Out with the old, in with the… old? President Barack Obama may say he’s against the Bush administration’s interrogation policies, but he’s just tapped a key Bush-era CIA insider, John Brennan, to oversee his new interrogation policies. Brennan, who was in the CIA for 25 years and who served as the CIA’s deputy executive director during the period of "enhanced interrogation techniques," will be Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser. He'll oversee a new interrogation corps, which will be focused on the most important detainees. While Brennan was not in a decision-making position during the period of enhanced techniques, former CIA officials say that he was likely privy to discussions about certain tactics. According to Melvin Goodman, former intelligence analyst who worked at the CIA for 20 years, Brennan “supported everything with great enthusiasm—apparently he did make claims in-house … against waterboarding, but he was defending detentions, defending extraordinary renditions, enhanced interrogation techniques and secret prisons.” He added that Brennan getting the new job “shows that Obama is politically deaf or doesn’t care.”

The CEO of Nemazee Capital Corp and a major fundraiser for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has been arrested on charges of defrauding Citigroup out of $74 million, according to the Department of Justice. Hassan Nemazee is accused of submitting phony documents to obtain up to $74 million from Citibank. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. Nemazee served as national finance chairman for Hillary's campaign, and raised at least $100,000 for her in the 2008 campaign before bringing in another $500,000 for Obama once he won the nomination. Another prominent fundraiser for Clinton and Democrats, Norman Hsu, was convicted in May of campaign finance fraud for illegally donating tens of thousands of dollars. He also pleaded guilty to running a $20 million Ponzi scheme.

Showing off Pyongyang’s newfound conciliatory mood, South Korea and North Korea are holding talks this week that will focus on the reunions of families torn apart during the Korean War. They’ve scheduled a three-day meeting between Red Cross representatives from both nations, and, if agreements are reached, families separated by war could see each other for the first time since 1953. It’s all part of what what Time magazine calls “a North Korean charm offensive,” set off by Bill Clinton’s recent visit to free two American journalists. According to South Korean news outlets, North Korea has even invited Barack Obama and Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy to the country, to sit down for talks. American outlets previously reported that President Obama refuses to meet with North Korean officials; nonetheless, South Korean reports claim the administration is “seriously considering” a trip next month.

The verdict is in: Chris Brown was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation—and 180 days of community labor—for attacking his former girlfriend, the singer Rihanna, in February. He’ll also take a yearlong domestic-violence prevention class, and has been ordered to stay away from Rihanna for the next five years. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg said she wants to see Brown do “actual physical labor, as opposed to some type of community service.” Meanwhile, People reports that court documents reveal a history of abuse between Brown and Rihanna, including an incident in Europe when Brown pushed Rihanna into a wall, and one in Barbados where an enraged Brown stopped a car he was driving, got out, and "broke the front driver and passenger side windows of the car."

California is in dire financial straits, and it has one message for the world: Everything must go! The Great California Garage Sale will run on Friday and Saturday, and state officials will sell various publicly owned items—from BlackBerrys to desks to an “antique piano”—that they no longer need. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is adding a Tinsel Town-inspired incentive: He’s signed some of the CHiPs motorcycles and the windshield of a car in the hopes of attracting higher prices at the sale, which will be held in Sacramento and on eBay. “But perhaps the most interesting untold stories are how in the world the state of California ever came into possession of some of this stuff,” notes L.A. Times blog Top of the Ticket. From a dentist's chair to a surfboard and an “Xbox 360 with Halo 3 cover,” the objects raise more questions than the perplexing garage sale itself.

Kate Gosselin appeared on Larry King tonight, but she didn’t reveal much about her ruined marriage and hectic family life. She looked tense as she explained that she and Jon Gosselin have a “peaceful custody” arrangement, and that their breakup has been “a good experience” so far. Gosselin admitted, however, that when it comes to the kids and the cameras, “my nature is to freak out, to be in control.” And as Jon cavorts with younger women, Kate reacted with a hint of disdain. “Uh, his decisions right now are not ones that I would necessarily make, but down deep in his heart, I know that he is a [good dad],” she said of her ex-husband. And, in true Gosselin fashion, she ended with a good cliffhanger: At the end of the interview, she told King: “I have big dreams… I am very driven.”

