First the Feds scratched Wall Street's back, now Wall Street's scratching California. J.P. Morgan, which repayed $25 billion in TARP funds only two months ago, is helping bailing out the state of California. A $1.5 billion loan from the bank will allow California to end its IOU program a month ahead of schedule. What J.P. Morgan will earn on the loan has not yet been determined; there is virtually no risk for the firm, because the loan will be repaid by late September when the state sells $10.5 billion in revenue anticipation notes. The Los Angeles Times' Tom Petruno notes that the transaction 's payoff isn't just monetary: "The deal is a way to get back into the good graces of a state that always has plenty of fee-generating financing needs."

Meeting face-to-face for the first time since the high-profile rescue of the two journalists detained in North Korea, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama spent 70 minutes conversing on Tuesday. Clinton briefed the president on his trip to Pyongyang for roughly 40 minutes in the White House Situation Room, and Obama expressed his gratitude for "undertaking the humanitarian mission," according to a statement. Obama then invited Clinton to the Oval Office, where the two continued talking for another half-hour. Hillary Clinton was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict, but noted Tuesday that her husband's trip "gives us a window into what's going on in North Korea," though it won't change America's policy in the region.

Violence and heated propaganda wars rocked Afghanistan on Tuesday, two days before the nation's presidential election. The New York Times reports that the Taliban unleashed a series of suicide bombings and a rocket attack at the presidential palace, while the government prohibited both foreign and domestic journalists from reporting on the violence. Over the last week, the Taliban has repeatedly warned that they will attack polling stations and those who vote in the election in an effort to undermine the election's credibility. The Times explains: "Low turnout, especially in the war-torn south, could affect Mr. Karzai's results in the election, since the ethnic Pashtuns who populate the south form his base of support." Karzai was in the palace at the time of the palace attack, but was not wounded.

The FBI has declared Joseph Mahmoud Dibee a domestic terrorist involved in attacks carried out by the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. So, why does he still have his pilot's license? An apparent lack of communication between the FBI and FAA spotted by The New York Times highlights the challenges the government faces in the fight against terrorism. The Feds believe Dibee has fled to Syria, though that has not stopped him from trying to sell his small single-engine plane on the Internet. After a bipartisan group of politicians expressed concern over the startling revelation, the Transportation and Security Administration announced that it will begin trying to weed out other suspected criminals who are pilots.

Tanning beds aren't the only perks of being the governor of Alaska. As required by Alaska law, Sarah Palin reported gifts she received this year valued over $250. The loot included a gun case embroidered with her name, a statue of the Virgin Mary, a goatskin-bound Bible, an embroidered cross-stitched blanket, and a plate hand-painted with her image, according to Politico. Palin's attorney filed the paperwork, noting "although there are relative few gifts that exceed [$250], there were many gifts that were valued under $50 (mainly books and CDs, T-shirts and the like). It took many hours to winnow this list to its present form." The filing does not, however, list gifts Sarah and Todd may have received from his snow-machine sponsorship with Arctic Cat, due to Todd's confidentiality clause with the company.

The murder of Playboy representative Jasmine Fiore took a darkly scandalous twist Tuesday night when Orange County, California, law enforcement reported that Ryan Alexander Jenkins—a person of interest in the case—was on the run. Shortly after news of Jenkins' disappearance broke, the 32-year-old contestant on VH1's Megan Wants a Millionaire, issued a statement through his publicist: "Ryan is currently speaking to his attorney and will fully cooperate with the police in this matter. He is planning on meeting with them in the near future." Megan Hauserman, the star of Megan Wants a Millionaire, told TMZ that Jenkins went directly to Las Vegas after getting kicked off her show, where he met Fiore at a strip club where the victim worked as a dancer, then married her two days later.

Google has gotten one step closer to its ultimate goal of making all information searchable. The company agreed Tuesday to digitize France's National Library, ending a lengthy controversy stoked by national pride. One former library official—somewhat prone to hyperbole—claimed that "Europe's literary and historic heritage was under threat from an Anglo-Saxon takeover," the Times of London reports. But in the end, cultural pride took a back seat to financial concerns. Google simply has the means to digitize the ample collection faster than the French government.

The conservative journalist Robert Novak died on Tuesday morning after a battle with brain cancer, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. He was 78. He created his column, the six-times-a-week Evans-Novak Political Report, with Rowland Evans in 1963. Most recently, he wrote the famous column that outed Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. “He was someone who loved being a journalist, loved journalism and loved his country and loved his family," Novak’s wife, Geraldine, said. The Sun-Times had been Novak’s home paper since 1966.

