Try to contain your enthusiasm if you were starting to feel optimistic about the economy. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sounded hesitant to celebrate at a meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central bank leaders in Washington yesterday, saying, "We are right to feel somewhat encouraged, but we would be wrong to conclude that we are close to emerging from the darkness that descended on the global economy early last fall.” While some measures of spending in the U.S. appear to be stabilizing, it would be wrong to confuse the slowing of the deterioration of the economy with the beginning of a recovery, Geithner said. He also called for governments to continue with a unified stance and “keep at implementing our shared agenda,” which were comments in line with those made at last month’s G-20 summit.

President Obama’s anti-drug efforts could be drastically stepped up in the coming months. The Pentagon is working on a $350 million initiative that would give the president the power to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help wage the war on drugs. The plan is meant to give Obama more flexibility in responding to drug-related violence, which has escalated in recent months and threatened to spill over the border. Critics say the plan doesn’t provide for enough oversight, unlike the existing $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, a State Department program that fights drug trafficking in Mexico and Central America. The Pentagon tucked the plan into a supplemental budget request sent to Congress last month.

Should Norm Coleman be taking notes? Democrat Scott Murphy has won Kirsten Gillibrand's former seat in New York’s Congress after Republican James Tedisco conceded this afternoon. The race was too close to call on election night nearly a month ago, but a recount showed Murphy’s lead expanding. The heated special election race began after Gillibrand left to fill Hillary Clinton’s seat in the U.S. Senate. Murphy’s district has more than 196,000 registered Republicans and 125,000 Democrats.

Time will tell if this is a tactical retreat or a response to government threats. A spokesman for the Taliban says they are withdrawing from their position only 62 miles from the capital of Pakistan after occupying the town for a few days. The Taliban already control key areas of the country, where the government has allowed them to use Sharia law in a peace accord that drew fire from the U.S. government, but their recent aggressive push toward the capital frightened residents. Previously, a spokesman for the Taliban said they had crossed Swat into Buner, a town very close to Islamabad, as "a gesture of solidarity" with friends in the region, and were not leaving. The Pakistani government made clear this week that they would use force to drive the militants out.

It has the ring of the mid-nineties, doesn’t it? Al Gore and Newt Gingrich are facing off over a major climate and energy bill today before the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee. Al Gore called the bill "one of the most important pieces of legislation ever introduced in the Congress,” and compared it to the civil-rights legislation of the 1960s and the Marshall Plan of the 1940s. Gingrich, who was added to the lineup late yesterday at the request of Republicans, said "It is ridiculous to believe that we are going to eliminate 83 percent of carbon use with current technologies. … This is the strategy imposed in the bill and it is a fantasy. Nothing in this bill leads to the level of breakthrough that you need to reduce carbon not only here at home but also reduce carbon generated by China and India."

Things are about to get ugly. Congressional Democrats are finishing a budget plan that will almost certainly protect their proposed health care reforms from filibusters—a move Republicans are already preparing to counter-attack. White House and congressional leaders are planning to use the "reconciliation" process on the health care bill, which means it only needs a Senate majority to pass and cannot be blocked by filibuster. Republicans say they'll fight back with their own procedural maneuvers: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned President Obama on Thursday that the reconciliation tool will cause trouble in Congress.

Next card in the crappy hand fate’s been dealing us as of late? Deadly swine flu. “A deadly strain of flu never seen before has killed as many as 68 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where several people were reported ill,” reports the Associated Press. Designated H1N1, the virus has infected at least seven people in California and Texas, and all have recovered. “Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.” Mexico has close to 1,000 suspected cases.

More bad news for banks and consumers: Four additional regional banks failed on Friday, bringing the tally for this year up to a whopping 29. In comparison, only 25 banks went broke during all of 2008. First Bank of Beverly Hills is the fourth bank in California to fail this year, and will cost the FDIC $394 million, while American Southern Bank's deposits were sold to the Bank of North Georgia at a cost of $41.9 million for the FDIC. Level One Bank will take over $151.7 million in deposits and assets of the now-defunct Michigan Heritage Bank. The Obama administration is releasing the full version of its "stress tests" of major banks on May 4, but the Federal Reserve reports that, at least for now, many of the 19 large banks have enough capital to survive.

