A bank doesn’t necessarily have to be corrupt and insolvent to receive government money these days: G-20 leaders pledged $1.1 trillion in financing today to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and “declared a crackdown on tax havens and hedge funds,” according to the Associated Press The latter measure, which will create a supervisory body to monitor the global financial system, was immediately seized as a victory by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "There were moments of tension," Sarkozy said. "Never would we have thought to get as big an agreement." Angela Merkel of Germany, meanwhile, called it “a very ,very good, almost historic compromise.” There was, however, no progress on Barack Obama’s and Gordon Brown’s number one priority: international stimulus spending.

Upbeat economic news from China and interest rate cuts in Europe helped the Dow Jones rise just north of the 8,000 mark today, crossing that threshold for the first time since February 10, before ultimately closing at 7,978. The index has risen 21 percent over the past four weeks, its best four-week rally when each week has finished in positive territory since May 1933. Industrial and transportation stocks led the way—Caterpillar surged 10 percent and the Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 8.6 percent. In early-morning Friday training, Asian stocks appeared poised to continue the surge.

Is North Korea trying to distract and intimidate the G-20? Pyongyang appears to be preparing for a satellite launch this Saturday, according to a Pentagon official. But Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu counters that North Korea is fronting what is actually a long-range rocket launch. If North Korea moves forward with the launch, Japan has put the UN Security Council on alert for an emergency meeting. "We must be clear and firm," Takasu said.

Governor Sarah Palin called upon Senator Mark Begich to step down from his post and run in a special election after the Justice Department dropped corruption charges against former Senator Ted Stevens. Begich, a Democrat, won Stevens’ seat in 2008, in a race that was dominated by news of Stevens’ October conviction. The Republican Party chairman of Alaska, Randy Ruedrich, first called for Begich to resign. “The only reason Mark Begich won the election in November is because a few thousand Alaskans thought that Sen. Ted Stevens was guilty of seven felonies,” he said in a statement. When asked by a reporter in an email what she thought of the Ruedrich’s demand, Palin wrote, “I absolutely agree.” Begich released a statement saying he will not be stepping down.

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch predict the employment report to be released by the government on Friday will show the largest monthly job loss to hit the country in 60 years. The grim forecast sees the economy shedding 688,000 jobs in March, a number not matched in size since October 1949, when a national steelworkers strike cut payrolls by 834,000. It would be the first time since recordkeeping began in 1939 that payrolls declined by more than 0.4% for five months in row. Even if the U.S. economy begins growing again in the June quarter, as some economists predict, unemployment could continue to rise for many months thereafter. "The U.S. labor market continues to melt down as companies scramble to adjust their head counts in the face of a deepening economic slump that is among the most serious downturns in the postwar period," wrote Meny Grauman, an economist for CIBC World Markets.

Charged with racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud, two extortion counts and making false statements (just to name a few), former governor Rod Blagojevich was indicted on 19 counts by a federal grand jury this afternoon, along with his brother, two former aides and two businessmen. The indictment replaces a criminal complaint filed against the disgraced pol on December 9 when FBI agents arrested him at his home, charging him with attempting to sell his senate seat. Blagojevich was not in Chicago at the time of the indictment, but at Disney World with his family. He has maintained his innocence since his arrest.

Maurice “Hank” Greenberg presided over AIG as CEO for 38 years until 2005, so this is rather galling: "I don't feel any responsibility at all" Greenberg told The Wall Street Journal "How can I be responsible for something that occurred when I'm not there?" Greenberg is testifying today before Congress in his first public appearance since the government’s first rescue of AIG in September. Greenberg also told the Journal that the government’s rescue effort has failed and said it should reduce its stake in the company from 80 percent to 15 percent in order to attract private capital. His reasons, however, for advocating this should be regarded with a raised eyebrow: Greenberg “remains a major shareholder in AIG” and “controls a company that is AIG’s largest private shareholder.”

The death toll for American soldiers in Iraq dived to single-digits last month with only nine soldiers killed, marking the lowest number of casualties since the invasion in 2003. In the war’s worst month, November 2004, 137 U.S. troops were killed as the army attempted to occupy Fallujah. The drop in fatalities suggests the success of the military “surge” strategy. When the surge was just beginning, in spring 2007, 330 troops died in three months. But since then the monthly death toll has dropped dramatically. Since the start of the war, 4,263 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq.

