Following a meeting Friday with the chief executives of the country's four largest health-insurance companies, President Obama took to the airwaves Saturday morning to attack the group's latest rate hikes. "They couldn't give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums—by as much as 60 percent in states like Illinois," Obama said in his weekly radio address. "If we do not act, they will continue to do this." The president repeated his call to Congress to finish health-care legislation, which the House and Senate are working to pass within weeks. "I know it has been a long and hard road to this point," Obama said. "And we are not finished with our journey just yet. But we are close. We are very close. And so I ask Congress to finish its work."

An airstrike is believed to have taken out a key Pakistani Taliban figure along with at least 15 other militants. "I would be surprised if he's alive," said Pakistan's Interior Minister. "I hope we'll have confirmation in a day or so." If his death is confirmed, Faqir Mohammed would be the latest killed or arrested in a recent string of anti-Taliban successes; Faqir himself staked a claim to the leadership of the movement after top Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA bombing last August. Faqir had also been linked to a major al-Qaeda figure. The strike killed senior Taliban leader Fateh Mohammed of Pakistan's Swat Valley, as well.

Despite publicly discouraging companies from investing in Iran, the U.S. government has awarded more than $107 billion to companies doing business in the country since 2000, The New York Times reports. In fact, nearly $15 billion has been given to businesses who made large investments in Iran’s oil sector, in defiance of U.S. laws that prohibit doing business with the energy industry. That industry makes major cash for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which oversees Iran’s nuclear program. The auto industry, which the Times found companies investing in, is also tied to the Guard. One provided container ship motors to a state-owned company the U.S. has blacklisted since it was caught smuggling military supplies. Over the past few months, many companies have pulled out of Iran as the U.S. pushes for more sanctions with the U.N. But 49 of the 74 companies who did business with both the U.S. and Iran, the Times reports, continue to do so and don’t plan on leaving.

Afghanistan and Iraq aren't the only fronts commanding America's military attention. Afraid of allowing al Qaeda a safe haven in Africa, the U.S. is supplying crucial assistance to the remnants of Somalia's government in a planned offensive to retake the country's capital. Surveillance planes have been sighted in the area and American advisers have helped train Somali forces for the past several months, The New York Times reports. While the assistant secretary of State for Africa, Johnnie Carson, tells the Times that "This is not an American offensive," another American official offered a prediction that covert forces could be used more directly to take out al Qaeda in the area. “What you’re likely to see is airstrikes and Special Ops moving in, hitting and getting out,” the official said.

New reports have found that Abdul Zahir, the newly appointed civilian chief in Afghanistan’s Marjah reason, spent time in a German prison after being convicted of stabbing his son. “He attempted to stab his 18-year-old son to death with a kitchen knife in the kitchen of his stepdaughter in Nieder-Roden on Dec. 15, 1997,” according to the newspaper Darmstaedter Echo. Zahir denies the allegations and said, “I was not a killer. I was not a smuggler. … I didn’t commit any crime,” adding that “this news is coming from those people who are against me … They don’t want such a person to serve the people, who has good relations with Americans, British and foreigners.” Zahir has been installed as chief to replace Taliban leadership in efforts to secure the country and has the support of NATO officials. “Zahir, from our reporting, is doing good work down there,” said the organization’s director of communications. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to the country today and toured bases captured weeks ago from the Taliban, reports The Telegraph.

There has been more violence leading up to Iraqis going to the polls Sunday to elect a new government, a crucial vote that could determine whether America can smoothly withdraw from the country without facing further chaos. A car bomb killed four people and injured 54 when it exploded near Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrine on Saturday. Iraq's first election, while a rare and inspiring event in the Middle East, precipitated a civil war and sectarian tensions have been on the rise in recent months. If the election is viewed as illegitimate, if divisive candidates take office, or if new leaders prove more authoritarian, the results could be disastrous. "This is a very important election," Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told The Washington Post in an interview. "It will decide the future of the democratic process in Iraq. It will be developed or stopped."

Within the next few weeks, the country’s capital will be handing out 500,000 female condoms at no cost. Following a study that showed large numbers of African American heterosexuals engaging in “risky sexual behavior,” the District will start passing out the condoms at beauty salons, convenience stores, and high schools in the five wards that showed increased risk of HIV infection. Male condoms have long been distributed widely and freely, and the move targets women, to allow them to prevent and protect themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and from partners who refuse to use protection. The female condom has been on the U.S. market since 1993, but women have complained about its original price point, which has since been reduced to be more on par with male condoms.