Maybe the president should stick to basketball. Barack Obama hit the golf course in Martha’s Vineyard this week—and displayed some pretty poor skills. An onlooker says that Obama shot a triple-bogey, or three over par, on the second hole. “All I heard him say was ‘fore!’ and he hit a tree, but it was not too far from the green,” the witness told the New York Post. On the ninth hole, the president had apparently had enough: He left the course one putt short. The president played one game with UBS Chairman Robert Wolf and another with assistant White House chef Sam Kass.

The White House sought to allay concerns over the economy Tuesday, saying that "the recession will end in the second half of 2009" and that it would make moves in next year's budget to deal with the astronomical deficit. The rhetoric comes as the White House's budget office revised its estimate of the 10-year deficit to $9 trillion from $7.1 trillion. Administration officials used the larger number to press for their agenda. "The size of the fiscal gap is precisely why we must enact fiscally well designed health-care reform now," OMB director Peter Orszag said. A document released by the budget office also reaffirmed the White House's stance that it chose the best course possible to deal with the economic crisis, highlighting that the 2009 deficit of $1.5 trillion is actually projected to be slightly down from initial estimates.

If at first you don’t succeed, put your adversaries on trial. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a public trial examining the science behind manmade climate change, in a bid to undermine the Clean Air Act. The Chamber, which represents three million businesses and is the nation’s largest business lobby, wants to avoid federal emissions regulations on carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases that the EPA says contribute to climate change. The EPA is expected to reject the request, at which point the Chamber plans to file a federal lawsuit. William Kovacs, a spokesman for the Chamber, said the trial would be "the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century,” referring to the 1925 case in which a Tennessee teacher was found guilty of violating a law that banned teaching the theory of evolution, with the trial famously focusing on the legitimacy of the theory itself. “It would be evolution versus creationism,” Kovacs explained. “It would be the science of climate change on trial.”

Many of the facts surrounding Steve Jobs' health remain a mystery. One thing that is clear, however, is that the Apple CEO is once again in command after a lengthy medical leave, and taking a keen interest in the development of Apple's latest gizmo, a new "tablet." Apple employees involved in the design of the tablet have had to "readjust" to Jobs' presence, The Wall Street Journal reports, as he has been micromanaging many aspects of the new technology. The tablet will likely be a touch-screen computer that will integrate different types of media such as television, movies, and the Internet and cost somewhere between an iPod Touch ($399) and Apple's cheapest laptop ($999). Per usual, much mystery surrounds Apple's next gadget. Just last October Jobs expressed doubt about developing a cheap computer. "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk," Jobs said.

Mark Sanford, be warned. South Carolina's Republican state representatives are planning to discuss the embattled governor’s future at their annual retreat this weekend in Myrtle Beach. Besides admitting in June to an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman, Sanford has faced criticism recently over whether his use of state aircraft for personal trips violated state law. Under South Carolina law, the governor could be impeached by the state's House of Representatives for “serious crimes or serious misconduct in office.” Some lawmakers say it’s time for Sanford to go: “He left the state without anyone knowing where he was,” State Rep. Greg Delleney told The State, adding that the governor’s trip to secretly meet his lover in Argentina is “serious misconduct” and “a dereliction of duty.” Leaders in the state Senate, which would ultimately be responsible for trying and convicting Sanford if the state House follows through with impeachment, have already called for the governor’s resignation.

The Federal Reserve must make public the companies taking part in its emergency lending program after losing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The Fed has refused to disclose which firms are receiving money, saying doing so could cause bank runs and unsettle shareholders. Bloomberg LP sued for the information in November. On Monday, a Manhattan judge gave the Fed five days to turn over the documents. It's unclear whether the central bank will appeal the decision. "When an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars were lent to financial institutions in unprecedented ways and the Federal Reserve refused to make public any of the details of its extraordinary lending, Bloomberg News asked the court why U.S. citizens don't have the right to know," explained the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News.

Earlier this year, former vice president Dick Cheney had requested that the CIA release documents that he said would prove that “enhanced interrogation techniques” worked. His request was, at first, denied, but now ABC News reports the documents have been released. So is Cheney vindicated? Spencer Ackerman at The Washington Independent gives the documents a read and finds that, not only do they not support Cheney’s claim, but in fact they sometimes show the opposite: traditional, non-coercive interrogations often worked well at prying valuable information from detainees. "Cheney’s public account of these documents have conflated the difference between information acquired from detainees, which the documents present, and information acquired from detainees through the enhanced interrogation program, which they don’t."

