Few people on Capitol Hill are lining up to applaud President Obama’s work these days, so the president is doing it himself: On Wednesday, Obama applauded the $787 billion stimulus bill that passed one year ago. "One year later, it is largely thanks to the Recovery Act that a second Depression is no longer a possibility," he said. He said it preserved up to 2 million jobs, a number with which economic research firms agree.

After Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda's third public apology in two weeks, the car manufacturer could be facing another massive recall. On Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will launch a formal investigation into more than 150 complaints related to the steering of Toyota’s 2009-2010 Corolla model. About 500,000 Corollas have been affected. The car reportedly has a tendency to veer from side to side at highway speeds, and a number of reported accidents have been attributed to the issue. "It's hard to say which is worse: a runaway vehicle or a car that wants to steer itself off the road," an auto-safety authority said. "Either one is a serious safety hazard."

A Taliban leader known to officials as the "shadow governor" of Afghanistan's Kunduz province has been captured in Pakistan, Newsweek reports. Pakistani authorities, working in concert with U.S. officials, caught Mullah Abdul Salam about a week ago, around the same time that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's second in command, was captured. Three other militants were also detained along with Mullah Salam. It is not yet clear whether Mullah Salam is linked to Mullah Baradar, though sources say the two had planned to meet right before Mullah Salam was captured. "Thanks to solid intelligence work and some courageous partners in Pakistan, this hasn't been a good time for the leadership of the Afghan Taliban," a counterterrorism official said.

After a controversial Sports Illustrated cover and the drama of her aching shin, Lindsey Vonn finally made headlines for doing exactly what everyone expected of her. With a commanding performance, the 25-year-old darling of U.S. audiences took gold in the women's downhill. It was the first Olympic gold of her career. "This is the best thing that's happened to me in my life," Vonn told reporters. "It's awesome." Fellow American Julia Mancuso finished 0.56 seconds behind her for silver, while Elisabeth Goergl of Austria won the bronze. Later Wednesday, speedskater Shani Davis defended his title in the 1,000-meter race, becoming the first man ever to repeat in that event. Snowboarder Shaun White took gold in the halfpipe, duplicating his 2008 win. White completed a Double McTwist 1260 move for a near-perfect score, and teammate Scotty Lago snatched the bronze.

The last thing the White House wants is to openly irritate China. So it is treading  carefully on matters of protocol this week as it prepares for the Dalai Lama’s visit Thursday morning. President Obama will receive the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader-in-exile, not as a head of State, but as an "internationally respected religious leader and spokesman for Tibetan rights." They will meet in the Map Room of the White House (as opposed to the Oval Office) and in a group (as opposed to the one-on-one sessions reserved for heads of State). The White House made sure to also provide advance notice of its plans to the Chinese government, which considers the Dalai Lama a separatist.

Searching for ways to stem the economic crises in the future, the Senate and the White House are nearing a deal that would see the creation of a council of banking regulators, despite some opposition from Senate Republicans. Led by the Treasury secretary, its primary function would be to closely monitor banking activities for systemic risk. The creation of a council would diminish the authority of the Federal Reserve, which has borne waves of criticism for allowing the crisis to get out of hand. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has reportedly said he would not object to a Treasury-led council. "The idea of having a council, with the secretary of the Treasury as chair, and the Fed chairman or his designee as vice chair, is that you’re getting an early-warning system," said Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Tiger is coming out of the woods: The golfer will make a public statement at 11 a.m. on Friday—his first remarks since the Thanksgiving accident that exposed his serial adultery. "Tiger Woods will be speaking to a small group of friends, colleagues, and close associates... at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida," his agent said in a statement. "Tiger plans to discuss his past and his future and he plans to apologize for his behavior." There will be no question and answer session.

An earthquake, measured at 6.7 or 6.8 on the Richter scale, hit the largely rural border area between Russia, China, and North Korea Thursday morning. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the quake was 61 miles west-southwest of Vladivostok, Russia, and about 70 miles east of Yanji city in China's Jilin province, according to the Associated Press. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana is finally ready to take some interesting stands… right as he’s heading out the door. The retiring senator called for filibuster reform on Wednesday shortly after Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) declared himself “totally opposed” to such a thing. Asked by Andrea Mitchell if he would support reform, Bayh said, “I think this is something we need to do. Perhaps looking at changing the threshold once again down to 55. Perhaps saying things like administration appointees other than the various highest ones should not be subject to the filibuster, because it just brought the process to a halt and the public is suffering.”