Who's the last person you'd expect to see any near a domestic violence awareness campaign? Chris Brown, the 19-year-old singer facing charges for beating up his girlfriend, Rihanna. Brown was seen casually playing an unimpressive game of basketball at the University of Mary Washington on Tuesday—right in the middle of the school's anti-domestic violence campaign. "I had the courage to go up and ask for a hug," said one sophomore. Organizers of White Ribbon Week handed out fliers as he played.

One year ago, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut was aspiring to the presidency. Now, he’s holding on for his political life. A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows Dodd trailing former Representative Rob Simmons, a possible Republican challenger, 50-34. Only three in ten voters have a favorable opinion of Dodd, including just 50 percent of Democrats. Ben Smith at Politico suggests President Obama save the Democratic seat while letting Dodd save face by offering him a high-profile appointment. He suggests Ambassador to Mexico, which could work, given Dodd’s habit of showing off his Spanish during the presidential campaign.

A film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged has frequently discussed—Faye Dunaway and Clint Eastwood were once considered for the leading roles—but has the financial crisis inspired filmmakers to finally bring it to the silver screen? Producers are arranging a production of Ayn Rand’s classic pro-capitalist novel. “This couldn’t be more timely,” said Karen Baldwin, a producer, whose Baldwin Entertainment would join with Lionsgate and Ryan Kavanaugh's Relatively Media in order to finance the film with a budget of about $50 million. Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron, among others, have expressed interest in playing female railroad executive and Objectivist extraordinaire Dagny Taggart.

When Sergeant Ryan Weemer applied to be a part of the Secret Service, his background check unearthed something unexpected: a murder confession. While undergoing a polygraph tests, Weemer was asked about the most serious crime he had ever committed. "We went into this house, there happened to be four or five guys in the house. We ended up shooting them, we had to," Weemer said about his time in Fallujah in 2004, when 10,000 U.S. troops stormed the city. He said they hadn't had time to take the men to a detention center because of the deadly house-to-house fighting. Weemer is facing court martial for unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in California. A week ago, a U.S. soldier was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his part in the execution of four Iraqi prisoners in 2007.

Fans love ten-time Grammy winner Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat King Cole, so much that they're offering her their kidneys . Last night Cole told Larry King that both her kidneys had failed after chemotherapy for Hepatitis C, which she contracted during her well publicized battle with drugs in the 1980s. Cole also said that she faced a lifetime of dialysis and that none of her family was a match to donate a kidney. Less than ten minutes into the interview, King received dozens of emails from fans offering to be tested to see if they were able to give Cole their kidneys. Now that's dedication.

Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is done writing forever, the Guardian reports. His last novel, Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores, came out five years ago to mixed reviews. Last December the Colombian author told fans at the Guadalajara book fair that writing tired him because "it's a lot of work." Garcia's agent told a Chilean newspaper that he'd laid down his pen. His biographer agreed, but noted that it wasn't tragic, "because as a writer it was his destiny to have the immense satisfaction of having a totally coherent literary career many years before the end of his natural life." The 82-year-old Garcia is rumored to possess a number of older completed manuscripts.

An unbelievable story from the world of crime: William M. Jenkins was shot through the stomach and back on Oct 21, 1960 during a gang scuffle in Spanish Harlem, and the 49-year-old incident is now blamed for his recent death. Wheelchair Willie, as he became known, died two weeks ago from complications caused by the gunshot wounds, which arose when a member of a rival gang insulted another's mother. Despite occurring over four dozen years ago, Jenkins' death was ruled a homicide and is part of New York's 2009 statistics for murders, writes The Times. George Lemus, one of the brothers imprisoned for the crime, will not face new charges. The injury didn't stop Willie's wayward behavior: the ne'er do well was arrested four times between 1971 and 1991 for attempted murder and robbery from his wheelchair.

