Lobbyists lobbied about lobbying and—surprise—they won. Under pressure for months, the White House has reversed its stance on banning officials from discussing stimulus projects with lobbyists. The Hill reports that "the just-revised rules will allow government personnel to accept meetings and calls from federally registered lobbyists on the implementation of stimulus projects." Back in March, Obama said lobbyist requests had to be made in writing and posted online within three days. "Lobbyists have said that the policy was one more example of the administration's disdain for their industry," according to The Hill. Under the new rules, online disclosure is still required and "lobbyists can talk to agency representatives only about logistical issues or general questions regarding stimulus grants."

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it is prepared to strike Israel's nuclear facilities if the country attacks Iran. "Our rockets have the precision capabilities to target all the Israeli nuclear sites," he told the Arabic-language channel al-Alam. Israel's prime minister has taken a tough line against Iran's nuclear development, and says the option of military strike is not off the table. Iran’s leaders have said its warplanes can now fly to Israel and back without refueling, and its missiles can stretch 1,250 miles. Tehran says its nuclear program is for generating power, not military purposes.

After a long week of discussions over health-care reform, House Democrats reached one conclusion Friday: that they would keep negotiating. Although President Obama launched a massive health-care push this week, Congress is now further from passing legislation than it was on Monday. Democrats are fighting over the details of the legislation. Tensions have mounted so much in the House that on Friday, liberal and conservative Democrats attacked each other for “empowering the Republicans.” For now at least, it seems the fighting has done little more than bring discussions back to square one: “Everything that was off the table a couple hours ago,” Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) said, “is now back on the table.”

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said an Iraqi officer was "out of line" when he detained U.S. soldiers last week after they killed three Iraqis while pursuing insurgents. The troops were returning fire after insurgents attacked their convoy. The soldiers were detained due to differing interpretations of the murky military guidelines that went into effect January 1. The guidelines stipulate the U.S. withdraw from major cities before leaving the country completely by 2011, but some interpret them to mean the troops are prohibited from military operations altogether. The agreement "clearly states that American forces have the right to defend themselves," Maliki said, which is what the troops did when they were attacked. "It is self-evident that American forces are now confined to their bases and camps," he added. "They are there lawfully, therefore if they are attacked by any group, according to the agreement, they can return fire, they can defend themselves." Four were also injured in the incident, including two children.

Vice President Joe Biden, never one to mince words, capped off his four-day tour to Ukraine and Georgia with a blunt assessment of Russia's current state of affairs that has angered the Kremlin. Arguing that the U.S. had more leverage over Russia than it appeared, Biden told The Wall Street Journal that domestic conditions there would require their leaders to reach out to the West. "They have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years, they're in a situation where the world is changing before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable," Biden said. The Kremlin is demanding a clarification, calling Biden's comments "perplexing" so soon after Obama's conciliatory visit last month. Biden said in the interview the U.S. should not push Russia too hard too soon. "It is never smart to embarrass an individual or a country when they're dealing with significant loss of face," Biden said. "My dad used to put it another way: Never put another man in a corner where the only way out is over you."

Tennessee State Senator Paul Stanley admitted to having a "sexual relationship" with his 22-year-old intern to a state investigator, Talking Points Memo reports. According to the sworn affidavit, Stanley took provocative photos of the intern during their affair. The intern's boyfriend was attempting to blackmail Stanley with the photos for $10,000. The senator eventually went to the police, and the boyfriend has been charged with attempted extortion. Stanley, a conservative Republican, promotes abstinence before marriage.

What better way for Sarah Palin to celebrate her final weekend in office than with an Alaskan picnic tour? Thousands showed up at the governor's annual event in Wasilla on Friday. Dressed in a red sweatshirt that read “Once a patriot, always a patriot,” Palin signed autographs and handed out hotdogs to fans. According to the Wasilla Chamber director, several tourists came from out-of-state to join the festivities, and some even inquired if they could buy Sarah Palin mementos—like a lock of her hair. Wasilla is only the first stop in Palin’s picnic tour: the governor will host another picnic in Anchorage on Saturday, and a third in Fairbanks on Sunday, where she’ll officially hand over power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell. “Never apologize for being Americans!” she told the crowd in Wasilla, to which one man responded: “We want you to be our commander in chief!”

