More frightening swine flu news: At an emergency meeting today, the World Health Organization upped its pandemic alert level to Phase 4 from Phase 3—the first time the level has been above 3 since the system was adopted, in 2003. The designation doesn’t make a pandemic a foregone conclusion; it signifies that a “new virus can cause sustained outbreaks and is adapting itself to spread among humans,” ABC reports. In New York City, 20 additional cases of swine flu have been confirmed at a prep school, with 117 sick kids left to be tested and 42 cases in the U.S. in total. Mayor Michael Bloomberg cautions that the health of all the students is improving: “So far, we are not seeing a situation comparable to that being reported in Mexico.” South of the border, 150 are confirmed dead, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is announcing a new travel advisory for Americans visiting Mexico.

Is America going through some type of national therapy in which our leaders come clean about all our mistakes? Speaking today at a meeting of the world’s major polluters, Hillary Clinton openly acknowledged America’s role in causing climate change. The admission is aimed at drawing China and India, among others, to the negotiating table. (Many developing countries don’t want to impose stiff regulations when they feel industrialized nations bear most of the responsibility for global warming.) The secretary of state indicated she understood such sentiments: “Some countries like mine are responsible for past emissions. We want people to have a higher standard of living.” Clinton also said the U.S. will act as a global leader in the fight against climate change, emphasizing the upcoming environmental summit in Copenhagen is of equal importance to the economic summit in London held earlier this month.

GM is taking drastic measures to avoid—or rather, postpone the inevitiable—bankruptcy. The company announced this morning a new plan to restructure and rebrand, which includes laying off 23,000 employees, eliminating the Pontiac brand, closing several plants, and cutting their dealer network by 40 percent. GM, which owes $28 billion to bondholders, will now offer them to swap debt for company stock. The ailing company, which received a $15.4 billion loan from the government, is speeding up to reach its a June 1 deadline to restructure – but this its third attempt to reorganize in the last three months. Hopefully three time’s the charm.

The White House has issued an apology after a low-flying jumbo jetliner escorted by military jets gave Manhattan workers quite a scare this morning. The jet, which serves as Air Force One, was circling the area for a photo-op, but the government failed to inform the public: Traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange, which sits blocks from the World Trade Center site, bolted for the door, and several other area buildings were evacuated. The Wall Street Journal reports that one trader on the scene said a Nymex security official was "literally standing, holding his hands up in a calming gesture. Guys were running right past him." Workers returned to their buildings after it became clear the Air Force planned the flyover. In a written statement, the Air Force confirmed the "aerial photo mission" and an FAA spokesperson said the Air Force coordinated the maneuver with the FAA and state and local officials. Note to Air Force: Next time avoid panicking the public.

Don’t tune in to Fox at 8 p.m. Wednesday if you’re looking for the president’s press conference: The network is airing its drama Lie to Me instead. The conference will be shown on its sister sites, Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network, as well as ABC, CBS and NBC. Fox is the first major broadcast network to refuse one of the president’s requests for prime-time coverage, but hold off on the outrage for a minute: Each of the president’s live interruptions costs networks millions in advertising, and since Fox doesn’t have a dedicated news division, it is usually the least-watched channel when broadcasting live news. Fox has rejected request for prime time from previous presidents.

It looks like the alleged Craigslist killer has more than just legal troubles—he’s reportedly had to call off his wedding, too. The 23-year-old Boston University medical student was due to marry fiancée Megan McAllister in August, but a member of the wedding’s band (a Bruce Springsteen tribute band, no less) says McAllister called off the gig. Perhaps even worse, Philip Markoff owes more than $130,000 in student loans and can’t afford to hire a lawyer to defend him on charges of murdering a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist.

The swine flu outbreak is now hurting Hollywood: Twentieth Century Fox has been forced to postpone the Mexico City premiere of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which had been set for Wednesday. For those who’ve been under a rock the last day or two, the Mexican capital has ground to a halt, with nearly 2,000 hospitalized and 150 dead from the virus. The studio says it was concerned about star Hugh Jackman: “We were not only concerned about Hugh’s welfare—and we would never send anyone into harm’s way—but we also have an enormous office filled with people we care about,” a rep tells People. “There was no point in proceeding under the current conditions.”

