Watch out, AIG: Andrew Cuomo’s on your tail. The New York attorney general announced this afternoon the insurance giant hasn’t given him the information he sought about its $165 million in bonuses, and he’s issuing subpoenas for the data. Cuomo had set a 4 p.m. deadline for the information on payments to AIG’s money-hemorrhaging financial products unit, which were sent out Friday. “I believe in transparency and disclosure,” he said on a conference call. “We believe taxpayers have a right to know.” Bailout king AIG is doling out the bonuses over the objections of the Obama administration, claiming it is bound by contracts. But Cuomo says that because the company received federal bailout money, it must consider what’s best for taxpayers: “You could argue that if taxpayers hadn’t bailed out A.I.G., the contracts wouldn’t be worth the paper they were signed on,” he said.

The bonus backlash is official. For the second day, the Obama administration has attacked AIG, the insurance giant propped up with government bailout funds, for issuing $165 million in bonuses to executives who oversaw the company's crisis. At the White House this afternoon, Obama called it an "outrage" and promised to "pursue every legal avenue" to rescind the payouts. "This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed," he said. "This isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values." Obama's remarks, coming on the heels of Larry Summers' comment that AIG's actions are "most outrageous," present the president with an opportunity to side with Main Street.

In addition to the economic crisis, the White House is now facing a growing storm along the lines of a crisis in confidence. The New York Times reports this morning that the administration is "increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street" that, if successful, could hinder President Obama's agenda. "There's a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point. This has been welling up for a long time," senior adviser David Axelrod said. With PR disasters sprouting up every week—like AIG using bailout funds to pay for executive bonuses—there is also the question of whether Obama's notorious "cool style," as the Times puts it, "will prove effective when the country may be feeling more emotional." As Obama's pollster explained: "There's unquestionably a strong populist surge out there. It's been brewing for close to four years."

This will please Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Mohammed Khatami, a liberal former president of Iran, will exit the presidential race to bolster the chances of Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister and reformist candidate. The BBC reports, however, that Khatami’s exit boosts Ahmadinejad’s reelection campaign. Khatami served two terms before the hard-line Ahmadinejad came to power but was unable to push a reformist agenda through the country’s clerics. His entrance into the presidential race changed its tone, perhaps forcing Ahmadinejad, battered by a sinking economy, to adopt a warmer attitude toward the West and the Obama administration, but Mousavi’s decision to run raised fears that he and Khatami would splinter the liberal vote.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! To mark the occasion tomorrow, Obama will meet with Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. In recent days McGuinness has come under fire for his reaction to attacks by fringe Irish republican groups that have killed two British soldiers and a police officer. (He said only that the attacks “betrayed the political desires” of the Irish people.) The Irish leaders are expected to reassure the White House that Sinn Fein is united in its approach to the violence, while the White House will ask whether there are lessons to be learned from Northern Ireland that could be applied to another region of seemingly intractable conflict, the Middle East.

Another one bites the dust: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, with roots in the city going back nearly 150 years, will print its final issue tonight. The reasons for the paper’s collapse are familiar to anyone who follows news about the news—owner Hearst could not find a buyer for the P-I, which lost $14 million last year. Publisher Roger Oglesby told the newsroom, “These rotten economic conditions finally caught up with us.” A number of reporters drowned their sorrows with shots of whiskey and reflected on the end of an era. Starting tomorrow, the P-I will become a web-only news source, “a community platform” with bloggers and links to other sites. P-I competitor The Seattle Times lamented “the loss of a journalistic voice” but has admitted it is better poised to survive now that it’s no longer burdened by a joint operating agreement between the two papers.

At 95 pounds and 5 feet, 2 inches tall, the HRP-4C is the latest in unrealistic body standards. The Telegraph reports the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan has produced a humanoid robot programmed to mimic the movements of real-life fashion models. During her media debut, HRPC-4C struck poses and her manga-inspired face smiled and pouted according to commands transmitted via Bluetooth devices, although at times she mixed up her facial expressions, probably because the hail of camera shutters stymied her sound recognition sensors. At the hefty price of $1.97 million, the android is still more expensive than a flesh and blood model, which means Kate Moss won’t be out of a job just yet.