President Obama has found another critic to his proposed overhaul of the health-care system: his former physician, David Scheiner. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Scheiner, who treated Obama for 22 years in Chicago, said Obama favors a "single payer" system but is facing too much pressure from the health-care lobby to push it through. "He's a pragmatist, he wants to get something done" Scheiner said. "But this time he should have pushed back hard against the health care lobby." Scheiner said he thinks he was disinvited to a recent White House event because the health-care lobby didn't want him to raise objections about the plan publicly. The single-payer system, which eliminates the large profits for insurance companies and hospitals, has been dismissed as “socialized medicine.”

Was Michael Jackson saving up for new digs in Vegas? The New York Daily News reports he had $5.5 million tucked away with a financial advisor, Dr. Tohme Tohme, in addition to valuable personal items stashed in storage that could be auctioned off. According to Tohme, Jackson planned to use the money for a "dream home" in Vegas. Tohme handed over the money to the estate executors after the star died. "I had the money and I gave it to them. It was a secret between Michael and me," he said. Jackson's mother and three children are beneficiaries of his estate.

At 111 years-old, Harry Patch was the sole surviving British Army veteran of World War I before he passed away on Saturday. Patch was one of two survivors before the 113-year-old Henry Allingham, a former airman, died last week. Patch was drafted into the war in 1916 when he was an apprentice plumber. He was badly wounded only a few weeks after finishing training in a battle near Ypres, where three of his best friends were killed. After 80 years of silence, Patch began to speak about his experience in "the war to end all wars." "I met someone from the German side and we both shared the same opinion: we fought, we finished and we were friends," he said in 2007. "It wasn’t worth it." Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the country is mourning the passing of an entire generation. "The noblest of all the generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten," he said.

Bans may be driving smoking away in America, but there’s one place where cigarettes are in high demand: Africa. Big Tobacco, now in retreat in the West, is waging a battle for the “hearts, minds and lungs of new smokers” across the second-most-populous continent, according to Time. Africa still has the lowest smoking rates in the world—largely because people can’t afford the habit—but that’s about to change. Cigarette brands have ratcheted up their marketing efforts, and Philip Morris has just completed a factory in Senegal. It’s the threatening “single-stick model”—where vendors break open a pack and sell single sticks to people—that might get Africa hooked. This also keeps warning labels on boxes out of sight, and, of course, fuels the addiction among the young, poor, and uneducated. And so far, it’s working: an anti-tobacco counselor estimates that 200 children in Nigeria begin smoking every day.

The squat blue mailbox—nothing short of an American icon—is fast disappearing from the nation's streets. 20,000 mailboxes have been taken down over the past 20 years as the volume of mail declines. And now the postal service is aggressively removing “underperforming” mailboxes—which collect less than 25 pieces of mail a day—after a week-long “density test.” Said a postal service spokeswoman: “We’re like air. People just take it for granted that we’re always going to be there. Well, if you want to keep your collection box, would you mail a letter, please!” The disappearance of mailboxes might be based on numbers, but it’s impact will be felt in daily life. “It was a nice-looking box,” said a 77-year-old woman in Wheaton, M.D. “That was my exercise. Going across the street with the mail every day.”

After the tragic death of his only son Jett in January, actor John Travolta is reportedly questioning his faith. According to the Daily Mail, Travolta is considering leaving Scientology, the cult-like religion of which he is a very public follower and benefactor. Scientology doesn't acknowledge the existence of autism, the disease Travolta's 16-year-old son is said to have suffered from, and Travolta apparently regrets adhering to their medical instructions. "There have been strong rumors coming out of Scientology that John Travolta is disappointed that the religion was not able to help his son more," said Rick Ross, a lecturer on Scientology. "It's led him to question his faith." The church keeps files with embarrassing material on its celebrity members to prevent them from speaking out against the religion if they choose to leave, Ross said.

Sure, it's only a matter of time before the New York Times starts charging for some components of its Web site, but the question remains, which sections and for how much? Gawker obtained a nytimes.com survey suggesting two levels of annual membership: "gold" for $150 or "silver" for $50. Both "emphasize behind-the-scenes benefits like newsroom tours, exclusive videos of reporters telling 'the story behind the story' and ancient back issues," blogger Ryan Tate writes. Tate is skeptical, saying the proposal repeats "the core mistake" of TimesSelect: "Assuming people are fascinated with the Times as a brand, and with the deep thinking of its insiders."