Looking for a summer vacation home? The Iraqi government is renting out executed former leader Saddam Hussein’s villa in the French Riviera. A government spokesman said they decided to rent instead of sell it due to the fall in real estate prices. Hussein ruled Iraq from 1979 until 2003 when the U.S. toppled the brutal regime and was hanged in 2006. In the past, the government failed to sell Hussein's 82-metre yacht, which was tricked out with swimming pools, a mosque, and (not surprisingly) a missile launcher.

Congratulations Connor Mulcahey, you just won a place in the tech hall of fame! The 13-year-old from Connecticut downloaded the billionth application for the iPhone today, winning tens of thousands of dollars in Apple hardware and software. Mulcahey downloaded a free application called Bump, which lets iPhone users exchange contact info by bumping fists. Apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch have soared in popularity—the company has launched over 35,000 since first offering them nine months ago. Apple makes 30 cents for each application sold, the same rate they rake in from recording artists.

She may not be Miss USA, but controversial Sarah Prejean is certainly Miss GOP. When Prejean, Miss California, said that “marriage should be between a man and a woman,” during the Miss USA competition on Sunday, she was booed and ignited a war with Perez Hilton, but the Republican Party immediately embraced her. An Alabama state legislator has introduced a resolution praising her. “There’s a lot of people cheering you tonight that you stood on your principles, that you put the principles above winning,” Sean Hannity told her when she appeared on his show. “Not enough people do that. And I admire you a lot for it.”

Most people didn’t know what “bird strike” meant before US Airways Flight 1549 crashed in the Hudson in January, but now the FAA has released thousands of records detailing the scary phenomenon—inspired, strangely enough, by President Obama’s release of the CIA memos. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote on his blog that he released the records because the White House recently released controversial CIA interrogation memos, something he never dreamed would happen before. "But, if CIA information like that can see the light of day, there is a new paradigm, and making bird-strike reports available should certainly be a part of that new paradigm," he wrote. The report noted that bird strikes have doubled since 2000 at major airports.

Since her dad’s failed Presidential bid, Meghan McCain’s been busy talking about the Republican Party. And she’s been anything but censored—writing recently on Twitter: “I would have made a horrible first daughter. Can you imagine my impulsive, free spirited ass in the white house?” But now, Sen. John McCain is speaking out about his daughter’s candor. “I love and respect my daughter, and I appreciate the fact that she brings fresh views and ideas and we need that in our party," he said this morning on CNN. “We don’t always agree, and sometimes we have spirited discussions, and that is good in families."

Three weeks after their split hit the tabloids, Lindsay Lohan was spotted at Samantha Ronson’s house yesterday afternoon. Ronson apparently returned the visit and was photographed leaving Lohan’s home at 6 a.m this morning. These not-so-secret visits come after Ronson’s return from vacation with a friend in Oahu and Lohan’s appearance on Ellen, where she expressed a desire to stay single for now. “Sam texted Lindsay from Hawaii and said she missed her,” a source said. In another fascinating twist, Ronson has recently switched her Facebook relationship status to “It’s Complicated.” Yes, yes it is.

Who says there's a housing slump? Mitt Romney has sold two of his family’s four mansions this month. Earlier in April, he sold his family’s ski home in Deer Valley Resort, Utah to race-car driver Hal Prewitt. The home was 6,400 square feet and listed at $5.25 million. Then, this week, he sold the family’s Boston home—also 6,400 square feet with six bedrooms, 6.5 baths, a heated pool, and a clay tennis court—for $3.5 million. Bruce Reed at Slate comments, “Romney is the Madonna of American politics, constantly reinventing himself to meet the demands of a new era.”

The Soloist, a film about a newspaperman’s relationship with a homeless musician, is sentimental but not maudlin, according to the New York Times’s Manohla Dargis. While Jamie Foxx seems “uncomfortable” with his role as the vagrant genius, Robert Downey Jr. offers a “darkly shaded, nuanced performance” that “deepens the film.” Directed by Joe Wright of Atonement fame, the movie explores social inequalities without indulging in “lofty symbolism”—though be prepared for a few dramatic shots of flying pigeons.

