Despite dropping from hurricane status, tropical storm Alex continued to hinder cleanup efforts on Thursday, preventing BP from increasing its containment capacity to 53,000 barrels a day from roughly 28,000. The heavy winds also pushed more oil-polluted water toward the coast, where relief teams had to temporarily stop spraying dispersant chemicals and burning oil. Meanwhile, BP dispelled a rumor that it had managed to cap the leak, which boosted shares in London on Thursday morning. "That would be really good news, but that's not the information we have," a BP spokesman said. It added that the gushing would still go on for at least several weeks.

At least he’s being honest? President Obama said on Thursday that he’s ready to act on immigration, but that action is unlikely as Republican cooperation is needed and the GOP is unlikely to throw its weight behind him in an election year. He particularly targeted 11 Republican senators who had previously been supportive of immigration reform, saying that they’re giving into the “pressures of partisanship and election-year politics.” It was his first presidential speech on the issue, and he laid out a plan familiar to those of years past: It would boost border security, punish businesses that hire illegal immigrants, and give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. "I'm ready to move forward, the majority of Democrats are ready to move forward and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move forward,” Obama said. “But the fact is that without bipartisan support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this problem." He had originally promised to act on immigration during the first year of his administration.

Maybe this guy could have used some better training? One of the suspects in the Russian spying ring has confessed, according to federal prosecutors. Apparently, Juan Lazaro gave a statement after his arrest in which he said that “Juan Lazaro” was not his real name, that his Yonkers, New York, home had been purchased by Russian intelligence, and that “he would not violate his loyalty to the ‘Service’ even for his son,” as a court memo puts it. Other suspects were not as forthcoming: Donald Heathfield’s lawyer and his wife said the evidence against his client was “extremely thin.”

On Thursday night, two suicide bombers blew up Data Darabar, a popular Muslim shrine in Lahore, the second-largest city in Pakistan. Thirty-five people were killed and 175 were wounded, according to a city official. No person or group has claimed responsibility for the bombings. This attack comes about a month after gunmen and a suicide squad threw grenades and shot bullets at two mosques in the eastern part of the city, in which at least 93 worshippers from the minority Ahmadi sect were killed and dozens were wounded.

Gov. Schwarzenegger says he will sign a bill approved by lawmakers Thursday that appropriates $20 million to Jaycee Dugard, who police say was kidnapped at 11 years old and held captive for 18 years by paroled sex offender Phillip Garrido. The settlement is California lawmakers’ attempt to redress “missed opportunities to identify Mrs. Dugard” during her captivity. Since Garrido’s arrest, officials have revealed he was being monitored by the state parole system for several years and, according to the Los Angeles Times, had at least five parole officers. Dugard, now 30, resurfaced last August with two daughters she bore with Garrido while imprisoned in his backyard and filed a claim that state corrections officials failed to do their jobs, citing psychological, physical, and emotional damages. Garrido and his wife, Nancy, have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, rape, and imprisonment.

Toyota says that as many as seven Lexus models, as well as one Toyota make, have a problem with their engines that could cause them to stall while moving. On Thursday, the already beleaguered company announced it would recall those 270,000 cars. So far, no accidents have been linked to the flaw and the company did not say how it discovered the faulty engines. The affected models are: Lexus GS 350, GS 450h, GS 460, IS 350, LS 460, LS 600h and LS 600h L, as well as the Toyota Crown. Though this recall is dwarfed by the that of eight million Toyotas earlier this year over acceleration problems, more safety problem could further damage the company’s brand.

The location of Chelsea Clinton’s July 31 wedding has been leaked by a resident of Rhinebeck, about two hours north of New York City. According to the anonymous local, Clinton will wed her fiancé, investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, at a private mansion. The Clintons are inviting 400 people to the event, and local high-school and college students will rub shoulders with the guests—as servers.

Four years ago, the Portland Police Bureau closed its case involving sexual-assault allegations brought by a masseuse against former Vice President Al Gore. In a statement released Thursday, police shed light on the reasoning behind the official re-opening. Citing “procedural issues” with the initial investigation, Portland's police chief went on to say, “There should have been command-level review at the time on the specifics of this case and decisions on whether the investigation should go forward.” Apparently low-level officials made the call back in 2006 to close the case. No new evidence or information has been disclosed.

Good thing he’s not up for reelection until 2014: Senator Lindsey Graham tears into the Tea Party in a New York Times Magazine article that doesn’t figure to sit well with his South Carolina constituents. “The problem with the Tea Party, I think it’s just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country,” he says. “It will die out.” He describes himself as being “completely opposite of where the Tea Party movement’s at,” especially on climate change, immigration, and the Guantanamo Bay detention center. And then he says something that will certainly cause a few gasps in the GOP: “Ronald Reagan would have a hard time getting elected as a Republican today.” The never-married Senator also clears up rumors about his sexuality, saying "I know it’s really gonna upset a lot of gay men...but I ain’t available. I ain’t gay. Sorry.”