The man appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate allegations of detainee abuse by the CIA is a career prosecutor known for his intense dedication to the law and unflappable moral compass. John Durham is already involved in the controversial case involving the destruction of so-called CIA torture tapes, and is described as having the courage to hold people's feet to the fire or simply walk away if he doesn't have a case. One colleague of Durham's compared him to another highly respected federal prosecutor: "He's [Patrick] Fitzgerald with a sense of humor," the colleague told The Wall Street Journal. Durham, a registered Republican, has also been involved in high-profile cases against the mafia, as well as a corruption case involving the FBI in Boston which served as the inspiration for the movie The Departed.

Robin Williams doesn't seem to mind being typecast as an older Scottish woman—but might Scottish women get sick of being played by Williams? In 1993, the comedian memorably portrayed prim nanny Mrs. Doubtfire, and now he's been approached to play Britain's Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle in an upcoming film about the singer, The Telegraph reports. "I think she’s incredible," Williams, 57, said. "So inspiring." He has apparently been doing impressions of Boyle singing "I Dreamed a Dream," the song that made the 48-year-old famous.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday he's "angry" and "repulsed" by the reception the freed Lockerbie bomber received on his return to Libya. Brown refused to say whether he agreed with the decision to release Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, but stressed that he had "no role" in it. Asked whether he though the decision to release the bomber on compassionate grounds was right or wrong, he said that his first thought had been with the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombings. "I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber guilty of a huge terrorist crime received on his return to Libya," Brown said.

When the head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service abruptly quit, the U.S., which had helped establish the organization, was caught by surprise. The intelligence chief justified his departure by saying that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was conspiring against the INIS by allowing "Iranian spies to operate freely." In an op-ed for the Washington Post, David Ignatius says examples such as this, which point to major rifts at the top of Iraqi government, are key to understanding why the country has begun to unravel so quickly after U.S. troops' withdrawal. According to a "top Iraqi intelligence source," without American help, in five years "Iraq will be a colony of Iran."

President Obama took a moment from his vacation on Martha's Vineyard Tuesday morning to praise Ben Bernanke, who he appointed to serve another term as head of the Federal Reserve. Speaking of the challenges ahead, the president said the U.S. is "a long way away" from a healthy economy. Obama's comments notably contrast with Bernanke's own more-optimistic-than-usual comments in recent days. With Bernanke by his side, Obama said that the Fed Chief had helped prevent an even deeper crisis. "Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall," Obama said. The Wall Street Journal reports that the surprise announcement from Obama is a calculated move that will help distract people from the gloomy news about the record-smashing deficit.

Anna Wintour attempted to thaw her icy image on David Letterman’s sofa on Monday night. “I read in The New York Times this week that I'm an ice queen, I'm the Sun King, I'm an alien fleeing from District 9 and I'm a dominatrix," the Vogue editor joked. "So I reckon that makes me a lukewarm royalty with a whip from outer space. What do you think?” When pushed by Dave about her reputation, she said. "Well, I'm very decisive, and I try and give very clear direction to the people that I'm working with, and sometimes, unfortunately, they don't hear the answer that they would like to hear.”

A roadside bomb exploded in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, killing four U.S. troops and marking a grim new benchmark in the war against the Taliban that began in 2001. So far this year, 295 foreign troops have died on Afghan soil, making it the deadliest year since the conflict began. The bombing, along with the growing allegations of corruption in the recent presidential election, highlights the worsening situation in Afghanistan, where troops are pressing deep into Taliban territory. The surge of troops under the Obama administration has been especially difficult—Reuters reports that more Western troops have died since March than in the first three years of the war. U.S. military officials are concerned that the discord over the election will only further destabilize the war-torn country.

Is Rudy Giuliani headed for the governor's mansion? Feeling that he could "handily" beat Democratic Gov. David Paterson, the former New York City mayor is considering tossing his hat in the ring in 2010, "believing public anger at an ineffectual Albany and unease over the economy could create ideal conditions for a Republican to reclaim the governor’s mansion," The New York Times said Tuesday. The often-unpredictable Giuliani is sounding out state officials, drumming up potential support, and is likely to make his decision in the next 30 to 60 days, The Times said, adding that Giuliani "sees parallels between the current conditions in Albany and those in the city before his election as mayor."