Bernie Madoff was no dynamo in the sack. In her new book, due out Aug. 25, Madoff ex-mistress and financial victim Sheryl Weinstein gets, as the New York Daily News put it, "her incredible revenge by publicly humiliating him with the most intimate and embarrassing details." Weinstein, who lost her life savings when Madoff's $65 billion ponzi scheme unraveled, was apparently stunned the first time she slept with Madoff at the Willard InterContinental Hotel Washington in D.C., in 1993 because "This man was not well-endowed." The next day, he called to apologize, saying "So, now you know about me." Weinstein owns that despite his shortcomings, Madoff turned her on in bed and was a "great kisser." Weinstein also owned up to smoking pot frequently before sex with Madoff, a habit he said his wife shared.

When Tom Williams, a rugby player for the Harlequins of London, began bleeding from the mouth during a critical moment in the quarterfinal of the Heineken Cup, a stoppage of play was called and a substitute filled in for him. Little did anyone know that Williams had chewed a blood capsule and that the trick was orchestrated by two other team officials. To top it off, Williams—who was caught on camera winking to fans while he "bled" from the mouth—is rumored to have had a team doctor actually cut his cheek with a scalpel and then stitch up the wound as a way to add credibility to the deception. Two team officials have been suspended for two and three years, and Williams is facing a yearlong suspension. The doctor accused of helping Williams fake the injury may also face an inquiry. Sports journalists and rugby fans worry that their sport may take years to recover from the scandal.

The American Civil Liberties Union recently sent numerous Freedom of Information Act requests regarding the prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and was appalled by the government's response. Its resistance to disclosing any information regarding the prison, which is shrouded in mystery and rumors of abuse, makes ABC News' Jake Tapper ask: "Will Bagram be Obama's Guantanamo Bay?" The ACLU reports that the roughly 600 people held there have even less rights than ones held at Gitmo. "We know nothing about them, we don’t know who they are or how long they’ve been there. They don’t have any access to counsel, or access to courts," an ACLU attorney said. Rumors abound that prisoners captured outside of Afghanistan are transferred to Bagram. Using a "just trust us" rationale reminiscent of the previous administration, government spokesmen have said that detainees at Bagram are treated within the laws of war, but that very little information regarding the prison can be released.

The roller-coaster relationship between Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn may finally be coming to the end of its track. Robin Wright Penn filed divorce papers in Marin County, Calif. on Aug. 12, marking the third time the couple has initiated proceedings to end their marriage. "Irreconcilable differences" is listed as the reason for the filing, and the estranged couple has already agreed upon a division of property and a plan to share custody of 16-year-old son Hopper Jack. The Penns have been together since 1989 and married since 1996. Wright Penn said she does not foresee a reconciliation with her husband: "I hit that crossroad a while ago," she told More magazine in its September issue. "I know what I don't want."

Haven't we seen this before? Brett Favre has come out of retirement yet again and is now a Minnesota Viking, setting the stage for intense games against his former team, the Green Bay Packers. The signing also makes the Vikings, who already have a fierce running game and defense, early contenders to go deep into the playoffs. The 39-year-old quarterback's arrival in Minnesota was so hotly anticipated that a local news helicopter was actually filming his arrival at training camp. ESPN has reported that he will start in this week's preseason game. Only three weeks ago, Favre had told the Vikings' coach he would remain retired.

Imagine the horror. You're talking on your iPhone, looking cool with the latest cutting-edge technology, when it suddenly explodes, sending shards of its touch screen into your face. At least two reports have surfaced in recent days of iPhones spontaneously exploding, and Apple is now investigating the claims. One 18-year-old said that his girlfriend's iPhone began "making a hissing sound before the screen suddenly shattered, sending broken pieces of glass flying in the air," one piece of which ended up in his eye. The boy's family now looks on their two remaining iPhones with great trepidation, and currently have them stowed away in "Plexiglas cases." Another Frenchman has stepped forward saying his iPhone also suddenly shattered, but that he emerged from the episode unscathed.

It's official—Celine Dion is pregnant again. The singer, 41, who had expressed a wish to expand her family with husband René Angélil, 67, announced the news Monday. "Celine and René are very happy," Dion's representative said. "They are crazy in love over the news... they are overjoyed." Dion, herself from a family of 14, conceived with the help of fertility doctors in New York. She and Angélil already have one child together, René-Charles, 8, who was conceived by in vitro fertilization after six years of attempts. Angélil has three other children from previous marriages. Since Dion's concert tour ended in March, the singer has been taking time off to focus on raising a family. Her pregnancy could potentially delay her planned return to the Las Vegas show scene in fall 2010.