Watch out for Katie Couric: after a New York Times article on Walter Cronkite was followed with a long correction, Couric slammed the paper. “But I had to smile, albeit a tad ruefully, and I think he would too, when I saw the New York Times correcting a piece that had appeared following his death," Couric wrote in her " Notebook": "The article contained not one, not two, but seven errors about Cronkite’s life and career." The correction stated that Cronkite did not storm the beaches on D-Day, but covered the events from a warplane, and that his coverage of the moon landing occurring on July 20, 1969—not July 26. In her reaction, Couric cited Cronkite, famous for saying, ”Get it first, but get it right.” But TVNewser writes that Couric may have a motive for the attack: she and Alessandra Stanley, the newspaper's television critic who wrote the piece, may have had tension since Stanley wrote a memorably critical piece about Couric in 2005. But as Stanley is known for her errors—responsible, so far, for nine corrections in 2009—it looks like it’s Couric getting the last laugh.

Defying the recommendations of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other international leaders, ousted President Manuel Zelaya stepped across the border into Honduras Friday, vowing to reclaim his post. Wearing his trademark white cowboy hat, Zelaya walked up to a sign reading "Welcome to Honduras" and "smiled to cheering supporters at the remote mountain pass surrounded by banana trees," the Associated Press reports. He stopped a few steps in, however, saying he was in talks with military officials to let him reunite with his family in the country. "I've spoken to the colonel and he told me I could not cross the border," Zelaya said. "I told him I could cross." Meanwhile, Zelaya's supporters clashed with soldiers and police after officials ordered everyone off the streets along the 600-mile border with Nicaragua. International leaders have feared Zelaya's return will lead to bloodshed, but the leader said he had no choice after diplomatic negotiations failed.

For eight years, Bush talked about the "entrepreneurial spirit of America." Now it's Obama's turn. Hitting back at criticism from Republicans that Democratic health-care plans would squeeze small businesses, Obama used his weekly radio address to sell them on reform. According to Obama, Democratic plans would help small businesses overall despite requiring them to provide insurance for their employees or face a fine. He cited the proposed health-insurance exchange, a "marketplace where they can compare the price, quality and services of a wide variety of plans, many of which will provide better coverage at lower costs than the plans they have now" and also pointed to tax credits and subsidies for low-income workers that would help cover costs. In the Republican response, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers warned that any new taxes would be felt in worse unemployment. "Because the Democrats' plan is bankrolled by a small business tax, more jobs will evaporate," she said.

Amy Winehouse is familiar with court: she was there recently to finalize her divorce, and returned on Friday to face charges that she had assaulted a fan who had asked to take her picture at a charity ball in September. Winehouse denied punching the fan (a “tipsy” Burlesque dancer) saying that she had merely been intimidated by her and “pushed her up.” Apparently that satisfied the British judge, who acquitted her on the grounds that both parties had been drunk, and there was no way of knowing that it wasn’t an accident. Winehouse fanned herself with a notebook during the trial, but expressed her relief afterwards. Said Winehouse of the incident: “I was scared. I’m not Mickey Mouse. I’m a human being.”

One reality TV show about raising eight plus children really wasn't enough. Camera-loving Nadya Suleman, a.k.a. Octomom, has reportedly signed up each of her 14 kids to star in a series of their own. The deal was inked with Eyewitness, a European production company whose TV credits include the classic Breaking Bonaduce as well as The Biggest Loser. The contracts, which are awaiting a judge's approval, guarantee that the kids will collectively earn about $250,000 over three years—though 15 percent of their earnings will be stored in a "Coogan Trust Account," as required by California law, which can only be accessed once the children turn 18 or become legally emancipated. The show is set to begin filming September 1.

Was CNN president Jon Klein hoping for an off-screen Face Off with host Lou Dobbs? Klein sent "Lou Dobbs Tonight" staffers an email on Thursday saying that the controversy surrounding the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate—one of Dobbs' pet topics of late—is a "dead" story. In the email, Klein elaborated that CNN researchers had determined that Hawaiian officials tossed out paper documents in 2001—thus, Obama's long-form birth certificate no longer exists and a shorter certificate of live birth that has been made public is the official record. "It seems to definitively answer the question," he continued. On Friday, however, Klein softened his tone, saying that he wasn't ordering the staff to drop the story. "He's got more than 30 years as a television journalist, and I trust him, as I trust all our reporters and anchors, to exercise their judgment as various stories evolve," Klein said of Dobbs. Meanwhile, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a major civil rights group, has asked Klein to take Dobbs off the air for his role in perpetuating the conspiracy theory.