With Tobey Maguire out for the next installment of Spider-Man, the Web has been buzzing over who would become the new Peter Parker. On Thursday, it was announced that rising British star Andrew Garfield earned the coveted role. The 27-year-old actor, who previously appeared in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, will step into the red and blue suit in the latest episode of the Columbia Pictures franchise. On Wednesday, Josh Hutcherson was rumored to be a favorite to fill the role that Maguire originated on screen. Though Garfield is still relatively unknown in the U.S., American audiences are about to become much more familiar with him—Garfield is also starring in the highly anticipated Facebook film Social Network with Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg and Never Let Me Go with Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley.

President Obama's urging of other nations to increase government spending at the G-20 summit may be backfiring. Foreign leaders, namely from Canada, Germany, and Great Britain all seem to believe that cutting spending is the way to stave off further economic hardship. And to Karl Rove, this constitutes a major international defeat. "If it sounds strange to have European leaders lecturing the U.S. about fiscal restraint, it should," Rove writes in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. "But that is where America finds itself after Mr. Obama's 17-month fiscal orgy." Rove also argues that Obama's spending is costing him popularity at home. "This is indeed the road to fiscal hell, and it's been paved by the president and his party," Rove writes. "No wonder Republicans feel confident these days.

It looks like Jews aren’t the only minority Mel Gibson has a problem with: RadarOnline.com claims to have an audiotape of Mel Gibson telling ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva that “You look like a f------ pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n------, it will be your fault.” Elsewhere in the recordings, the man who sounds like Gibson says “I am going to come and burn the f------ house down … but you will blow me first.” A source tells Radar that Grigorieva made the tapes after Gibson threatened her with death. HollywoodLife.com is now reporting that the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services will be investigating the couple to make sure their child is safe.

Joran van der Sloot is building up quite the resume: He was indicted in the United States Thursday morning on charges of wire fraud and extortion. The charges stem from an incident in which he allegedly offered Natalee Holloway’s mother information about the location of her body in exchange for $250,000. She actually gave him $25,000, but the information he gave turned out to be false.

Sometimes, the third time’s not the charm. Former Frasier star Kelsey Grammer is divorcing his third wife, Camille Donatacci. The 44-year-old Playboy model and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member filed for divorce Thursday, citing “irreconcilable differences.” “Nothing major happened. It’s a garden variety filling, nothing out of the ordinary,” a source told the New York Daily News. Donatacci is asking for both spousal and child support for their two children, who were born to a surrogate mother.

Want to know if you’ll make it past 100 years old? Scientists at Boston University have discovered a genetic signature for longevity. The finding is the result of a study of more than 1,000 centenarians, and the researchers plan to offer a free test so people can discover whether they too have the gene. "This is a major breakthrough," says one geneticist. "It shows you that 150 markers [among millions] are all you need to distinguish between people who live to 100 and people who don't."

Is this the ray of light that the North Korean people need? Users of the imageboard website 4Chan are conspiring to send Justin Bieber to North Korea—and are close to pulling it off. Bieber’s website currently is hosting a poll on where he should go for his World Tour. Israel is currently leading with about 235,000 votes, but through a dedicated effort, 4Chans’ users have moved North Korea into second place with just shy of 200,000 votes. No word yet if Kim Jong-Il is a fan.

Presumably not “Sent from my iPhone”? Boy Genius Report has obtained an email exchange between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a customer angry over reception issues with the new iPhone 4. Jobs tells the customer, who is particularly irate over a leaked Apple memo telling customer service reps to insist the phone is fine, that he is “getting all worked up over a few days of rumors” and that “You are most likely in an area with very low signal strength.” Later, he tells the customer, “Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it.” Apple's PR people later denied the emails originated from Jobs, and says they were faked.

Chris Brown's performance during the BET Awards on Sunday was supposed to be an emotional experience for everyone involved. It was both a tribute to Michael Jackson and Brown's return to performing after being dogged by ugly headlines about his relationship with Rihanna. So he capped it all off by shedding a few tears. But according to Us Weekly, they were the tears of a clown. Brown used special tear-inducing eye drops to break down during his rendition of "Man in the Mirror." A source backstage claims he administered them just before going on and then, "He rubbed it in and he started crying," the source said. Brown's camp, of course, categorically denies the allegation, saying the story is "completely untrue."

Pundits have been lining up to slam the lack of substance at Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, but Adam Serwer at The American Prospect disagrees with their attacks: “Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearing has been the most substantive and interseting since the Clinton administration.” He says she’s “revealed a great deal about her legal philosophy by rejecting obtuse textualism, acknowledging that there are times when judges should privilege intent over the actual principle outlined in the Constitution, and arguing that while the constitution does not change, the circumstances we interpret it do.” She’s “clearly on the liberal side of legal philosophy,” though we won’t know if she’s more of a Larry Summers-style liberal or a Thurgood Marshall-style liberal until she’s on the bench.