The paparazzi are still parked outside her house, but Lindsay Lohan is no longer a wanted woman. Judge Marsha Revel today recalled an arrest warrant for the erstwhile actress stemming from her May 2007 DUI and hit and run case. The Los Angeles judge said she issued the warrant after receiving a letter from an alcohol education program showing an “indication of some noncompliance” with her probation program. “There’s no indication of any dirty tests,” the judge said. “It was much ado about nothing,” said Lohan’s lawyer. The starlet, 22, must enroll in a new program by April 3.

We can drop the “alleged” before “daughter rapist” when describing Josef Fritzl now: The Austrian dungeon dad pleaded guilty to incest and “partially” guilty to rape today but denied enslaving his daughter or murdering their newborn baby through neglect. Flanked by six policemen, Fritzl concealed his face from cameras with a blue loose-leaf binder. According to the Associated Press, “Fritzl's lawyer will clarify which part of the rape charges he rejects during the closed-door part of the trial this week, said court spokesman Franz Cutka. In theory, Cutka said, Fritzl could plead guilty to the rape charge in general but dispute the prosecution's claims as to the degree of violence he used.”

Although most North Koreans live on $1,800 a year, leader Kim Jong-Il believes they ought to be able to try the world’s best foods, the BBC reports. To that end, he flew a team of chefs to Naples and Rome last year to learn to cook pizza and pasta, and Pyongyang now boasts its first pizza parlor, which imports its flour, butter, and cheese from Italy and has done a brisk business since opening in December. The restaurant may have been more than 10 years in the making: In 1997, Italian chef Ermanno Furlanis was flown to the country along with some authentic pizza ovens. But it’s unlikely most locals can afford to dine at the new pizza parlor—North Korea relies on international food aid to feed its people and is one of the world’s poorest countries.

"What if we in the press have gotten it wrong?" That's the premise of Noam Scheiber's lengthy profile of White House economic adviser Larry Summers, long criticized for his irrepressible bluntness. Scheiber argues that the criticism only worked to box in Summers, who has since softened his tone. He asks, "If the Obama administration fails to revive the economy, will it be because Summers is too influential over economic policy, or not influential enough?" It would be more logical, Scheiber writes, if the Obama administration would just allow Summers to exercise his acute "political touch" as the "single virtuoso performer" for economic matters. And for good reason: Summers and David Axelrod are "mutual fans" and he "remains close" with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

With the war in Iraq winding down, military planners are facing a question: What to do with all this equipment? The US is resolving the logistical nightmare of removing its gears of war by leaving much of it in "huge U.S. run warehouses across the Middle East," reports the Los Angeles Times. The assortment of vehicles and other equipment, such as tanks and armored vehicles, will be kept in storage "just in case" trouble starts brewing in the Middle East again. However, one of the countries expected to hang onto much of the equipment, Kuwait, isn't too keen on possibly serving as a staging ground for another conflict. Also, many of the armored Humvees and generators used by the US will be turned over to Iraqi security forces.

A secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross has been released detailing the Bush administration’s treatment of Al Qaeda captives in CIA prisons as “[constituting] torture,” which likely violates international law. The report claims prisoners were taken "to the verge of death and back": beaten, slammed head-first into walls, exposed to cold temperatures, and deprived of sleep and solid food for days. Although the report is hardly a surprise, it is the most definitive explanation and the first to use the word “torture” in a legal context, reports The Washington Post.

Iraqis have become much more optimistic since last March, according to a survey conducted by the BBC and ABC News. No longer are Iraqis as concerned about security issues such as bombs and kidnappings. Now they are more preoccupied with (surprise) jobs and the economy. Overall, 85 percent said their "security situation was very good," an increase of 23 percent from last year. Also, the number of people who had been the victim of violence related to the war diminished. As expected, there is a pronounced difference in Sunni and Shiite opinions. Interestingly, in the past the Sunni minority has consistently been more pessimistic than Shiites, yet the latest poll finds "a pronounced shift in Sunni opinion towards a more optimistic view."

Has a new cottage industry of “layoff etiquette” been born? In a column for The Big Money, Megan Hustard lays out the basics of the workplace goodbye email: “The standard goodbye e-mail is a model of outstanding impulse control, especially considering the nonstandard circumstances that surround many leave-takings today. … But the parting note that offers nothing but affirmation to (now-former) employer and employees seems ill suited to 2009—and more bloodless than it needs to be. Have we collectively grown so skittish that even those with legitimate grievances won't give voice to their dissatisfaction?”

