President Obama met with 15 of the nation's top banking CEOs at the White House this afternoon as he tried to seek common ground after his administration's recent bank bailout moves and outrage about bonuses. "The basic message is we're all in this together," John Stumpf, the CEO of Wells Fargo, said afterward. "We're trying to do the right thing for America." The meeting was designed to forge public-private ties during the economic crisis. "This is about our duty to do everything we can to support a robust and sustained economic expansion and the reality that the country's major financial institutions have a major role to play," economic adviser Larry Summers explained.

Levees along the Red River are cracking from the pressure of a record 40-foot crest, leaving 92,000 people in Fargo, North Dakota plus towns in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba under threat. The White House has responded by dispatching FEMA's active head, Nancy Ward, to the area. President Obama has also been in touch with the governors of North Dakota and Minnesota, press secretary Robert Gibbs said today. Fargo is in danger of being swallowed by a flood as the nearby Red River rises to 40.3 feet, breaking the 1897 record of 40.10 feet and smashing through the 22-foot flood stage. National Guard officers have been piling sandbags along the river in subfreezing temperatures to help citizens avoid having to evacuate their homes.

When it comes to bailouts, America's attention has recently favored Wall Street—but worry not, Detroit, you'll get yours soon. On Friday President Obama's auto task force reached "final stages" in deliberation on how to deal with GM and Chrysler, reports the New York Times, and it looks like America's car companies will be getting more bailout cash, but with strings attached. Combined, GM and Chrysler have already received $17.4 billion. Administration officials say they will consider GM's and Chrysler's new financial requests separately from one another; GM would like $16.6 billion more, whereas Chrysler wants $5 billion. The task force is likely to establish short deadlines—"weeks rather than months"—for Detroit's new bailout-related tasks. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted that the auto industry's problems are formidable: "How do these companies get through the global recession that sees a great decrease in demand for the product? And how, when we emerge from recession to recovery, how do we have a sustainable path?"

President Obama is doubling down in Afghanistan, declaring the situation there as "increasingly perilous." Formally announcing a plan reported yesterday, the president—with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates—at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building this morning said that the U.S. would boost funding of its mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan by about 60 percent. Also on the way: an additional 4,000 troops plus benchmarks. "We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future," Obama said. "That is the goal that must be achieved." He also warned militants there: "We will defeat you."

Have a couple thousand solid gold bars lying around? The mansion owned by Aaron Spelling, veteran television producer of Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty, and Beverly Hills 90210, is up for sale in the ultra-posh Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles for $150 million. The mansion has—wait for it—56,500 square feet, around 100 rooms (they lost count) and is a stone’s throw away from Hef and his bunnies at the Playboy Mansion. A waterfall, movie theater, and bowling alley are all, naturally, included. Possibly loony widow Candy Spelling says she chose her real estate agent after watching Madison, her dog, react to each candidate.

Guatemalan security forces uncovered and broke up a training camp for drug smugglers on Friday. Reuters reports that two commanders of Los Zetas—the armed protector/assassins of Mexico's Gulf cartel—and 37 trainees fled when Guatemala's police and army descended on the compound. Among Zeta's abandoned loot were "500 grenades, six rifles, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition," reports Reuters. The camp had an airstrip, an obstacle course, and shooting ranges for moving targets. In a twist startlingly reminiscent of training camps promoting another international threat—terrorism—the police chief of Quiche, Guatemala explained that the camp recruited young men, who it would train in weapon use and instruct to lie about their occupations.

The trial may be over, but the controversy will likely continue. George Tiller, the Kansas doctor currently in the spotlight and on the stand for performing late-term abortions, was acquitted this afternoon on charges that he did not seek a proper second opinion before completing some procedures in 2003. He faced a year in jail for each charge. However, the state medical board lodged a complaint against him immediately after the trial—the consequences of which could revoke, suspend, or limit his medical license.

You might want to pause before ordering a refill on your child’s prescription. A federal study released today evaluates the long-term use of ADHD and hyperactivity medication, and there is widespread evidence that they’re not as helpful as once thought. The findings show that while medications including Adderall and Concerta are useful in the short term, they prove ineffective over 24 months, and children who took the drugs for 36 months were about an inch shorter than those who did not, reports The Washington Post. Further troubling: Some psychologists tried to explain away the results to avoid embarrassment because the original study, published in 1999, hailed the drugs as wholly positive and led to a sharp rise in the drug’s popularity at time when ADHD diagnoses were becoming more common.

Looking for a job? Pack up your things and move to Nebraska: It is the only state, according to new data, to escape a rising unemployment rate in February. Michigan still leads the pack in unemployment, with a rate of 12 percent. Oregon, North Carolina, California, Rhode Island, and Nevada also have double-digit unemployment rates. Both North Carolina’s and Oregon’s rates rose a full one percent, and New Jersey’s rose 0.9 percent. The causes differ from state to state: Michigan, Rhode Island, and the Carolinas are reliant on the sluggish manufacturing industry; California and Nevada rely on construction, whose decline has, in turn, crippled the timber industry in Oregon.