We know how everyone in Washington feels about the health-care reform bill's public option, but now we know where the public stands. According to a new NBC News poll (that surveyed 805 adults) out Tuesday, 47 percent of Americans oppose the public plan, while 43 percent support it. This is a shift from a poll conducted last month, in which 46 percent said they supported it, and only 44 percent were opposed. When asked in the new poll what they thought the public option would do, 45 percent said they thought it would lower health-care costs and provide coverage for the uninsured. Forty-eight percent, on the other hand, felt the option would reduce the choice of doctors and limit access to treatment.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on Dec 5, 1791, but the mystery of his death has lived on. The New York Times reports that over the years, Mozart's death has been attributed to syphilis, poison, the effects of treatment with salts of mercury, rheumatic fever, renal failure, infection from bloodletting, and trichinosis. Now, according to researchers writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Mozart may have died of something much more banal: a strep infection. The researchers examined accounts of Mozart's symptoms—swelling of tissue under the skin, malaise, back pain, and a rash—and cross-referenced them with common causes of death in 18th century Vienna, concluding that strep was the likely cause.

Big news from Pakistan: “The Taliban's top spokesman in Pakistan, captured this week by tribal fighters and security forces, has confirmed that the country's most wanted militant was killed recently by a U.S. missile strike,” according to the Los Angeles. The spokesman, Maulvi Umar, was arrested along the Afghan border on Monday and confirmed that Baitullah Mahsud was killed, even though Taliban commanders insist he is still alive. “Umar's capture marked the second arrest of a major Taliban figure within a 24-hour span. Earlier Monday, police said they arrested Taliban commander Qari Saifullah at a private hospital in Islamabad, where he was recovering from injuries suffered in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's tribal areas.”

The government of Hugo Chavez is moving to create a law that would punish "media crimes" with prison sentences. The proposed law comes on the heels of the closure of 32 radio stations and two television stations in Venezuela, all part of a new push to "silence critics," according to a U.S. intelligence report. Chavez supporters attacked an opposition television studio earlier this month, throwing tear gas into the building and injuring three people. In another incident, 12 journalists were sent to the hospital after being attacked for handing out pamphlets. Experts worry Chavez will set a bad example to the leaders of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, over whom he has great influence. Ecuador's president was only a few days behind Chavez in closing radio stations for small infractions.

Will profligate smoking and three-martini lunches make a real-life comeback? The Season Three premiere of the scotch- and smoke-soaked AMC show Mad Men drew 2.8 million viewers Sunday night, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That viewership, the show's largest ever, was up 33 percent from the previous year, thanks to viewers aged 18-49, whose viewership jumped a whopping 71 percent, from 705,000 to 1.2 million. All the Emmys, compliments from critics, and of course, the advertisements must have paid off.

Madonna knows how to throw a party. The Daily Mail reports that the material girl celebrated her 51st birthday at an exclusive hotel in Portofino, Italy, where she rented out a whole floor for her 22-year-old boyfriend Jesus Luz, and three of her children, Lourdes, David Banda, and Mercy James. About 30 guests joined her, including the fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The pair presented her with a sparkler-topped cake and a specially-designed lace dress. Suites at the Splendido Hotel cost as much as $7,400 per night.

Just compensation for one of the most difficult jobs on Wall Street, or more corporate excess? The New York Times reports that AIG will pay its new CEO, Robert H. Benmosche, $7 million a year, with an option for a bonus of up to $3.5 million. The pay package has already received preliminary approval from Obama’s pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg. Benmosche’s predecessor, Edward M. Liddy, has worked for $1 a year. Before Liddy, CEO Martin J. Sullivan was paid $14.3 million in 2007. The government owns nearly 80 percent of AIG.

No empathy on the Supreme Court from Justice Antonin Scalia: “This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent,” Justice Scalia wrote in a dissent from a Supreme Court decision ordering a Georgia court to review evidence in the case of death-row defendant Troy Davis. Seven of the witnesses from Davis’s 1989 trial have recanted and several others have fingered the prosecution’s main witness as the actual killer of the off-duty police officer whose death Davis was charged with. “The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing.”

PC users will soon have another alternative to the iPhone: “Dell disclosed on Monday that it was preparing to enter the smartphone business, adding to the escalating competition as mobile handset and computer makers converge on one of the only parts of the personal technology market still showing strong growth and profits,” the Financial Times reports. The computer company is working with China Mobile to launch a phone that will run on Google’s Android OS. Dell is the world’s second-largest maker of PCs.

As the Obamas head to Martha's Vineyard to enjoy a bit of leisure time, they may notice that even on the posh island retreat the issues surrounding the immigration debate are on full display. An excellent feature in the Financial Times highlights the strong Brazilian influence on Martha's Vineyard, which began in the 1980s. There are roughly 3,000 Brazilians—both legal and illegal—who fill the need for hard labor on the island. Martha's Vineyard, known for big-name visitors such as Spike Lee, the Kennedys, and the Clintons, also features immigrant communities that amount to a "parallel society"—a phenomenon seen throughout the U.S. The opportunity that awaits Brazilian immigrants on the island is not without its consequences. Many locals who stay on the Vineyard year-round resent the Brazilians who will work for less. "It’s a microcosm of the whole situation," one local said. "Here Brazilians are the target group, just like in California it’s Mexicans."