The ultimate diva (and proud of it), Beyoncé has emerged victorious once again as the top-selling artist of the decade, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The organization released a compilation of its awards from 2000 through 2009 and the multi-Grammy winning artist, and former Destiny's Child frontwoman, led the pack with a whopping 64 certifications for albums, ringtones, and music videos. The Eagles also soared above the rest, topping all other groups in total gold and platinum awards, while the late Michael Jackson led male solo artists with 44 certifications. A gold award is presented for sales of at least 500,000 albums or ringtones, while platinum status is granted once an artist reaches the 1 million mark. A music video, which was first recognized by the RIAA in 1981 after the launch of MTV, goes gold at 25,000 units, platinum at 50,000, and multi-platinum for every 50,000 units thereafter. "We've seen a decade of major music milestones and extraordinary artist achievements," the chairman and CEO of RIAA said. "The names, songs and albums on our list are the decade's best and are etched in our music DNA." Sounds like the ring Beyoncé put on us is forever.

Republicans who attack President Obama over the national debt were unwilling to create a bipartisan deficit commission with him. So the president has decided to go around  them: He will issue an executive order on Thursday creating an 18-member deficit commission. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will be chaired by Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erksine Bowles, the former chief of staff to President Clinton who brokered a 1997 balanced-budget agreement with Congress. “There isn’t a single sitting member of Congress—not one—that doesn’t know exactly where we’re headed,” Simpson tells The New York Times. “And to use the politics of fear and division and hate on each other—we are at a point right now where it doesn’t make a damn whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican if you’ve forgotten you’re an American.” 

The murder of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh last month is beginning to have repercussions at the top level of Israeli politics. Increasingly, evidence suggests that the Israeli government played a role in the assassination; the identities of at least seven Israeli citizens were stolen and used by a hit squad suspected of carrying out the murder in a Dubai hotel. It led one prominent commentator Wednesday to call for the Mossad chief's resignation. Israel's foreign minister insisted there was no reason to blame the country for last month’s murder, but would not explicitly rule out involvement from Mossad, the country's intelligence agency, adding that Israel has a "policy of ambiguity" on intelligence issues.

After nearly a month in a Haitian jail, a judge has granted bail to eight of the 10 U.S. missionaries charged with child kidnapping. They are free to leave the country so long as they agree to return to aid in the investigation, if required. Earlier Wednesday one of the Americans who suffers from diabetes was taken to a field hospital.

With a subtle omission of a few words, Gov. Bob McDonnell removed a protection for discriminating against gay and lesbian state workers in Virginia. On Feb. 5, the Republican governor signed an executive order that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities,” and veterans. Sexual orientation was omitted. The protection had been in place for four years, since McDonnell's predecessor, Gov. Tim Kaine (D), signed it into law as one of his first acts in office. The reversal comes on the heels of the state senate’s passing a bill to protect state workers from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

A small plane crashed in East Palo Alto, around 30 miles south of San Francisco, Wednesday morning after hitting an electrical transmission tower. All three people on board, who were Tesla employees, were killed, and four homes in the residential neighborhood were damaged. Flying through thick fog shortly before 8 a.m., the twin-engine Cessna hit the tower and fell on to houses and vehicles below in several pieces. The crash cut off power to 28,000 people in the city of Palo Alto, including Stanford Hospital, which had to operate on backup power. No one on the ground was hurt.

Amy Bishop, the woman suspected of murdering three of her colleagues at the University of Alabama Huntsville last week, was charged in 2002 with an assault at an International House of Pancakes. The alleged attack occurred in Peabody, Massachusetts. Supposedly Bishop attacked another woman after she was told that the woman had received the last booster seat in the restaurant. Bishop then yelled and cursed at the woman, including saying “I am Dr. Amy Bishop,” and then hit her on the side of the head in front of her children. Bishop pleaded not guilty and ultimately received probation.

Mike Huckabee has booked Michelle Obama for a weekend chat about childhood obesity. Huckabee says he “commends” Obama for her work on the issue. "It is not a left/right, liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican issue. This is an issue that falls beyond what I call the 'horizontal' issues of left and right and rises to the 'vertical' level of up or down," Huckabee said. "The tragedy would be for conservatives to sit it out and not ensure that the approach is indeed vertical and focused on the cultural and generational changes that are needed." Huckabee added it’s not a problem “that government can fix and shouldn’t attempt to regulate people’s behavior.”

A veteran BBC broadcaster was arrested on suspicion of murder Wednesday after admitting he had carried out a "mercy killing" on a lover suffering from AIDS. Ray Gosling, 70, says he smothered his bed-ridden partner with a pillow, and police would never had known it had not Gosling confessed during a broadcast on BBC East Midlands' Inside Out program on Monday. "Maybe this is the time to share a secret that I have kept for quite a long time," Gosling said. "I killed someone once... He was a young chap, he'd been my lover and he got AIDS." Assisted suicide has been repeatedly challenged in court, but it remains illegal in Britain and can put people behind bars for up to 14 years.