The G-20 summit in London took a tragic turn last night as police who were trying to help a dying man came under attack from protestors. Police who arrived to help the man, found unconscious by a civilian, were greeted with protestors throwing bottles at them. Once transported to a nearby hospital, the victim, reportedly in his 30s, was pronounced dead. Ninety people were arrested during the first day of the summit.

President Obama’s got his hands full in London, and now Israel’s newly sworn in government is piling more on his plate. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman—he of the hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu Party—said today that Israel will ignore the fast-tracked Israeli-Palestinian peace process, known as the Annapolis plan for the summit held there in 2007. Instead, he said, Israel will follow the guidelines set down by the “road map,” sponsored by the Bush administration in 2002, which lays out clear, specific goals required for a Palestinian state. Lieberman has been criticized by Palestinian officials for his positions on Israeli-Palestinian matters; today Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel’s new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “does not believe in peace.”

France and Germany have joined forces in London at the Group of 20 summit and are threatening to abandon the global economic recovery deal if it doesn’t meet their specifications for tougher financial regulations. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel say they won’t budge on tax havens, hedge fund regulation, banker pay caps, and several other financial regulations. “The crisis didn’t spontaneously erupt in Europe, did it?” Sarkozy asked, suggesting that Europe would not be taking orders from the U.S. on financial matters. Sarkozy warned earlier of his intentions to walk out of the summit if his demands were ignored, but with Merkel on his side the threat carries much more weight. Earlier Wednesday, British Prime Minister Brown spoke of the agreement being “within hours.” President Obama had a threat of his own: “If there’s going to be renewed growth it can’t just be the United States as the engine,” he said. “Everybody is going to have to pick up the pace.”

Out of sight, out of mind? While President Obama was in London on Wednesday, Congress roundly rejected his plan to fast-track a bill that would launch a carbon emissions cap-and-trade program. The Senate passed an amendment, 67-31, barring Congress from forcing the cap-and-trade through during the budget “reconciliation” period, when bills need only a majority to pass. The law would set a limit on carbon emissions and provide financial disincentives to increasing pollution. The amendment isn’t binding on a final House-Senate agreement, but senators say it means the window has closed for climate change legislation to be pushed through during the budget reconciliation process. Some say the bill will never pass, now that it’s missed its chance; a gleeful Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the vote “slammed the door shut” on cap-and-trade law.

The same immigration judge who ordered President Obama’s Kenyan aunt deported twice before now says Zeituni Onyango can remain in the United States until February, when her case will be heard again. Onyango, half-sister of Obama’s deceased father, applied for asylum in 2002, citing political violence in Kenya. She was first ordered deported in 2003, and when her appeals failed, she was again ordered to leave the country in 2004. Defying the order, she continued living in public housing in South Boston, not attracting much attention until a few weeks before the presidential election, when news of her illegal residency broke. The then-senator claimed he didn’t know his aunt was living in the country illegally, but activists against illegal immigration were outraged, saying she wasn’t deported because she was related to Obama.

President Obama has already ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan since taking office, but according to General David Petraeus, commanders on the ground are asking for up to 10,000 more to aid in the fight against Taliban forces. "If you assume there is an insurgency throughout the country," General Petraeus told a Senate panel yesterday, "you need more forces." Underscoring the threat the insurgents pose, a group of four Taliban suicide bombers led a sophisticated attack on a government office in Kandahar yesterday, killing 13. If the additional 10,000 troops are approved for Afghanistan, a move Obama has been hesitant to sign off on, total forces would increase to 78,000 next year.

Looks like reality TV is even more dramatic when the cameras aren’t rolling: Project Runway, the cutthroat fashion reality program that pits wannabe designers against each another, has finally extricated itself from a yearlong legal deadlock that left loyal viewers bereft. The show’s sixth season will air this summer on Lifetime, the cable channel for women, and leave Bravo, which is owned by NBC Universal. NBC sued the show’s producer, The Weinstein Company, when it announced it would be moving the popular show, but Weinsteins countersued, saying NBC didn’t properly promote the show’s fifth season. Not to be outdone, Lifetime sued both parties. The Weinstein Company will now have to pay NBC for moving the show, and Lifetime will also be home to spinoff shows Models of the Runway and Project Pygmalion.