The deluge of torture news in recent days may have left you at something of a loss. As a remedy, Foreign Policy has assembled a useful timeline, “the ultimate guide to the Bush administration’s journey to the dark side.” Key dates: The CIA first “lays plans for secret overseas prisons and special interrogations” only six days after September 11. On July 17, 2002, Condoleezza Rice green lights the CIA’s interrogation of Abu Zubayda, a top Al Qaeda operative. That same month, Attorney General John Ashcroft concluded waterboarding is lawful, and Jay Bybee, then the head of the Office of Legal Council and now a federal judge, says waterboarding is legal. On August 1, 2002, John Yoo writes the “Bybee Memo,” which says that only pain equivalent to “organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death” is torture. That same month, Zubayda is waterboarded 80 times.

Fans have noisily begged Simon Cowell to not makeover Susan Boyle, but the singing Scotswoman seems to have gone ahead and made over herself. Boyle had her hair tamed and dyed chestnut, her eyebrows plucked, had a facial, put on new makeup, and exchanged her dead-bride-like gown for a pair of red high heels, trousers, a Burberry-inspired scarf, and the same leather jacket in which she was spotted the other day.

The images from Abu Ghraib may have just been the tip of the iceberg of photographs depicting U.S. soldiers' abuse of war-on-terror detainees. On the heels of its controversial release of torture memos, the Obama administration has now agreed to make public more photos of alleged abuse at U.S. prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 44 photos, which will be released in the coming weeks, are said to be not as shocking as the ones taken at Abu Ghraib, but they include images of U.S. service members intimidating detainees at gunpoint. The Obama administration will also release tapes from detainee interrogations and more reports on prisoner abuse. According to an ACLU lawyer, the photos "will constitute visual proof that, unlike the Bush administration's claim, the abuse was not confined to Abu Ghraib and was not aberrational.”

The moment of truth: “After a two-month wait, the nation’s 19 largest banks will start learning on Friday how they fared in important federal examinations—and which among them will need another bailout from the government or private investors,” reports The New York Times. The government will disclose how it performed the tests this afternoon, but not publicly release the results until May 4. “Analysts are already betting that the stress tests will show that banks need to raise significant amounts of new capital, as profits made in the first three months of the year give way to more losses, tied to credit card, commercial real estate and corporate loans”—up to $1 trillion, by one estimate. Both Bank of America and Citigroup are among those expected to need more capital.

The battered body of Eva Rhodes has been found in Hungary, The Times of London reports. Rhodes, 65, was a former model who once appeared in a film by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the 1960s. Eight months ago she disappeared from the Puss in Boots Animal Trust in Hungary, a shelter that she started 12 years ago with her savings. The police have arrested a coworker who apparently admitted to the killing. The 30-year-old man said he argued with Rhodes about his pay on September 10, the day she vanished. He also admitted to hitting her on the head, stealing money and her laptop, and attempting to burn her body. When it rained, he buried what was left of her. Rhodes' sister angrily called the police investigation "a joke; at first they refused to accept they even needed to investigate."

And then there was one. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is going to have to wait a little longer to see if she can officially join President Obama’s cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Republicans refused to vote on the nominee after heated and ongoing debate. Sebelius has drawn fire for her support for abortion rights and failure to report all campaign contributions from physicians who perform abortions. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said her “fairly contentious” selection merited more time for consideration, while RNC chair Michael Steele said she must answer more questions on late-term abortions or withdraw. A spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Democrats will pursue avenues to break a Republican filibuster if necessary, and that they'll push for a vote next week. Sebelius, a moderate, is the last of Obama's cabinet members awaiting confirmation.