The childhood of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, was pious and privileged, but not without its problems. Growing up in Kaduna, in northern Nigeria, religious violence was a part of daily life. Young Muslims saw protests and clashes with their Christian neighbors. "Farouk Mutallab came from a society that has not embraced tolerance. He came from a society that has a history of violence, of extremism, and that is a fact,” a neighbor and author told NPR for a three-part series which began Wednesday. A reporter who visited Kaduna found stories about how Abdulmutallab resented living the life of a banker’s son—his father was one of the most powerful figures in Nigerian finance. Sent off to a co-ed boarding school in Togo, Abdulmutallab’s alienation grew. Young Abdulmutallab thought the solution was finding a wife.

Vanity Fair's annual "Young Hollywood" issue caused a stir when its fold-out cover was revealed, showing a bevy of nine white, thin female starlets and leaving out the industry's breakout actress, Precious star Gabourey Sidibe. Though the "Fresh Faces of 2010" issue includes Oscar-nominated Sidibe in its pages, the cover features Abbie Cornish, Kristen Stewart, Carey Mulligan, Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Hall, Mia Wasikowska, Anna Kendrick, Emma Stone, and Evan Rachel Wood. "At first I thought, 'Hmm, should I be there?'" the first-time nominee told Access Hollywood. "Then I very quickly got over it. I think if I were a part of that shoot I would have felt a little left out anyway," Sidibe graciously said. "I'm excited to be mentioned anywhere, and it doesn't matter to me where I'm not mentioned."

Men's Olympic figure skating hasn't been this exciting since the 'Battle of the Brians' in 1988: Reigning Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia is in the lead with 90.85 points after the men's short program on Tuesday night, with world champion Evan Lysacek of the U.S. trailing him by a mere .55 points, and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi just .05 points further behind—a close enough margin that the three might as well be tied. Plushenko specializes in showmanship, favoring elaborate jumps at the expense of delicate footwork while Lysacek is known for his smooth artistry and Takahashi specializes in innovative footwork and spins. The upcoming free skate could turn the competition toward any one of the men. Lysacek's teammate and fan favorite Johnny Weir is in 6th place. "I actually had fun tonight, and that's something I haven't been able to say for a long time," Weir said.

Looks like the Supreme Court is about as popular as the other two branches of government: A Washington Post-ABC News Poll found that 80 percent of respondents oppose the court’s recent ruling allowing corporations and unions to spend freely on political campaigns. Opposition was bipartisan, with 85 percent of Democrats opposing and 76 percent of Republicans. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is in charge of the Senate’s efforts to create legislation to limit the court’s decision. "We hope we can get strong and quick bipartisan support for our legislation, which passes constitutional muster but will still effectively limit the influence of special interests,” he said on Wednesday.

On the same day that Toyota announced a plan to beef up vehicle-security features, it appears that a new recall may be in store. Over the last four months Toyota issued a massive global recall of 8.5 million cars over sticking gas pedals and faulty brakes. On Wednesday, the company announced that it would add a brake-override system to all its future cars that would cut engine power if brake and gas pedals were simultaneously depressed. The bad news is that recall-mania may not be over. Toyota has received fewer than 100 complaints about the power-steering of its Corolla, the world's best-selling car, but is still investigating them with an eye to a potential recall. Apparently, drivers felt like they lost control over the steering in their vehicles.

From the firm that brought you Harold Ford Jr.: Stockbroker Steven Mandala, 29, has been accused of swindling Merrill Lynch out of $780,000. Allegedly, Mandala got hired at Merrill by falsely claiming that he previously was a partner at Maxim Group, where he said he managed $300 million in client assets and earned $765,000 per year. In fact, he earned just $100,000 per year. Mandala allegedly produced the fake pay stubs to prove his claim, and on this basis, Merrill offered him a $780,000 loan on his first day of work as an incentive. According to the indictment charges, Mandala blew $245,580 on a red 2006 Ferrari bought in the name of his father, showed up for work infrequently, and brought on a mere $20,000 worth of clients.

Things must be really dire when it's considered bad news that oil companies have quit a climate-legislation lobby: BP, ConocoPhillips, and heavy-equipment maker Catepillar have all withdrawn from the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a business-environmental coalition that pressed Washington to cap greenhouse gases. It’s another nail in the coffin of cap and trade. The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, looks at how President Obama is (once again) trying to work around a paralyzed Congress to achieve his environmental agenda: He uses his 2011 budget to call for $39 billion in tax increases on oil companies over 10 years; $1.4 billion in aid to countries fighting climate change; and $36 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear power.