Maybe the words "Taliban" and "peace talks" weren't meant to appear together, anyway? Amid the military offensive launched by the Pakistani government, (much to the approval of the U.S.) the Taliban has scrapped negotiations, calling the truce "worthless." Before the operation, which began this past weekend, the government had allowed the Taliban to institute Sharia law in certain territories provided they lay down their weapons. The uneasy agreement was shortlived. After the Taliban entered a province a mere 60 miles from Islamabad, the military retaliated. There is a massive exodus of civilians from the war zone as the army hunts down insurgents. The military claims it has killed 46 militants since the offensive began.

The day may be coming soon when there is a McDonalds on every corner in Havana. The U.S. and Cuba are planning an informal meeting in which diplomats will begin to take measure of the possibility of improving relations. One State Department official likened the momentum to engage the island nation to "a steamroller," and said the Obama administration is going to great lengths to weigh the political implications. The meeting will attempt to determine whether there is an opportunity for formal talks on issues such as "migration, drug trafficking and other regional security matters." There will also be discussions of possible cultural and academic exchanges. But, as is standard operating procedure with Cuba, diplomats are not overly optimistic. “This thing with Cuba is going to take a lot of time, and it may not work,” one official said.

Poor Gordon Brown just can't catch a break. On the plane flight to Pakistan, he told reporters that he'd be meeting with President Zardari, but upon his arrival he found that Zardari had slipped out of their joint press conference and sent the comparatively junior Pakistani Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani. The Times of London reports that Brown is visiting the region to discuss Britain's new strategy for dealing with terrorism threats on the Pakistani-Afghan border. While Downing Street tried to downplay reports that Zardari pulled out of the press conference at the last second to snub Brown, it's not the first time that something like this has happened. During Brown's first visit to the US, Obama also canceled his joint press conference with Brown at the last minute.

The Craigslist murder trial grows more scandalous: NBC News reports that a Boston professional who wished to remain anonymous due to fears that he might lose his job contacted alleged Craigslist killer Philip Markoff through the online site. According to the man, Markoff found him on the "casual encounters" thread under a "males for transsexuals" posting—Markoff was looking to meet "men who dress as women, with transsexuals," according to the anonymous source. Although Markoff and the man never met, during their ensuing email exchange the man claimed that Markoff addressed him as "babe" and sent explicit pictures of himself to the man from a Yahoo! address that other unnamed sources claimed was registered to "sexaddict5385"." Over the weekend, Markoff reportedly told his family, "There's more coming out ... Forget about me and move to California."

A sad day for enthusiasts of long-form journalism: Condé Nast has decided to fold its $100 million business magazine, Portfolio. This month, Portfolio published Condé Nast’s thinnest monthly magazine ever, despite having won a National Magazine Award and publishing pieces like Michael Lewis's autopsy of Wall Street and Joe McGinniss on Sarah Palin's struggles to build a pipeline in Alaska.  Condé Nast has also folded Domino and Golf for Women magazines to cope with the recession.

Has the apocalypse arrived in Mexico? Acapulco suffered a 6.0 magnitude earthquake today, as news broke that Mexico’s death toll from swine flu has risen to 149. New York City, reported, that its number of swine flu cases has risen to 208, with an additional 17 suspected cases.

President Obama said today that the swine flu merits concern but is “not a cause for alarm.” The World Health Organization, meanwhile, said that there are now 40 confirmed cases in the United States—none of which have been fatal. "But one thing is clear: Our capacity to deal with a public health challenge of this sort rests heavily on the work of our scientific and medical community," Obama said. "And this is one more example of why we cannot allow our nation to fall behind. "Other developments: The European Union has advised against nonessential travel to the United States. The acting head of the Center for Disease Control, said people should be prepared for “possibly deaths.”