Big box office sales don’t always mean high quality, and according to critics, when Monsters vs. Aliens opens nationwide this weekend, we’ll see that disparity firsthand. While it features the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Rudd, Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert says it’s gimmicky imagery masks a lack of plot. “I suppose kids will like this movie, especially those below the age of reason,” he writes. “Their parents may not be as amused, and if they have several children, may ask themselves how much it was worth for the kids to wear the glasses.”

Double-digit unemployment rates in a handful of states and lower income levels across the country didn't stop consumers from increasing their spending in February for the second month in a row. As personal income slipped 0.2 percent, consumption rose 0.2 percent. The boosts in spending during the first two months of this year come after six months of declines in 2008. "It is too early to bet on a consumer renaissance, because consumers are still facing severe headwinds from declining employment and reduced wealth, but the worst appears to be behind us," one analyst hoped. The savings rate, meanwhile, remained above 4 percent.

Geoffrey Rush gives a "knockout portrayal" of King Berenger in a new adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s famous “Exit the King.” Susan Sarandon beautifully evokes Queen Marguerite, and New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley finds many contemporary parallels in the characters’ march toward death. “Watching him is like staring at one of Goya’s more savage caricatures,” Brantley writes of Rush. “At first you’re amused, fascinated and repelled. But the longer you look, the more human the image becomes until finally, you realize with a shudder, it has turned into a mirror.”

"We gave him everything, we thought he was God, we trusted everything in his hands," Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel said last month of being a victim of ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. Wiesel's loss of $7 million led to an outpouring of unsolicited support from admirers of the Holocaust survivor and of his charity, The Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Two alumni of Boston University, where Wiesel has taught for over 30 years, launched an email campaign that they hope will spur one million people to donate $6 each, in honor of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust. The Wiesels have also received two $100,000 gifts from long-time donors, one donation of $10,000, and a few $5,000 donations. "It's been very wonderful and reassuring in a way," said Wiesel's wife, Marion.

The Associated Press is reporting that a suicide attack in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least 48 people. The attack was in the town of Jamrud, along the Afghan border. So far, 23 people have been reported injured. The mosque was reportedly packed for Friday prayers, and the death toll will likely rise as rescuers clear the rubble.

R. Allen Stanford’s number two is changing his tune: Bloomberg reports that James Davis, the chief financial officer of Stanford Financial Group, is “devastated,” according to his lawyer. “He’s absolutely devastated, because he knows a lot of good people got hurt,” his lawyer said. The good news? “Jim is fully and actively cooperating, and trying to get investors who lost their money some help.” Davis met with SEC investigators yesterday, after having previously claimed protection under the Fifth Amendment. The SEC sued Davis last month for orchestrating a “massive ongoing fraud,” but his lawyer is now claiming that “he was the one who blew the whistle and brought the house of cards down.”

Despite concerns in Malawi about Madonna's newly single status, it looks as if her bid to adopt a second child will be successful. "The adoption is going ahead," said Malawi's director of Child Welfare Services. Madonna adopted her first Malawian baby, David, in 2008 and has said that she wants him to have a Malawian brother or sister. She has set her sights on Mercy, a 3-year-old who, unlike David (whose Malawian father is alive) is an orphan. The pop star's rep, Liz Rosenberg, has yet to comment, but a court date is scheduled for March 30th in Malawi, and Madonna is rumored to have arrived there today.

Here’s an Obama event that we can safely assume will not be televised, for a change: The President will meet with top bankers today to discuss “regulatory reform, risks to the financial system and executive bonuses,” according to Reuters. The meeting is part of the administration’s campaign to reach out to financial executives in order to ensure their participation in its rescue efforts. According to a White House official, Obama will “reiterate his belief that getting the economy back on track will require an understanding that each of us must look beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other in order for America to succeed."

It's not news that current White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel sat on the board of Freddie Mac for 14 months beginning in 2000, earning $320,000. What hasn't been reported much before is what he did—or didn't do—during his tenure. The Chicago Tribune alleges in a new report that the power broker was "asleep-at-the-switch." The paper claims he "benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation's current economic mess." Though the board met just six times a year, they were notified "by executives of a plan to use accounting tricks to mislead shareholders about outsize profits the government-chartered firm was then reaping from risky investments." The claims of Emanuel's negligence have become key talking points of right-wing bloggers, according to CBS News.

Shaquille O'Neal is speaking the truth about Twitter: "It's 140 characters. It's so few characters. If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you." O'Neal must have a lot of pity to spread around, then: The New York Times reports that celebrities like 50 Cent, Kanye West, Britney Spears and politicians like Barack Obama and Ron Paul all rely on teams of personal assistants to ghostwrite their tweets. Says 50 Cent's ghostwriter Chris Romero, "He doesn't actually use Twitter, but the energy of it is all him."

