what he considers on the table and what warrants further debate. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday that Obama will talk about the public option on Wednesday, which he considers a "valuable tool." Obama will not scold the left and will reassure them about his commitment to the public option. But Obama doesn't want to give the impression that health reform should only pass if it includes a government insurance plan. The speech is still being formed and the president has yet to decide if he'll include nitty-gritty legislative details in the address.
Tens of thousands of protesters, many clothed in white, marched through Venezuela's capital on Saturday to protest the recent arrests of at least 11 opposition demonstrators as well as a new education law that boosts the government's control over schools. "We have 11 years with the same faces, the same problems, and the truth is that we don't see any solutions," one protester said. Chavez also shut down dozens of radio stations last month, and more will be closed soon. A few thousand pro-Chavez protesters held a counter-protest denouncing Colombia's deal with the U.S. to provide the country with access to its military bases. Meanwhile, Chavez arrived in Tehran on Friday for a two-day visit to further his goal of decreasing U.S. influence in the region, he said.
The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, made an unprecedented television address in Afghanistan promising an open investigation into the recent NATO airstrike that killed dozens, including citizen bystanders. McChrystal has made winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people a centerpiece of his revamped strategy in Afghanistan, and the airstrike threatens to undermine that plan. "I take this possible loss of life or injury to innocent Afghans very seriously," he said in the address, which was aired in Dari and Pashtu, both official languages of the country. McChrystal then toured the site of the attack, and sent NATO officers to meet with the families of the victims on a fact-finding mission. Residents "wept and prayed beside dozens of graves of victims while Taliban fighters with rifles looked on," The Telegraph reports. "We will take revenge. A lot of innocent people were killed here," said one of the Taliban fighters. Afghan officials claim 70 lives were lost, but it's unclear how many were civilians.
Already on life support, bipartisan negotiations over health care may be at death's door as a key senator signaled to fellow lawmakers on Friday that he is close to advancing a bill with or without GOP support. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) told the Gang of Six, a group of three Republican and three Democratic senators working on a bill, that he would soon submit a detailed proposal to gauge whether the Republican half is beyond salvaging. “Senator Baucus made clear he intends to move forward with reform in the near future,” one aide told The New York Times. According to the Times, Baucus' proposal would cost under $900 billion over 10 years, subsidize health insurance for those with incomes up to three times the poverty level, and replace a proposed public-insurance plan with a private co-op instead.
Two great white sharks that were recently spotted off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts have been tagged by scientists, the second and third times the fierce creatures have ever been tagged in the Atlantic. Now, scientists can use satellite technology to track and record the sharks' travels, which will help them to better understand migratory patterns. Shark sightings are common off Cape Cod, but great whites are rarely spotted. Authorities closed beaches during the popular Labor Day weekend after the sightings, much to the disappointment of beachgoers. "I just wanted 10 more minutes because this is the warmest the water has been all summer, and I figured I was safe because I've been swimming in this water my whole life," said one disappointed local.
The L.A. County fire that blazed through 154,655 acres, killed two firefighters, and destroyed dozens of homes is now 42 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service reports. The fire began on August 26 and was caused by arson. The weather conditions—no winde, high humidity, and low temperatures—hav helped firefighters battle the blaze. The fire will most likely be fully contained by September 15. Governor Schwarzenegger has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist.
Is this Iraq, take two? Senate Democrats are warning the White House that further requests for troops in Afghanistan, which seem likely, will be met with resistance in Congress. So far, President Barack Obama has boosted troop levels by 21,000 as violence has spiked. Lawmakers say they are hoping that the Afghan army and police can be trained and equipped quickly enough to make the security situation their own problem. "There are a lot of ways to speed up the numbers and capabilities of the Afghan army and police. They are strongly motivated," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said from Kuwait. "I think that we should pursue that course... before we consider a further increase in combat forces beyond what's already been planned to be sent in the months ahead."
Departing from his usual health-care pitch, President Barack Obama turned instead to encouraging Americans to save for retirement in his Saturday radio and Internet address. Obama said that new government rules would make it easier for small businesses to automatically enroll employees into retirement accounts and 401(K) plans while allowing unused vacation and sick leave to be converted into retirement savings. "We have to revive this economy and rebuild it stronger than before," Obama said in the address. "And making sure that folks have the opportunity and incentive to save—for a home or college, for retirement or a rainy day—is essential to that effort."
A federal appeals court in California has roundly rejected a bid for absolute legal immunity for former Attorney General John Ashcroft, which will allow a Muslim man to sue Ashcroft for his detention in 2003. Abdullah al-Kidd, a U.S. citizen who was detained and then transported in shackles across three states for 16 days in 2003 as a material witness, will be allowed to continue his suit against Ashcroft, who said that, after the 9/11 attacks, authorities could use "aggressive detention of lawbreakers and material witnesses" to track down terrorists. The three-judge court called the material-witness abuse after 9/11 "repugnant to the Constitution and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history.” Al-Kidd argues Ashcroft should have known that the material-witness statute was being abused, as in his case. Ashcroft argued he had protection from lawsuits, which the three appellate judges, all appointed by conservative presidents, overturned. (One of the judges wrote a partial dissent.) Al-Kidd, a Muslim convert and former football player at the University of Idaho, was forced to live with his parents-in-law in Nevada and report to a probation officer for 15 months after his release.
