Pirates actually are friendly—to each other. A hijacked German freighter was on its way early Saturday to help the four comrades currently holding hostage American ship captain Richard Phillips. How much do Somali pirates want in exchange for the release of Phillips? A cool $2 million, an onshore pirate told Reuters on Friday. "Knowing that the Americans will not destroy this German ship and its foreign crew, [the pirates] hope they can meet their friends on the lifeboat," the pirate said. Phillips has been held on a small lifeboat in the Indian Ocean since surrendering himself to spare his crew. He attempted to escape this morning but was quickly recaptured. A U.S. naval destroyer is nearby and aiding in negotiations and another American ship is on its way, but the pirates say they'll fight if attacked and are now threatening to kill Phillips, according to some reports.

Mother Nature appears very angry. A tornado touched down in Tennessee today, killing two and injuring at least 30, reports the Associated Press. The deaths occurred in Murfreesboro, a town of 100,500 located about 30 miles southeast of Nashville. Another tornado made a brief touchdown in southwestern Kentucky and injured two people. One 23-year-old student who survived the storm said, “I was going to open the door to see what was going on and I looked straight at a tornado.” Dozens of roofs were blown off homes by the 136 mph winds.

There will never be good news for Bernie Madoff, but this is an especially tough blow for the incarcerated schemer. A federal judge in Manhattan overruled the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday and will now allow Madoff to be forced into personal bankruptcy by his investors. Judge Louis L. Stanton (likely a savior in the eyes of many) removed the roadblock, saying that the benefits of protecting Madoff’s victims outweighed the time and cost expense, writes The New York Times. Hedge funds may also be able to recoup their losses and pay back their own investors. The SEC preferred to obtain Madoff’s assets through criminal forfeiture laws, but Judge Stanton felt bankruptcy would be more effective.

With most attention on the Navy's maneuverings in the Indian Ocean, the war in Iraq claimed the lives of five more Americans today. A massive suicide truck bomb hit outside the headquarters of the Iraqi police in Mosul, killing five troops, two Iraqi security service personnel, and wounding over 60 people. It was the worst attack on American forces in 13 months. Thursday was the sixth anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein's regime.

President Obama says "we've still got a lot of work to do" to rid the economy of "severe stress," but he's increasingly optimistic. "What you're starting to see is glimmers of hope across the economy," he told reporters after meeting with his economic team, including Lawrence Summers, Sheila Bair, Tim Geithner, and Ben Bernanke. The president cited new demand for mortgages and refinancing and touted growth in small business loans. The news is welcome news for economists, who have upgraded their opinion of Obama and Geithner in a recent Wall Street Journal survey.

The New School, the university in New York City, was overtaken by students this morning in a mass protest against college president Bob Kerrey. The confrontation was so heated that police in full riot gear stormed the building on Fifth Avenue to arrest 19 protesters for trespassing. Police described the incident as "orderly" but students claim pepper spray was used to round up demonstrators. According to City Room, the students have listed the resignation of three top officials, including Kerrey, among their eight demands.

Better late than never? The president of Arizona State University, Michael M. Crow, says he may award President Obama that honorary degree after all. The controversial decision to withhold an honorary degree from the president, who will be speaking at the university’s commencement, was not an “intended slight,” Crow told Politico. “We had not yet talked about what honors we might give him as our commencement speaker, and we still have a month to work all that out,” he continued. A Chinese official, a Canadian politician, an aloe-vera magnate, and a number of donors have been awarded ASU honorary degrees in the past. “Because President Obama’s body of work is yet to come, it’s inappropriate to recognize him at this time,” a spokesman for the university said Tuesday.

It’s hard to have girl power when you're surrounded by men. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a symposium at Ohio State University she is sick of being the only woman on the Supreme Court. "It's lonely for me, not that I don't love all my colleagues. I do," she said. Since Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired in 2006, she said she's felt lonesome at her job and also mentioned that women bring an important perspective to the job that her male colleagues can't provide. Ginsburg also wonders what the gender imbalance must look like to outsiders: "There I am all alone, and it doesn't look right." The 76-year-old justice, who was appointed by President Clinton in 1993, recently had surgery for pancreatic cancer. She is widely predicted to be the next on the bench to retire, though she says she’d like to have a 20-year run.

Former rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hosted their first meeting yesterday since his return from Europe … at the White House playground. Dayo Olopade, reporter for The Root, snapped a photo of the duo as she toured Michelle Obama’s new White House garden. She writes, “Striding out from the West Wing, the two seemed thick as thieves—smiling, Secretary Clinton casually swung her leg over the bench on the east side of the playground, and the president grinned and waved to gawking reporters and staff as he sat down across from her.”