North Korea's "Great Leader" line looks likely to continue, The Associated Press reports that Kim Jong-un, 26, the youngest son of leader Kim Jong-il, has been appointed to the powerful National Defense Commission. Ever since Kim Jong-il's alleged stroke last year, the media has focused on whom his successor will be. Kim Jong-il has three sons by two women, and although Kim Jong-un's appointment may signify that he's being groomed as a leader, Jong-il has not yet publicly announced an heir.

Kobe Bryant may call the shots on the court–but he certainly doesn't in the editing room. The hotshot Laker pulled quite the move when he demanded that Spike Lee, who was set to film Bryant’s documentary, Kobe: Doin’ Work, relinquish creative control. Lee was set to film Bryant’s game against the San Antonio Spurs on April 13, and had 30 cameras in place, when Bryant suddenly refused to cooperate. Lee went so far as to chase Bryant down, calling him nonstop and visiting his home to get him to sign back on to the project. Now, everything’s back on track. According to one source, at the start of the film, "when Kobe arrives at the Staples Center and sees Spike with the camera, he gives him a big smile and thumbs up, showing he knows he won the battle." Leave it to Kobe to run Lee through a loop.

Don't expect Saudi women to look toned beneath their abbayas: The Saudi government will likely shut down dozens of unlicensed women-only gyms after leading Saudi clerics condemned the gyms as places of "shamelessness" and argued that they'd tempt women to leave their homes and neglect husband and children. The Guardian reports that the country's general sports and youth organization is responsible for men's gyms but has not been allowed to regulate women's gyms, which means that women's gyms are unlicensed and therefore illegal. But change may be on the way: Although Saudi women can't find a place to exercise, they may be allowed to vote--for the first time ever--in upcoming municipal elections.

President Obama’s post-partisan era has, apparently, left out cable news: The New York Times reports that middle-of-the-road CNN is struggling, still trailing Fox and having fallen behind MSNBC—even, on some occasions, losing to its sister network Headline News. “Since the beginning of 2009, CNN has finished fourth in prime time among the cable news networks on 35 out of 84 weeknights.” Is straight news still viable? “Executives of competitors and even some of CNN’s own staff members say recent trends suggest the answer may be no.” CNN’s management points out that its ratings and profits are both up from last year.

“There is not a global pandemic yet,” writes the Associated Press, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. With 20 cases of swine flu confirmed in the US in New York, Texas, California, Kansas, and Ohio, Department of Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano dispatched 12 million doses of flu medication from a federal stockpile. With deaths from swine flu in Mexico topping 100, people in Mexico are getting superstitious: “For the first time in 300 years, the cathedral in Mexico City's main plaza pulled an icon of the Lord of Health from storage, and worshippers placed it on the principal altar,” according to the Associated Press. Russia and China made plans to quarantine anyone with symptoms, while Russia banned meat products from Mexico and some US states. Need reassurance? “Only one of the 20 U.S. patients has required hospitalization, none had antiviral treatment, and there have been no fatalities,” according to The Wall Street Journal, which adds “It's unclear why the U.S. cases have apparently been milder than Mexico's.”

The pen may be more poisonous than the sword, according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's security team. The Guardian reports that the security team is wary of the millions of letters Ahmadinejad has received since 2005. To bolster his populist image, the Iranian president has encouraged the public to write him, pledged to read as many letters as possible, and ordered his staff to respond to every message he's sent. The security team has reportedly warned Ahmadinejad to be careful with the possibly poisonous letters given to him on trips, and although Islam customarily disdains dogs, his guards use a team of sniffer dogs to detect possible explosives.

He may have slept through Obama's credit card meeting, but White House Economic Council director Larry Summers is wide awake to the failings of the economy -- which, he says, "will continue to decline" for "some time." On Fox News Sunday the former Harvard president predicted "sharp declines in employment for quite some time this year." Nonetheless, Summers is confident that the Obama administration is on the right path, including with regards to the perpetually troubled banking industry. "The vast majority of banks in the U.S. are well capitalized," he said, despite the fact that "there's work that needs to be done," including raising more capital -- potentially from the government: "We're going to be in a good position to provide the support and set the framework in which the banking system can move along the process of recovery." As for rumors that the Feds are about to push taxpayer-supported Chrysler into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Summers noted only that "we're monitoring carefully" and that Chrysler's pending alliance with Italian automaker Fiat is "in everybody's interest."