Even in death, Michael Jackson couldn't avoid the glare of the limelight. Randy Jackson, the late pop star's brother, complained that despite the family's request for a private burial service, media helicopters disrupted the service. "I was dismayed last night and again today at the coverage I saw on television of our ceremony for Michael," Jackson said in a statement. "We had asked the media to respect the privacy and the sanctity of this event; to give us one moment of privacy to mourn as a family out of the public spotlight." About 200 friends and family gathered for the service at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale on Thursday. Jackson asked that the media cease airing the footage, and said the media helicopters "disrupted" the service.
Phillip Garrido, 58, stands accused of kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard when she was 11, raping her, fathering two daughters with her, and imprisoning her for 18 years. Now a 15-year acquaintance of Garrido has come forward saying the accused man recorded “love” songs with suggestive lyrics. While in prison for a 1976 kidnapping and rape charge, Garrido recorded songs with the lyrics: "For every little girl in the world, they want to be in love, yeah/ Please tell me that you want me." Garrido was in a rock band when he was a teenager living in Brentwood and wanted help getting the music released years ago to “let people hear the word of God in the way that he interpreted it.” Meanwhile, the case is causing California Republicans to take a look at the state’s parole system, which may soon be overhauled to reduce crowding in prisons but also relieve parole officers overburdened with cases.
Chinese Web sites have long been the Wild West of copyright law, allowing users to quickly dig up millions of illegally posted songs and movies. Now China's strict censorship laws could be used to bring its music sites in line: The government is launching an effort to require these sites to seek approval through official channels before they distribute any foreign songs on the Internet. According to The Wall Street Journal, China's ministry of culture says the move will help address "the intermingling of good and bad content" as well as a "lack of supervision and regulation over market behavior," such as copyright violations. Translation: You might have to actually pay for that copy of The Blueprint 3 next time.
Police have issued an arrest warrant a week after eight people were found dead in a mobile-home park in Georgia. Guy Heinze Jr., who called 911 last Saturday and screamed "My whole family's dead!", has been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. The 22-year-old was also charged with evidence tampering and drug possession just hours after the murders, but police did not say they suspected him of the homicides until Friday. Heinze's father was among the eight dead, which also included four older children and other members of an extended family. A ninth victim, a 3-year-old, remains in the hospital in critical condition.
A few years ago, no one could imagine that the future of the music business might hinge on a video game that reunites The Beatles. The highly-anticipated Sept. 9 release of The Beatles: Rock Band is a major part of the massive onslaught of Beatlemania to come. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison approved the video game, called a “grand, meticulous production meant to keep the flame burning and the profits soaring” by Richard Corliss in Time. But will “Love Me Do” revive the music video game industry, whose profits are down 46 percent this year? Reviews for the game are nothing but stellar so far. And for those less adept at handling a fake guitar, all 13 original Beatles LPs will soon be released in a remastered box set by Apple Corps/Capitol.
Perhaps they serve popcorn and candy in Hell, too. This month, Tucker Max—the 33-year-old boorish author of the mega-bestselling I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell—has embarked on a promotional tour for his upcoming film based on the book, and he's proving to be as gleefully despicable in person as he is on the page or on his blog. The film is about a bachelor party gone wrong, whose “protagonist lusts after married women, little people, and the disabled, who calls women every synonym for prostitute he knows and agonizes on screen through the effects of a laxative-laden beer," Dave Itzkoff writes in The New York Times. Following a sneak preview of the film in New York, one of 600 fans who attended asked Max what he should tell friends who detest him. “When you talk sense to a fool, they call you foolish,” he responded. “Don’t sweat it, dude.”
A former U.S. soldier who raped and murdered a 14-year-old girl while serving in Iraq will spend the rest of his life in prison. Steven Green, 24, was one of five soldiers who in 2006 played a part in holding down and raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi before killing her, her parents, and her younger sister at their family home in Mahmudiya, Iraq. Green was considered the ringleader and will serve five consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole. The Kentucky jury could not agree unanimously on his punishment and so he was spared the death penalty. The four other soldiers are also serving time for their roles in the crime. Green is the first ex-soldier to be charged under a U.S. law that allows prosecution for crimes committed overseas.
Someone ready the chopping block: It appears the White House is preparing to fire Van Jones, the green-job czar who is under fire for having signed a 9/11 truther petition in 2002. Robert Gibbs refused to say at a press conference Friday that Van Jones enjoys “the confidence of the president,” saying only that “he continues to work in this administration.” News surfaced this morning that suggests Jones was on the organizing committee of a 2002 march that made similar claims to that of the 9/11 truthers, who believe that President Bush may have deliberately taken down the Twin Towers in order to justify war in the Middle East.
The slumping economy is working to at least one group's benefit—criminals. In an effort to save money, more than two-dozen states cut their corrections budget this past year, leading to the early release of scores of prisoners and prompting officials to enact more forgiving mandatory-sentencing laws, accelerate parole proceedings, and increase rewards for good behavior. California, home to the country's second-largest prison system, is considering releasing 40,000 prisoners, both to save money and help reduce overcrowding. Many lawmakers, who've struggled to better manage the country's criminal-justice system for years, have expressed relief. "The budget has actually helped us," said a spokesman for Michigan's Corrections Department, which increased the size of its parole board by 50 percent this year. "When you're not having budget troubles, that's when we implemented many of these lengthy drug sentences and zero-tolerance policies [that] really didn't work," he said.