Hold the conjugal visits: Bernard Madoff might soon have company in prison. The New York Post reports, “Federal investigators are ‘working around the clock’ to freeze the assets of mega-fraudster Bernie Madoff's wife, fearing she will try to flee the country or stash the nearly $93 million in her name beyond their reach.” Says a source: “The US attorneys will be in court in the next week or so to tell a judge that they believe Mrs. Madoff's assets are derived from ill-gotten gains and that they should be frozen for a certain period of time while the investigation is ongoing.”

Stop your HBO cancellation—there’s a fantastic new reason to pay for what you find illegally online. David Chase, creator of the long-running, critically acclaimed series The Sopranos, has signed on to develop a miniseries for the network. Named A Ribbon of Dreams, the plot follows two men—a cowboy and mechanical engineer—who become producers in 1913 during the infancy of Hollywood. The show will span the rise of silent films up to the present day as the characters interact with D.W. Griffith, John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Billy Wilder. Let the casting calls begin.

Lest you think the Palins are the chattiest family this side of Wasilla, Levi Johnston donned his best pouty face for Good Morning America to explain his public breakup with Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol. The 19-year-old Johnston said, “I'd like to get back together with her. I don't know what she's thinking.” When asked if they were civil, he replied, “Yeah. For the most part.” Their son, Tripp, was born on Dec. 27, and the parents ended their engagement in the past month. Levi also offered the words of wisdom: “Whatever happens, happens.” Too true, Levi, too true.

No news here: 2008 was rough on billionaires. The Forbes billionaires list shed 400 people between 2007 and 2008, with the total of 793 making the cut. The combined wealth of the list was halved, from $4 trillion to $2 trillion. Amid this dismal report, however, a few billionaires were able to increase their wealth, including Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, and John Paulson.

Radio host Don Imus took a break from talking politics and sports this morning to reveal that he has Stage 2 prostate cancer. "The day you find out is fine," the 68-year-old said. "But the next morning when you get up, your knees are shaking. I didn't think I could make it to work." Imus, who was booted from his MSNBC morning gig in 2007 for racist comments, said stress may have been a cause. He and his wife run the Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer.

For those who miss the old-timer versus new-timer feuds, have we got an odd one for you. At this year’s Grammy Awards, Miley Cyrus apparently requested a backstage meeting with quintessential “rock gods” Radiohead. When lead singer Thom Yorke and company refused, the pop star dissed them on a radio show with her verbal cunning, saying, “I’m gonna ruin them, I’m gonna tell everyone,” and calling them “stinkin’ Radiohead!” Little did the real-life Disney princess know that insults are not the way to anyone’s heart. Radiohead's spokesperson issued a cutting response, saying, “When Miley grows up, she’ll learn not to have a sense of entitlement.”

Every time you think the scandal surrounding Rod Blagojevich couldn't get worse, it does. Page Six reports that a forthcoming book by a former Blago adviser depicts the deposed Illinois governor as ruder, more cavalier, and even greedier than previously reported in the national media. Among Blago's offenses: Showing up so late for the funeral of a "beloved" state senator that then-Lt. Gov Pat Quinn had to step in to present the ceremonial flag to the pol's grieving widow; cursing out reporters who dared ask why he needed $5800 state-financed plane trips every day when the legislature was in session; and being so brazen with his 'pay for play' tactics that, somewhere, Boss Tweed is blushing.

Not to sour the eve of your St. Patrick's Day, but: Gaelic is now on the endangered list of languages, with only 30,000 fluent speakers left in the world. A recent study claims half of the world’s 7,000 languages may disappear by 2100, and UNESCO has created an extensive list of those endangered, categorizing more than 2,400 as at risk of extinction. Language extinction is largely tied to the advent of agriculture—as hunter-gatherers joined together, their smaller languages were wiped out. Some dialects are a shame to lose: Tofa, spoken in Siberia, allowed speakers to describe with a single word, "a two-year-old male, un-castrated, ridable reindeer."