When searching for solutions in the swine flu scare, the government may need only look to the past. The 1976 swine flu “debacle,” in which 200 cases of swine flu were diagnosed in the United States–resulting in only one death–prompted the government to wage a massive vaccination campaign. More than 40 million Americans received the swine flu vaccine after the warning, but 500 people are thought to have contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome from it, and 25 died. The episode triggered a deep backlash against flu vaccination and embarrassed the federal government.

Did you like last week’s disclosure of CIA interrogation memos? Plenty more, apparently, where that came from: “The Obama administration and senior national-security officials are reviewing whether to release additional Central Intelligence Agency memos on interrogation methods, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.” Speaking on Meet the Press, Gibbs said the review process would take about three weeks. On Face the Nation, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy continued to call for a 9/11-Commission-style look at the issue. “"I know some people say, 'Let's turn the page.' Frankly, I'd like to read the page before we turn it," he said.

The lights may be on at the Department of Health and Human Services — but nobody’s home. As the nation gears up to fight swine flu—20 cases have now been confirmed—there are major vacancies in the administration. There's been no replacement as HHS secretary since Tom Daschle withdrew, and 19 other spots in the department remain vacant: The administration hopes that HHS-secretary designate Kathleen Sebelius could be confirmed as early as Tuesday; Obama has yet to appoint a CDC chief; and his FDA appointee has yet to be confirmed. In the meantime, others have stepped up to the plate: acting CDC director Richard Bresser and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the emergency declaration yesterday. “I wish we could call it a declaration of emergency preparedness,” Napolitano said. But according to press secretary Robert Gibbs, the lack of staff doesn’t mean a lack of preparedness: “I want to be very clear here: There is a team in place. Part of it is standing behind me."

Cover your ears, Miss California. Starting today, same-sex couples in Iowa are able to apply for marriage licenses. After the Iowa Supreme Court’s surprising and unanimous ruling earlier this month that barring same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, many couples have been waiting for this historic day. Iowa is now the third state after Massachusetts and Vermont to allow gay marriage, although the unions are only valid legally in the three states. The ruling did not come without opposition—at least one district magistrate said he would stop performing all marriages, reports USA Today. State senator Merlin Bartz also unsuccessfully proposed a “conscience clause” that would allow county recorders to avoid granting licenses if it violated their beliefs.

The storm may be far from settled, but former-Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is already speaking out. When Thain was fired in January, he was painted as the person responsible for distributing huge bonuses while his company posted major losses–but now he’s saying he’s unfairly been made into a scapegoat. Thain says that he and Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis signed an agreement authorizing early bonuses at Merrill Lynch, before the acquisition closed. Says Thain: “The suggestion Bank of America was not heavily involved in this process, and that I alone made these decisions, is simply not true.” He continued, “Getting fired is one thing. But nobody has the right to say things that they know aren't true.”

Trouble ahead for Timothy Geithner? A long report today in The New York Times shows that, in his five years as president of the New York Fed, Geithner “forged unusually close relationships with executives of Wall Street’s giant financial institutions.” He dined in the corporate dining rooms or in the homes of bank executives, relying on them to assess the market's health. He was particularly close with the leadership at Citigroup and, when the bank's troubles started to arise, he was even approached to take over as its chief executive. In the spring 2007, "he lobbied behind the scenes for a plan that a government study said could lead banks to reduce the amount of capital they kept on hand"--a move the FDIC warned against but that executives at Citi and JP Morgan both pushed for. The standards were adopted, though have not yet taken effect.

Frustrated about U.S. inaction on Darfur, five members of Congress today took to the streets in protest—and were promptly arrested at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington. The five lawmakers—including Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota—were charged with civil disobedience and levied a $100 fine. Several leaders of Darfur advocacy groups also were arrested at the demonstration, held to protest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s ejection of aid groups from Sudan. On his way out of the police station after paying his $100 fine, one of the congressmen said, “If we can help raise awareness and create a sense of urgency and get President Obama more involved, then I think it was worth it.”