North Korea’s preparation of a missile launch is already making the world uneasy, and now The Washington Post reports on an even more unsettling possibility: “what makes this launch particularly worrying is the increasing possibility—as assessed by U.S. intelligence and some independent experts—that [North Korea] has built or is attempting to build nuclear warheads small enough to fit atop its growing number of missiles.” Some experts think the country is capable already of a short to mid-range missile that can hit Japan, but is still years away from a long-range missile that can hit the U.S. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, “Japan on Friday ordered its military to prepare to intercept any dangerous debris that might fall on its territory if a missile launch planned by Pyongyang goes wrong.”

In order to demonstrate that it is not the “Party of No,” the GOP released an 18-page outline of an alternative to President Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget, which White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs complained “took me several minutes to read.” Blogger Ezra Klein uses italics to point out what may be a problem with the proposal: “The Republican budget proposal does not say how much money they would raise, or spend.” He continues, “This is not a budget. It talks about balancing the budget but doesn't explain how. It advocates tax cuts but doesn't estimate their costs. It promises to cut programs but doesn't name them.”

Bats have always terrified humans; now, are humans terrorizing bats? In New England and Virginia, 500,000 bats have died from "white-nose syndrome," which people spread when they enter caves. The disease is a white fungus on the nose and wings of hibernating bats, which causes them to eat through their winter fat before spring. A moratorium has been placed on caving as a result, which has "recreational cavers" up in arms. The good news: people can't catch white nose.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio 'Lula' da Silva promised to make international economic policy “spicy,” and he is already delivering: With British Prime Minister Gordon Brown standing beside him at a press appearance in Brasilia on Thursday, Lula blamed the recession on the West’s “blue-eyed bankers.” The Guardian relayed Lula's statements: “This crisis was caused by no black man or woman or by no indigenous person or by no poor person. This crisis was fostered and boosted by irrational behavior of some people that are white, blue-eyed. Before the crisis they looked like they knew everything about economics, and they have demonstrated they know nothing about economics.” When questioners pressed the president for details, he replied, “I only record what I see in the press. I am not acquainted with a single black banker.” Lula then drew reality television (or maybe just closed-circuit cameras) into his argument against America’s financial practices: “You go to the shopping mall and you are filmed. You go to the airport and you are watched. I can’t imagine that only the financial system has no surveillance at all.”  According to The Guardian, Brown “looked mildly uncomfortable” during Lula’s rants.

Not every stock market is a pit of human despair: The Times of London reports that Baghdad's stock market is poised to experience a “Big Bang” as it computerizes. Currently open two hours a day, three days a week, the Baghdad stock market is already up 30 percent this year, and automation, which will reduce the time trades take from two weeks to a few minutes, is expected to boost sales. The market's cheapest stock is one-half a dinar, a fraction of a penny, and its most expensive is 100 dinars, or 9 cents. The chief executive of the Iraqi stock exchange hopes to increase trading from six hours a week to 24 hours a day.

Bill Kristol has more lives than a cat. The former New York Times columnist has started a new think tank, The Foreign Policy Initiative, with fellow neocon commentator Robert Kagan. The organization's stated principles include a rejection of isolationism, opposition to rogue regimes, and support for human rights, a strong military, and international economic engagement. The organization will kick things off next week with a conference on Afghanistan strategy featuring, of course, John McCain.

Need some new artwork for the mantle? According to The New York Times, 13 paintings that may be by Adolf Hitler will be sold at auction in Britain in April. “The artworks, which include a possible self-portrait, would have been made when he was a struggling artist in Vienna, vying unsuccessfully to gain entrance to its Academy of Arts before he fought in World War I. The auction house Mullock’s, which is conducting the sale, said that the paintings are by Hitler and are likely to fetch roughly $580 to $1,448 dollars each.”

While it’s probably true that you’ve never heard of Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, a honeytrap scandal is almost too good to pass up: According to The Independent, the Australian defense department is investigating Fitzgibbon's relationship with Chinese-born businessman Helen Liu, who is reportedly in contact with senior Chinese officials. She also paid for Fitzgibbon to take trips to Beijing and Shanghai in 2002 and 2005, which he failed to disclose until recently. Fitzgibbon contends that Liu has been a close family friend for 16 years and that the charges are retaliation for the major defense department reforms he's instituting. Defense officials are investigating media reports that the department spied on Liu and the Fitzgibbon family and then leaked information to the media.

Though a piddling sum when compared to Ponzi artist Bernie Madoff's multi-million dollar homes and lavish lifestyle, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee gave $100,000 in Madoff contributions back to a trustee appointed with the task of liquidating Madoff's assets and using the money to compensate his victims. According to the New York Times' The Caucus blog, Bernie and wife Ruth gave nearly $240,000 to "federal candidates, parties and committees since 1991, with 88 percent of that going to Democrats." Among Bernie's favorites were Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York—who donated $30K in Madoff family contributions to Madoff victims' trustee—and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut—who gave $1,500 to the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor, is one of Madoff's most outspoken victims.