Newly single Lindsay Lohan isn't twiddling her thumbs at home watching Lifetime. She's back hitting the clubs—three of them in one night, to be precise. The 22-year-old actress, who was recently dumped and bullied by DJ Samantha Ronson, was spotted partying at in Beverly Hills with her hair dyed back to its trademark red. Lohan stopped by the Chateau Marmont, Teddy's, and Bar Deluxe, before going home and throwing eggs at photographers. "She refused to get out of the car because she didn't want to be photographed," a witness told Us Weekly.

If only you could Google to find out how to compete with Google. There's a reason all of its competitors are flailing. Yahoo and Microsoft have long flirted with a partnership, with on and off talks. Now, the discussion is definitely on, according to Kara Swisher. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz went so far as to meet Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer face-to-face last week to discuss a possible deal for search and advertising. "With Google's huge market share, these two need to work together and the problems they had should be put in the past," said one insider.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin can't catch a break—from Levi Johnston or the Senate Democrats in her state legislature, who just rejected her second choice to fill Juneau's open senate seat. Nine Democrats said no to Joe Nelson today—a week after overriding appointee Tim Grussendorf. Palin has until April 20 to make another selection.

Not another teen movie? 17 Again features High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron as a younger version of Matthew Perry in what Variety is calling "a tale of fatherly redemption in teen-comedy drag." The film is peppered with "credibility-stretching coincidences" and a lackluster Perry doesn't exactly work as Efron's older self, according to the review. Leslie Mann, however, shines in a "thankless second-banana role" as Efron/Perry's wife. Efron, the "parent-approved sex symbol," is sure to please the teenage ladies in multiple shirtless basketball scenes. The movie premieres today in the UK and opens next Friday in the U.S.

Want to know how Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and other banks are faring? Too bad. The Federal Reserve has asked financial institutions not to disclose results of the so-called "stress test" used to determine their viability. The fear is the results—due out later this month—would negatively impact stock prices. "If you allow banks to talk about it, people are just going to assume that the ones that don't comment about it failed," explained one analyst.

Banks and retail outlets are starting to generate some cause for hope among investors and markets are in rally mode as a result, but given the last few months, everyone is going to be looking over their shoulder for some time. "I think this is all setting us up for a new low," the chief U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase, told The New York Times "It's not like I'm praying for it to happen, but it's pretty much expected." On Thursday, stocks surged after Wells Fargo, one of the country's top banks, reported record profits, and the market has gained for five straight weeks. All of this is little comfort to those losing their jobs—unemployment, now 8.5%, has yet to turn around and some experts are predicting it to leap to over 10% by year's end. While not promising a quick recovery, Obama advisor Larry Summers recently predicted that the economy would at least not be in "free fall" a few months from now.

Obama, are you listening? The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, says he won't eat until the Congress passes his bill granting indigenous groups more political power. Morales, who is the country's first indigenous president, wants to set up special indigenous electoral districts where Indian groups are in the minority. This move would make it easier for the populist statesman to get re-elected for a second term. A new constitution that passed in January with a 60 percent majority has already granted more rights to indigenous groups. But political tensions run deep in this often-unstable country, especially between the poorer, indigenous majority and the wealthier, mestizo minority. An opposition senator said the hunger strike is "blackmail" intended to intimidate the legislative branch into cowing to the executive.

How does one avoid being prosecuted for torture? Well, the obvious route is to not torture people. Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe's henchmen, however, are trying the less intuitive path of abducting and torturing officials and activist in the opposition party, whose rise to power through elections threaten Mugabe's authoritarian government. According to The New York Times, Mugabe's thugs are afraid that if the country moves further towards democracy, they will be indicted for their violent ways. As a result, they're hoping to extract dubious confessions of planning a coup from opposition leaders who might run the next government, hoping they can later use their words as leverage to get amnesty for their life of crime.

The Iraq War and the war on terror continue to be linked. In his first British interview since taking over General Petraeus' old job, Army General Ray Odierno said the military may need to ignore Obama's Iraq withdrawal deadline if we are to keep al-Qaeda at bay. The president has promised a complete removal of combat troops by August 2010, in part to help shift America's military focus to Afghanistan; the final decision on keeping or rejecting US troops will lie with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But Odierno says that new conflict in Iraqi Kurdistan and threats from Iranian militants lead him to believe the nation remains in a critical state. Odierno—who long directed day-to-day combat missions and whose son lost an arm in Iraq—said the cities of Mosul and Baqubah are most at risk for al-Qaeda resurgence. This comment—particularly in a British forum—holds particular sway on the heels of the announcement that authorities narrowly defeated an al-Qaeda operation aimed at killing Brits on Easter Sunday. Of military operations in Iraq, Odierno said, "We can't allow politics, we can't allow pride, we can't allow ego to cause violence to occur when you can solve a problem with dialogue."