Right at the heart of New York City’s latest attraction, a veritable peep show is on display for all to see. Visitors to New York City's newest park, the High Line, will be treated to a view of the Standard Hotel, which features floor-to-ceiling windows ideal for the none-too-shy. The New York Post has captured several photos of the nude revelry, and more people are swinging by the park to do some sightseeing. Initially, the hotel encouraged the behavior; its Web site said "it's all about sex, all the time." Not surprisingly, the Standard has backtracked after cries of outrage from city officials. "We saw two feet pressed against the glass in an apparent attempt to get better leverage. Our curiosity is piqued—but it hasn't yet been satisfied. We'll come back," one visitor to the park told the New York Post.

What's one surefire way to get on Barack Obama's bad side? Schedule something that interferes with his responsibilities as First Dad. Aides learned that lesson the hard way when they made the president miss one of his daughters' school concerts. "That is unacceptable," Obama told his schedulers. "Make sure that never happens again." Other presidential annoyances include the requisite makeup sessions before television appearances, overeager photographers who snap away incessantly at unofficial events like golf outings, and "people who talk too much at meetings and prevent others from speaking." Obama also hates it when staff members try to control his every move: "If you spend too much time telling him where to go, how you get there, and everything in between, it drives him crazy," an aide tells Politico. He prefers to do things his way, taking questions even when aides instruct him not to, for example. Yet in spite of these irritations, staffers say the president, who became known as "No Drama Obama" during the campaign, remains a relaxed guy most of the time.

The justice secretary in Scotland who released convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds says the man broke a promise not to celebrate his homecoming. Kenny MacAskill defended his decision to free al-Megrahi, but said the bomber showed "no sensitivity" to the families of his victims. He called the celebration that greeted the bomber, which included some Scottish flags waving, “a matter of great regret,” and said he had been promised the felon's return would be "low-key." Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to urge Libya on Tuesday to cease their celebrations. The Libyan government defended its actions, insisting that the celebration “is something that can’t be understood by people in the West.” Libyan officials have bragged that al-Megrahi would be the “main guest” at a celebration on Tuesday marking the 40th anniversary of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s seizure of power.

The practice of sending suspected terrorists overseas for detention and interrogation, which drew criticism during the Bush administration, will continue during Barack Obama’s tenure in office, The New York Times reports. Obama is instituting a new interrogation unit, positioned within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and known as the High-Value Interrogation Group, to oversee questioning of terror suspects. This move takes power away from the Central Intelligence Agency, which has been criticized for its harsh interrogation methods like those detailed in a report declassified Monday. An administration official said that the power granted to the State Department will increase: “the emphasis will be on insuring that individuals will not face torture if they are sent over overseas.” Human-rights groups, however, criticized the decision. “It is extremely disappointing that the Obama administration is continuing the Bush administration practice of relying on diplomatic assurances, which have been proven completely ineffective in preventing torture,” said Amrit Singh of the American Civil Liberties Union.

As families begin back-to-school shopping, it might be worth swinging by the pharmacy for some TheraFlu. A resurgence in the H1N1 virus is expected to coincide with the start of school around the country, and a White House panel has predicted that 90,000 Americans could die as a result. A report by the panel envisions "a plausible scenario" in which "every aspect of the health system" is pushed to the limit. The report states that those that require more serious care for the virus "could occupy 50% to 100% of all ICU beds in affected regions of the country at the peak of the epidemic." The government has begun making plans to spend $2 billion on swine flu antidotes, though most pharmaceutical companies have only recently begun clinical tests.

If you're interested in reading the latest celebrity gossip regarding Jessica Biel, be careful: An online security company has declared a search for Biel the most likely of any celebrity to lead to spyware and viruses. "Cybercriminals are star watchers, too. They latch onto popular celebrities to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise," a senior employee with the company, McAfee, told the Associated Press. Fans sifting through search results for Jesssica Biel have a 20-percent chance of stumbling upon a Web site with bad intentions. Biel has taken the title of "most dangerous celebrity online" from Brad Pitt, who won the honor last year.

Shortly after the latest revelations accusing Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, of negligent behavior that led to his sudden death, the Jackson family released a statement saying they "look forward to justice," Us Weekly reports. Still, several questions remain that will determine the extent of the charges brought against Murray—and Jackson's final hours are still clouded by mystery. A police affidavit alleges that Murray did not phone paramedics for 82 minutes after noticing that Jackson had stopped breathing. It also accuses Murray of failing to inform medical staff that he had administered the powerful anesthetic Propofol to the singer. Investigators are determining whether they will accuse of Murray of bearing the responsibility of Jacko's death, or if "grossly negligent treatment of several doctors" is to blame.