Chile is getting a boost from aid at home and abroad following last week’s massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake: TV Chile began a telethon Friday with a goal of $27 million in donations from nearly 20 countries to help clean up damage caused by the quake and subsequent tsunamis. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has also promised $10 million in aid. “Chile has been extraordinarily generous in assisting Haiti in its time of need," he said. "Now is the moment for the United Nations and the international community to stand with Chile and its people.” With hundreds dead, Chilean officials have announced three days of nationwide mourning, during which homes hang the national flag in memory of lost friends and family.

Female actors like Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock outperformed their male counterparts at the box office last year. Women directed many of the biggest films, and female audiences proved to be important ticket buyers with the Twilight series, The Blind Side, and Alice in Wonderland. But the year’s biggest breakthrough was Kathryn Bigelow, who has a good chance of taking home the Oscar for The Hurt Locker. She would be the first female to win best director. Only three other women have been nominated, and for the past quarter century, women have directed just 7 to 9 percent of movies. Bigelow is all the more unique for making it to the top of her profession by directing traditionally male-dominated subjects, like war, instead of chick flicks. Bigelow wants to be known as a director, not a woman director, but nevertheless, many women are cheering her on. "I get tears in my eyes thinking about it,” writer-director Shana Feste says. “I'm rooting for her, man.”

Could CNN mainstay Christiane Amanpour become the new host of ABC’s This Week? Though she’s made her name as a foreign correspondent and not as a politico, sources say that Amanpour is a top candidate to replace George Stephanopoulos, who recently moved to NBC’s Good Morning America. In the interim Stephanopoulos’ seat has been kept warm by a variety of guest hosts including Barbara Walters, and this coming week Matthew Dowd will host. Amanpour has not commented on the deal and reports also put PBS’s Gwen Ifill in the running for the job, which ABC News’ president said would be filled within the next few weeks.

Normally not one to court media attention, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is the subject of a major new profile in The Atlantic, chronicling his rapid ascendance through bureaucratic ranks to become the architect of much of President Obama’s economic policy. “Tim presented his course in a forceful way, and that’s the course the president picked,” Rahm Emanuel said of Geithner’s plan during last year’s financial crisis. “At the end of the day, it saved the United States taxpayer a trillion dollars.” Still, opinion is sharply divided on Geithner, whose moderate, pro-spending Clinton-era approach to banks during the crisis is a source of major political unpopularity for him and the president alike. “In a crisis, you have to choose,” said Geithner of the financial institutions saved by the bailout. “Are you going to solve the problem, or are you going to teach people a lesson? They’re in direct conflict.” Geithner addressed his status as a whipping boy for both Republicans and Democrats, saying, “In the end, what you care about is, what did you do? Did it make things better or not? That’s what you’ll be judged by. Now, will it vindicate the president over time? It should, but I’m not sure it will.”

A Pasadena psychiatric hospital associated with TV’s Dr. Drew Pinsky is under investigation and stands to lose federal funding after a series of negligence incidents, including four patient deaths and one rape over the past several years. Aurora Las Encinas hospitals is one of the area’s higher-end facilities—it’s been known to charge up to $1,600 per night—and was known primarily for its affiliation with Pinsky, who is no longer involved with the hospital and refused to comment on the issue. “I was elated that he finally pulled his name because it will keep some people from going there, if not most,” said the parent of one patient who was found dead at the hospital in 2006 after staff failed to check on his breathing despite doctor’s orders to monitor him due to risky medication. The hospital’s chief executive left last fall and recently the nursing director followed suit amid findings that staff falsified records to show that patients had been adequately monitored. Hospital officials have promised to tighten regulations, and government officials now have license to inspect Aurora Las Encinas at random to check for violations.

Conan O’Brien is making the most of his NBC-mandated time off, and despite having over half a million followers has used his new Twitter account to follow only one person, a Michigan woman named Sarah Killen. “I’ve decided to follow someone at random. She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change,” tweeted O’Brien on Friday. Since then Killen has accumulated thousands of followers of her own and free products from various companies as she plans her upcoming wedding. “I went on to my MySpace and there was a message asking basically if they did want to pick me, if they could, for permission,” said Killen in a Skype interview with MTV. “I didn’t take it seriously until I saw my name on his Twitter.” Killen is still basking in her new fame and said, “[Conan] definitely needs to start a new show. Definitely. He has no idea what he did for me. Just the one day, this is the most awesome day ever.”