One of the Big Three lay in jeopardy on Thursday night: After the New York Times reported that the Treasury Department was preparing Chrysler for chapter 11 bankruptcy, the troubled company's lenders started work on a new offer to forgive a portion of its debts. Earlier in the week, Chrysler's lenders—which include J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Cerberus—offered to forgive $2.5 billion of the $6.9 billion Chrysler owes them, but the Treasury nixed the deal due to steep shareholding demands, and instead offered Chryslers' debtors 22 cents on the dollar and a 5-percent equity stake in the reorganized company. The deal fell apart, but Reuters reports the lenders are now preparing a counter-offer. Complicating Chrysler's intricate choreography of bankruptcy-avoidance measures is Italian automaker Fiat, where plans for an alliance with Chrysler are in the works. According to The New York Times, Fiat plans to forge ahead regardless of Chrysler's bankruptcy status. The government's deadline on Chrysler's reorganization plan is April 30.

Jay Leno checked himself into a hospital in Burbank after canceling Thursday's show last minute. No word on what ails Leno, but an NBC rep says he's doing fine: "He was kidding around with the hospital staff and running his monologue jokes by the doctors and the nurses." Leno, who is famous for his work ethic and never calls in sick, also cancelled his Friday show. Ryan Reynolds—and an animal handler and small menagerie of reptiles—were expected to appear on Thursday's show. It was the first time Leno canceled a taping since he took over the show in 1992.

Rod Blagojevich has mistaken "impeached", "indicted", and "bribery charges" for celebrity. Even though a judge has blocked his actual participation in the NBC reality series, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Blago is helping to promote the show. During a commercial shoot on Thursday, wind machines ruffled Blago's pompadour as he pretended to be on a parachute jump. He compared his plight to those of other Americans who "have lost their jobs and are seeking to rebuild their lives." When a bystander caught him ogling a bikini girl, Blago quipped "I'm a Clinton Democrat."

The Obama administration will ask the Supreme Court to overturn a long-standing law that stops police officers from asking questions unless a lawyer is present. To critics, the action represents the administration's steps to limit—rather than expand—civil rights. The Department of Justice says the law as it stands "serves no real purpose," and the court may decide as early as today whether they're willing to hear cases that involve police questioning.

Michelle Obama shared homey details about living in the White House during a Q-&-A session with the inquisitive children of White House staffers celebrating Take Your Child to Work Day. One child asked, “what would you do if something bad happened to a country?” “Well, first of all I'd wake my husband up if it were at night,” Michelle answered. “And I'd tell him, hey, buddy, you're the President, get down to the Oval Office and call some leaders.” Obama stressed that she loves her job because she doesn’t have to “deal with the hard problems,” just the “fun stuff.” (The only thing she doesn’t like to do? Run on a treadmill.) “I think I have actually one of the best jobs in the White House,” she said. She doesn’t miss cooking now that the family has a chef, and said she spends more time with the President than when he was on the campaign trail. “If I really need to see him, I can walk to his office, and, you know, cool stuff like that.” The first lady also revealed details on first puppy Bo: "He loves to chew on people's feet" and has a "crazy" temperament.

Two suicide bombings at the holiest Shiite site in Baghdad today killed 60 people. Most of the people killed were Iranians, making pilgrimage to the shrine, which honors one of the twelve imams of Shiite Islam. Thursday was the deadliest day in Iraq in over a year: five bombings in the last 24 hours have left a total of 140 dead and 240 wounded. "The security situation is still good, but there are some sleeper cells that are targeting the softer areas," an aide to the prime minister said of Baghdad. "They just want to send a message to the government and the world that they are still here."

Ford has announced $1.4 billion in first quarter losses--down from a net income of $70 million in 2008. But surprise! The announcement beat expectations. "Our results in the first quarter reflected the extremely difficult business environment and weak demand for autos around the world," CEO Alan Mulally said. Analysts had predicted a loss of $1.23 a share, but Ford posted only 60 cents a share in losses.

Bernard Madoff plead guilty in large part, it was speculated, to avoid giving up details about his Ponzi scheme. These details, however, may have found a new outlet: Frank DiPascali, Madoff’s chief deputy, Frank DiPascali, ran the floor in the Madoff headquarters where the scheme originated and now, according to Fortune, DiPascali “is willing to name names. … According to a person familiar with the matter, DiPascali has no evidence that other Madoff family members were participants in the fraud. However, he is prepared to testify that he manipulated phony returns on behalf of some key Madoff investors"