In October, the Treasury Department forced the Goldman Sachs Group to accept $10 billion in bailout money as part of a scheme to give the nation's largest banks money whether they wanted it or not in order to shore up the financial system. Now that the stock markets have risen for five consecutive weeks and Goldman stock is trading at its highest level since October, the company wants to repay its bailout money in order to get out of the various restrictions attached to the cash. The Wall Street Journal reports that Goldman is considering making "a multibillion-dollar offering of its shares to investors" in order to fund the payback. Privately, Goldman executives have said the firm doesn't need the additional funds, but that they believe a privately funded payback would signal stronger financial health.

Trouble in paradise? Fiji's president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, assumed control of the island's government today after abolishing the country's 1997 constitution. Iloilo also announced the country would next hold elections in 2014 and fired the country's top judges who, 24 hours earlier, had ruled that the military government of armed forces chief Frank Bainimarama was illegal. Bainimarama, who took power in a 2006 coup, said he'd relinquish the prime minister's post but that the armed forces would continue to enforce security. Observers said that Iloilo's annoucement seemed like it had been orchastrated by Bainimarama.

Here's your quote of the day, unlikely to be surpassed: “"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there.” So fumed Polish politician Michal Grzes, a conservative councillor in the city of Ponzan. The elephant in question, Ninio, “prefers male companions and will probably not procreate,” according to Reuters. But instead of being gay, Ninio might just be young and confused: “The head of the Ponzan zoo said 10-year-old Ninio may be too young to decide whether he prefers males or females as elephants only reach sexual maturity at 14.”

He may have opposed Iraq during his days as a senator, but President Obama is pushing to spend more money there and in Afghanistan. A new supplemental spending bill, which the Associated Press reports Obama will introduce soon, will seek $83.4 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill will include a $7 billion in foreign aid, including $1.8 billion for Pakistan, a "key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda." The White House will push for the bill to land on President Obama's desk by Memorial Day, say sources, and will pay for Obama's recently announced strategy in Afghanistan, which will require an increased troop presence.

This can't go on much longer. Time is running out for the Somali pirates holding Virginia Captain Richard Phillips hostage, as their rations are dwindling and options are narrowing by the day. And just this morning comes news that Phillips tried to escape the lifeboat but was recaptured. So how will it end? The pirates are demanding a ransom from the U.S.—which the government most likely won't pay. A nearby U.S. naval destroyer is nearby and aiding in negotiations, and another American ship is on its way, but the pirates say they'll fight if attacked. There's a potential threat of pirate reinforcements coming in as well, but the American destroyers will most likely thwart any additional pirates heading to the ship. The pirates' best hope might be negotiating their safe passage back to Somalia in exchange for the hostage, but even that prospect looks dim given the Navy's superior position.

Want to help California close its budget deficit? See a Sinbad movie. The Associated Press reports that comedian Sinbad Adkins and singer Dionne Warwick are among California's ten worst tax debtors. Sinbad owes $2.5 million, while Warwick owes $2.2 million. To get their names off the list, the celebrities will either have to pay up or agree to an installment plan to make steps towards settling their debt to the state. Pursuant to California tax code, the state's Franchise Tax Board publishes a list of its top 250 "delinquent taxpayers" every year. Topping this year's list? One Winson T. Lee of Lafayette, CA, accused of owing the state nearly $10 million.

Obama became the first U.S. president to personally host a White House Seder dinner yesterday. Friends and family of the Obamas attended, but not everyone was pleased. According to White House emails accidentally distributed to the press, Jewish leaders from the Washington area called to find out why they were not invited. Neither senior advisor David Axelrod nor White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel attended.

Quentin Tarantino might be busy finishing his film, Inglorious Basterds, but is anyone really too busy to stop by American Idol? The Oscar winning filmmaker will coach contestants on their movie-themed performances for next Tuesday's episode, HitFix reports. The whole shebang happens on the five-year anniversary of his guest judge stint for Movies Night in season three of the reality show. Tarantino made waves with his excessive praise that night, as he called Fantasia "da bomb," and claimed Jennifer Hudson could outsing Whitney Huston.