How different would America be if Walter Cronkite had joined Sen. George McGovern on the ticket in 1972? That’s what Frank Mankiewicz, political director for McGovern’s campaign, wonders in The Washington Post Saturday. Tasked with the job of choosing McGovern’s running mate, Mankiewicz explains that he was prepared to pick Cronkite because he was “the most trusted man in America,” known as staunchly anti-war, and existed “wholly outside of politics." But the idea was quickly dismissed by the rest of McGovern’s campaign officials on the grounds that Cronkite would never accept. Instead, they chose Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, who neglected to mention that he had received multiple electric shock treatments for being “melancholy,” and had to drop off the ticket. Years later, McGovern told Cronkite that his name had been floated for vice president, but dismissed because they thought he’d never agree. “On the contrary, George,” Cronkite responded. “I’d have accepted in a minute; anything to help end that dreadful war.”

Another day, another legally dubious Bush-era plan leaked to the press. According to the New York Times, White House officials in 2002 considered deploying U.S. forces into the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, to capture the "Lackawanna Six," a group of men suspected of running an al Qaeda cell, and declare them enemy combatants. Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly backed the idea, which may have violated the Fourth Amendment and the Posse Comitatus Act, a law that keeps the military out of domestic law enforcement. In the end, the FBI carried out the arrests instead, although a legal memo drafted by torture architect John Yoo argued that the military could have been used to attack terrorists domestically. The idea echoed the 1998 film The Siege, in which a fictional president suspends the Posse Comitatus Act and declares martial law in New York City in order to find and arrest a terrorist cell. Spoiler alert: it doesn't end well.

Taliban militants executed several suicide attacks Saturday on government buildings in Khost, a city in Eastern Afghanistan, police reported. Doctors have announced that while the number of casualties is unknown, seven civilians and three police were injured. An anonymous Taliban spokesperson told the BBC that “four of our attackers had entered the city this afternoon.” After they attacked the police chief’s office, a hospital, and a bank with machine-guns and roket-propelled grenades, gun fighting broke out between militants and security forces. The attacks are part of a spike in violence in Afghanistan leading up to the August 20th election and they are a big blow to police who have promised greater security there.

Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. has agreed to take President Obama up on his offer to have a beer with Sgt James Crowley, who arrested him earlier this week, at the White House. "I am hopeful that my experience will lead to greater sensitivity to issues of racial profiling in the criminal justice system. It is time for all of us to move on, and to assess what we can learn from this experience," Gates wrote in an email to the Boston Globe. Obama said in a surprise appearance on Friday that Gates and Crowley were both "decent people" and should have "a beer here in the White House." He then called both men to invite them personally. Obama earlier caught heat from police and others when he said Crowley "acted stupidly" when arresting Gates in his own home. He dialed back on those comments Friday after igniting a fiery national debate about race, saying he should have “calibrated those words differently.”

Looks like it’s finally over: LeAnn Rimes and her husband, Dean Sheremet, have separated after seven years, sources tell Us magazine. While the two had maintained a united front, friends now report Rimes and Sheremet have been living separately for months, since rumors of her affair with actor Eddie Cibrian came out. The timing is right, though, because the separation comes days after Cibrian and his wife announced their split. Only time—and the paparazzi—will tell if Rimes and Cibrian will reunite. He has denied rumors of the affair with Rimes.

North Korea has a message for the United States: We’re ready to talk. North Korea’s ambassador to the U.N., Sin Son Ho, called CBS News to deliver the message that, though they have defied UN sanctions with missile tests this year, Pyongyang is prepared to negotiate with Washington. “We are not against the dialogue,” he said. “We are not against any negotiations for the issues of common concern.” While the Obama administration has adhered to the format of the six-party talks, North Korea says it will not negotiate in that format. “The six-party talks are gone forever,” Ambassador Sin said, adding that the failure for negotiations so far “is not because of us.” But when asked why North Korea was pursuing its nuclear program, Ambassador Sin gave a chilling reply: "We are always exposed to the nuclear threat of the U.S.," he said, adding, "Japan and South Korea are under the protection of the nuclear umbrella by the United States. And our neighboring countries are all-powerful with nuclear weapons. There is only one country—DPRK—with nuclear vacancy in the region. We are defenseless, so it is our last option—to possess the nuclear deterrent."

Shall we expect The Real Housewives of Beijing sometime soon? China has reportedly launched an Arabic-language TV channel, China Central Television, to show the Middle East and North Africa what the “real” China is like. But there may not be much reality after all: the channel, which will run 24 hours a day for 300 million Arab-speaking viewers, was launched to promote the government’s views and bring state-controlled media to the rest of the world.