A trio of alleged cyber criminals responsible for allegedly stealing 130 million credit and debit cards in the U.S.'s largest hacking and identity-theft stunt have been indicted. The Wall Street Journal reports that 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez and two Russians have been indicted for gaining unauthorized access to computers, computer fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The trio allegedly hacked five major companies, including Hannaford Bros. supermarkets, 7-Eleven, and the credit card processor Heartland Payment Systems. In 2003 Gonzalez was arrested for allegedly siphoning 40 million additional credit card numbers from TJX Cos., costing its parent company, TJ Maxx about $200 million, but authorities let him go when he agreed to become a Secret Service informant. He is also awaiting trial for allegedly attempting to hack the national restaurant chain Dave & Buster's Inc.

It's hard to be in the magazine business these days. The Reader's Digest Association, according to The New York Times, will "file for prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its United States businesses within 30 days." The company has already struck a deal with the majority of its banks to reduce its debt from $2.2 billion to $550 million, and does not expect to shutter any publications or lay off any employees. Under the restructuring plan the association's value will plummet, and its owner Ripplewood Holdings will shed its board seats and shares, leaving the existing debtholders to become the new owners.

Even the biggest names in Hollywood are having trouble raising money. It took months longer than expected for Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios to complete financing to make movies with Indian conglomerate Reliance. "The $325 million in debt financing that DreamWorks now has to work with is about half what Mr. Spielberg had initially hoped to raise when he announced his new partnership with Reliance a year ago," according to The Wall Street Journal. Still, the studio has $825 million total, which is enough to make up to 21 movies over the next four years. The deal with the Indian company comes as "the evaporation of Wall Street financing has opened the door to foreign investors." Meanwhile, Reliance is hoping the director's movies will appeal to younger Indian audiences who are opting for Hollywood over Bollywood.

Hillary Clinton wants to help other women crack the glass ceiling. The Washington Post reports that the Secretary of State's recent trip to Africa is the strongest sign yet that she intends to make women's rights her signature issue. Clinton plans to press governments on women's rights abuses and wants to "make women central to U.S. aid programs," as the Post put it. Clinton also said that focusing on women's issues on a policy level, and not treating those issues as "sidelined or subsidiary," could change "the dynamic within governments." Aside from policy goals, Clinton packs her trips abroad with town hall meetings and women's dinners, using her star wattage to draw attention to and provide a platform for women who might otherwise be overlooked.

Two Afghan U.N. staff and at least five Afghan civilians were killed when a suicide car bomb exploded on the outskirts of Kabul on Tuesday. The attack occurred on the road to Bagram Air Base, the largest U.S. facility in the country, and occurred just two days before the country is set for national elections. In a separate attack, two U.S. soldiers were killed and three wounded.

Hurricane Bill is expected to worsen in the next couple of days. The Associated Press reports that the hurricane was upgraded to Category 2 on Monday, and currently has winds topping 110 mph. Bill is currently east of the Leeward Islands, and moving west-northwest. Even if the storm doesn't pass over Bermuda, at 300 miles across, it still constitutes at threat to the Atlantic island.

It looks like after weeks of battling Republicans, the White House will spend this week placating the Democrats. After administration officials hinted over the weekend that they were willing to drop a public option from health-care reform, prominent Democratic Senators Jay Rockefeller and Russ Feingold said that the public option is a “must” and "without a public option, I don't see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it," respectively. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, said that the public option will remain in the House version of the bill and Rep. Anthony Weiner said that a lack of a public option could cost reform 100 Democratic votes in the House.

Only divine intervention could get Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann to run for president. Talking Points Memo reports that during an interview with World Net Daily, Bachmann was asked if she'd run for president. "If I felt that's what the Lord was calling me to do, I would do it," she said, adding, "but I would not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it. That's really my standard." Apparently, she's not speaking metaphorically. During her 2006 campaign for an open house seat she told a right-wing mega-church that after God called her to run she fasted and prayed for three days with her husband and asked God, "Lord, is this what You want? Is this Your will?" noting that "along about the afternoon of day two, He made that calling sure."

Diplomacy, Mike Huckabee-style: “Former U.S. presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Tuesday there should be no Palestinian state in the West Bank and endorsed Israeli settlements there, sharply disagreeing with Washington and much of the world,” according to the Associated Press. Huckabee is on a three-day tour of the Jewish state, which included stops at a hardline settlement that even Israel’s government considers illegal and also another settlement that the Obama administration has demanded be halted. "The question is should the Palestinians have a place to call their own? Yes, I have no problem with that,” Huckabee said. “Should it be in the middle of the Jewish homeland? That's what I think has to be honestly assessed as virtually unrealistic."