It isn't a great time to be a journalist, and not just because the media is in a state of collapse: More journalists were killed in 2009 than in any year since the Committee to Protect Journalists started documenting attacks 18 years ago. Murders include 29 journalists massacred in the Phillippines last November in the deadliest single attack against the media on record. At least 70 journalists were killed for their reporting, including nine in Somalia, four each in Pakistan and Iraq, and three in Russia, while at least 136 reporters, editors, and photojournalists are imprisoned worldwide, the bulk of them in Iran and China.

In 2003, CBS canceled a mini-series about Ronald Reagan after conservatives complained. Could a planned History Channel about the Kennedys meet a similar fate? Hatched from the brain of proud conservative of Joel Surnow, the creator of 24, The Kennedys is raising eyebrows among the former president’s loyalists, like Ted Sorenson. Now Robert Greenwald, a liberal filmmaker, has released a short film where Kennedy scholars attack Surnow’s project as inaccurate and a hatchet job. “It was political character assassination,” Greenwald says. “It was sexist titillation and pandering, and it was turning everything into a cheap soap opera of the worst kind.” Greenwald’s film is available at stopkennedysmears.com. The Kennedys does not yet have a cast or premiere date.

Is this the bombshell that's supposed to end New York Governor David Paterson's career? The New York Times has run its much-anticipated story and it focuses not on Paterson's romantic life, but rather the background of one of his longtime aides. David A. Johnson began working as an intern for Paterson when he was a state legislator. Johnson, 37, now makes $132,000 a year and has his own room in the governor's mansion. Johnson was twice arrested on felony drug charges in his teens, was once arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge, and has three times been involved in disputes with women that resulted in calls to police. (Paterson has campaigned against domestic violence.) The New York Times reports that some of the governor's veteran aides are worried that Johnson has a lot of influence but lacks the ability to help Paterson through the state's fiscal crisis. Agency heads complain they have to go through Johnson to get to the governor. In a statement Wednesday, Paterson said he is “proud” of Johnson’s accomplishments and “the conclusions reached by the Times report are not supported by the facts”: “There is no independent evidence presented that would substantiate any claims of violence committed by David Johnson against a woman, a fact underscored by the absence of a single judicial finding that any such incident ever took place.”

All eyes may be on the Marjah offensive in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is now using human shields according to some reports, but Iraq bears attention too: Sectarian strife and violence may be returning to the country, and this time there’s not a significant U.S. troop commitment to help quell it. Last month, Sunni extremists targeted Shiites during a holy pilgrimage, and recently a Sunni man who lives in a Shiite neighborhood was murdered during a soccer match. "All we're doing is setting the clock back to 2005," a senior U.S. military official tells The Washington Post. "The militias are fully armed, and al Qaeda in Iraq is trying to move back from the west. These are the conditions now, and we're sitting back looking at PowerPoint slides and whitewashing."

Sadie, the adorable Scottish terrier, won Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday night. Sadie was the No. 1 pooch in the nation coming into the competition, and the heavy favorite among bettors in Las Vegas. The 4-year-old with silky black tresses—full name Roundtown Mercedes of Maryscot—won her 112th best-in-show ribbon, though this latest is surely the most satisfying. The purebred dog show, held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, was briefly interrupted near the end by some pro-mutt protesters, but security quickly averted a Kanye-Taylor moment. The bitch beat out a French bulldog, a toy poodle, a Doberman, a Brittany, a puli, and a whippet named Chanel who can run 35 miles per hour for the top title.

You wouldn’t guess it from the fight on in Washington these days, but it turns out that the White House did something right: The economic stimulus package passed last year has created between 1.6 million and 1.8 million jobs according to the best-known economic -esearch firms, and in the end that number will rise to 2.5 million. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal points out that two-thirds of the stimulus is yet to be spent. With Congress contemplating another jobs bill, David Leonhardt writes that “The last year has shown—just as economists have long said—that aid to states and cities may be the single most effective form of stimulus. Unlike road- or bridge-building, it can happen in a matter of weeks.”

The U.S. hasn't had an ambassador to Syria since 2005, when it withdrew its ambassador from Damascus after Syria was implicated in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. But now, underscoring his efforts to thaw relations between the two countries, President Obama has formally nominated Robert Ford, a respected State Department Arabist, for the diplomatic post. If confirmed, Ford, a former ambassador to Algeria, has his work cut out for him—he'll be tasked with wooing the Syrian government away from Iran, ending its longstanding support of Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and pressing for a peace treaty between Syria and Israel.