Sure, over the last few decades, British filmmakers have made a handful of pictures in India—think Gandhi, A Passage to India, and Octopussy—but now India is crawling with British auteurs, The Times of London reports. Directors are already trying to make and fund at least 10 projects. Last year, the UK and Indian governments signed a treaty encouraging filmmakers from each country to work in the other, although Indian filmmakers have juicier incentives to film in the UK than vice versa. Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, which employed Indian settings and, revolutionarily, Indian actors, may also have helped popularize India as a film destination.

Who says bailouts are bad for business? One day after AIG revealed it still planned to pay bonuses to executives in the divisions where its crisis originated, the insurance giant disclosed that about two-thirds of its $160 billion bailout has been used to pay trading partners like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Speaking yesterday on ABC’s This Week, Lawrence Summers, the White House’s top economic adviser, said that, of everything that’s happened this financial crisis, “what's happened at AIG is the most outrageous.”

Europeans often make fun of Americans’ litigious ways, but it turns out those ways can sometimes be useful: Cherie Blair, wife of Tony, will represent two British city councils in a class action lawsuit in American courts seeking hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation against the Royal Bank of Scotland, The Times of London reports. The two towns invested a combined $5.6 billion of their pension funds in the doomed RBS. The lawsuit is open to all European and US investors in RBS, and names the entire board of directors as defendants. The court papers filed in New York accuse former chief executive Fred Goodwin of "hubris" for his disastrous strategies and claim that the firm "falsely reassured" investors that the tanking bank was doing well when it was "effectively insolvent."

After the recent Will Forte-led “MacGruber” SNL skits, this seemed inevitable: The popular MacGyver TV series, which ran from 1985 to 1992 and starred TV cult hero Richard Dean Anderson, is set for a revival on the big screen. Although no script is written, New Line is backing the project, with Dino de Laurentiis set to executive produce through his daughter’s production company. “We think we're a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise," said one New Line rep. Patty and Selma Bouvier are surely pleased.

Actor, radio personality, and political activist Ron Silver died on Sunday morning after a two-year battle with esophageal cancer, the New York Post reports. Silver's public and stage personas have long been intertwined: On television's The West Wing, Silver played a firebrand policy wonk that switched parties. In his public life, the New Yorker was once a self-described lifelong Democrat, going so far as to help found liberal-leaning non-profit Creative Coalition in 1989—only to ditch the far left for the radical right shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Silver spoke in President Bush's favor at the 2004 Republican National Convention. His last public appearance was an October 2008 appearance on Larry King Live where Silver acknowledged Bush's shortcomings and spoke against the Reagan Revolution.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s downfall was hastened by his dismissal of the country’s chief justice of the supreme court. Coming under similar pressure, current President Asif Ali Zardari has reinstated Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to the court in order to quash a challenge to his rule by rival Nawaz Sharif. There was widespread violence yesterday in Lahore, where Sharif led a protest by opposition parties. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called both Zardari and Sharif over the weekend to urge reconciliation.

Sayanora, Tzipi? According to the Associated Press, Likud has inked its first coalition deal with the far-right Israel Beiteinu Party. Under the deal, Israel Beiteinu’s lightning-rod leader, Avigdor Lieberman, who believes the country’s Arabs should have to take loyalty oaths, will replace Tzipi Livni as Israel’s foreign minister. The agreement includes a provision, however, that both sides are willing to welcome the moderate Kadima Party into the coalition, under which circumstances Livni might remain foreign minister.

Mere hours after Beverly Hills Police told OK Magazine they expected actress Lindsay Lohan to turn herself in on a day-old warrant related to her 2007 DUI, the young starlet's lawyer told the Associated Press that her client will do no such thing. In fact, LiLo plans to skip her court date on Monday. The 22-year-old's lawyer will appear on her behalf to explain how the new warrant is part of a big misunderstanding. Lohan is currently serving a 3-year probation for a pair of arrests related to a drunk driving incident. Possible reasons for issuing a warrant on a person serving a probation like Lindsay's include failing a drug test or missing appointments with probation officers. In 2007 the actress pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine, no contest to two counts of driving with a BAC over .08 percent, and one count of reckless driving, the Associated Press reports. If she violated her probation, Lohan could face up to a four years and 90 days in jail.