Precious scored some nice momentum heading into the Academy Awards Sunday. The film won big at Friday’s Independent Spirit Awards, taking home statuettes for Best Feature, Best Director for Lee Daniels, Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead for Gabourey Sidibe, and Best Supporting Female for Mo’Nique. Daniels threw an elbow at other nominees in his acceptance speech, saying, “[ Hurt Locker Director] Kathryn Bigelow’s not here tonight. I am.” Mo’Nique’s acceptance speech was more subdued than for past wins, but she did address Sidibe from the podium, saying, “You are a special gift to the universe, baby.” Other big winners included Jeff Bridges for Best Male Lead in Crazy Heart and An Education for Best Foreign Film.

Long before Facebook was the international phenomenon it is today, founder Mark Zuckerberg was plotting to delay the launch of a competing project he was hired to help, according to Business Insider. And in 2004, when Zuckerberg was a Harvard sophomore trying to launch TheFacebook.com, the college's newspaper was close to writing a story that aired the grievances of the competing site. Zuckerberg was rattled enough to use his fledgling site to find the personal passwords of the paper’s reporters and editors and log into their email accounts, according to Business Insider. This isn’t the first time that he has been accused of less than sterling behavior, especially during Facebook’s youth. The company is refusing to discuss the claims. "We’re not going to debate the disgruntled litigants and anonymous sources who seek to rewrite Facebook’s early history or embarrass Mark Zuckerberg with dated allegations,” a spokesperson said.

Maternal mortality is often associated with bygone eras and Third World countries, but some experts say more new mothers in the U.S. are dying within 42 days of childbirth. A new report says the number of women who died in California shortly after giving birth has nearly tripled in the past decade, counting 16.9 per 100,000 births in 2006. A source who worked on the study said most women died from hemorrhage, blood clots, or underlying cardiac disease. But California is not alone—the Joint Commission issued an alert in January that maternal mortality rates could be increasing nationwide. “The rate of maternal death today is not acceptable in the United States,” the president of the Joint Commission said. “We need to work much harder than we have been to reduce it.” Doctors attribute the increase to the rise of obesity, which makes mothers more likely to have other health conditions, and increasing scheduled C-sections, which show a higher rate of maternal mortality.

In an effort to preserve good relations with Turkey, the Obama administration has said it will not let Congress pick at old sores. On Thursday, a House committee narrowly voted in favor of a measure to brand Turkey’s killing of Armenians during World War I genocide—much to the outrage of the Turkish government. Now, despite Obama’s campaign promise, the White House is set to block the bill. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she plans to “work very hard” to block this and now feels confident that Congress will not vote on it. Two years ago, the House Committee on Foreign Relations approved a similar resolution, but the Bush administration successfully urged the House not to vote.

Looks like Rep. Eric Massa has fast-tracked his retirement from Congress: The New York Democrat will retire effective 5 p.m. EST on Monday. Massa is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee after a male staffer charged him with sexual harassment. He had originally announced that he would serve out the remainder of his term and retire in November. In a letter, Massa says he is retiring due to his health. "After I decided not to run again I was told, for the first time, that a member of my staff believed I had made statements that made him feel 'uncomfortable,'" Massa wrote.
"There is no doubt in my mind that I did in fact, use language in the privacy of my own home and in my inner office that, after 24 years in the Navy, might make a Chief Petty Officer feel uncomfortable. In fact, there is no doubt that this Ethics issue is my fault and mine alone. But in the incredibly toxic atmosphere that is Washington D.C., with the destruction of our elected leaders having become a blood sport, especially in talk radio and on the internet, there is also no doubt that an Ethics investigation would tear my family and my staff apart."  

Health-care legislation has fueled a brutal partisan battle over the last year, but President Obama's next legislative skirmish may touch on an even more explosive issue: immigration. Obama has scheduled a meeting next week to discuss an immigration bill being put together by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). It is the first meeting since Schumer and Graham began work on the bill, and immigration advocates frustrated with a lack of action from the White House have planned a news conference for Monday as well as a larger upcoming demonstration. A White House spokesperson said Obama is “looking forward to hearing more about [Schumer and Graham’s] efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill,” adding, “the president’s commitment to fixing our broken immigration system remains unwavering.”