February’s killer whale attack at SeaWorld, which claimed the life of trainer Dawn Brancheau, seemed like a straightforward case of an animal gone bad—the gory sequel to the chimpanzee horror show. But Tim Zimmermann’s sober, deeplyreported, and very well-told Outside magazine story will convince you there were two victims, and only one of them was human. The whale, Tilikum, is a tragic character. He was captured at sea; stuck in a dismal sea park in Canada, where he was penned in a tiny pool at night and harassed by other whales; then he was shipped to Orlando to become a performer. The three human deaths he was involved in are heartrending, but it’s Zimmermann’s feat here to make them, to some extent, understandable. Print and read it before your July 4 swim.

More than 100 coalition troops died in Afghanistan in June, making it the deadliest month for soldiers so far in the war there. Casualty numbers are creeping closer to the worst days of the Iraq war. Of the 102 soldiers who died, 59 were American. The rising number of deaths is partially a result of major offensives in the Taliban’s turf. At his confirmation hearing to replace ousted Gen. Stan McChrystal, Gen. David Petraeus said he expected heavy fighting to continue.

Producer Robert Sanchez disappeared three weeks ago after allegations of sex abuse involving his 14-year-old stepdaughter surfaced, police say. Sanchez, who founded the fanboy movie website IESB.net, has been the subject of rumors that he filmed himself drugging and sexually assaulting his teenaged stepdaughter, The Wrap reports. No charges have been filed, there’s no warrant for Sanchez’s arrest, and he hasn’t been listed as a missing person. Meanwhile the mystery is growing: IESB managing editor Jamie Williams told staff there was a "family emergency/tragedy," and on Friday night, “it was heavily implied that Robert had passed away.” But on Monday, Williams learned of the allegations and Sanchez’s disappearance, and resigned. Police say a report was filed June 1, but it was unrelated to child abuse.

Guess he was good at his job? A suspect in the Russian spying ring that the FBI revealed this week has vanished on the island of Cyprus, according to The New York Times. Christopher Metsos, a Canadian, was arrested there on Tuesday and released on bail after surrendering his passport—a move that infuriated American authorities. Metsos has not been heard from since. A Cypriot authority says there are “no indications yet” that he has left the island or crossed over into its northern Turkish sector, which only Turkey recognizes as its own country.

Every modern production of "The Merchant of Venice" faces the same problem: how to deal with Shylock, a gross Jewish caricature. But Al Pacino has managed to make Shylock a complex man reeling in a familiar bubble economy, a "marvelous" world created by Daniel Sullivan in this summer's Shakespeare in the Park, The New York Times says. "And as with most of Mr. Pacino's performances, this one is deeply intelligent and deeply irritating," reviewer Ben Brantley writes. "But it is to the credit of both actor and director that Mr. Pacino serves Mr. Sullivan's vision perfectly here... it suddenly hits you that Shakespeare's vengeance-addled Jew is neither merely the victim nor the villain of this piece; he is instead the very soul of the money-drunk society he serves and despises." And Lily Rabe offers a "smashing breakout performance" as Portia as part of "what may be the finest supporting cast ever assembled for Shakespeare in the Park." The tragedy portrayed is not Shylock's, Brantley writes, but one of the poisonous society that is Venice.

Hurricane Alex-the first June storm in the Atlantic since 1995-made landfall late on Wednesday night as a Category 2 storm. It hit Mexico's relatively unpopulated Tamaulipas state with 110 mph winds, killing one person, and caused two tornadoes in Brownsville, Texas. It has since been downgraded to a Category 1 storm.

Prime Minister Angela Merkel’s favored candidate, Christian Wulff, won the German presidency Wednesday in a close election that proved the once-dominant PM may be losing her popularity. Wulff nearly lost the support of his center-right party, the Christian Democrats, who rebelled against the party whip—a sign of serious displeasure in the party in Germany. The election, which occurs among party leaders in the Reichstag, also unfolded live on a huge television screen for hundreds of onlookers outside. Merkel’s government—elected in September—has been besieged with problems since the outset, and the party dissent in the presidential elections could prove to be further damaging.

Elin Nordegren may have the last laugh now: Tiger Woods’ estranged wife reportedly receives $750 million in the couple’s divorce settlement, which would be one of the highest payouts in celebrity divorce history. The Sun reported  Wednesday that the couple’s divorce is signed. According to British tab, Nordegren also earns sole physical custody of their two children, but she cannot publicly speak about any of Woods’ alleged affairs. Woods and Nordegren will allegedly share legal custody of their 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son, but the fallen golf golden boy cannot bring any women home when he has the children, unless the two are married.

This puts all embarrassing drunk stories to shame: Steven Noel Perkins, a former oil futures broker, reportedly single-handledly lost $10 million for his company and caused the price of oil to rise last year after making a series of trades in an alcohol-soaked frenzy. According to British financial-regulator data released Tuesday, Perkins returned home from a weekend of boozing and golfing, and made $520 million worth of trades, pushing the price of oil to an eight-month high of $73.05—an increase of $1.65 per barrel. “He claims to have limited recollection of events on Monday and claims to have been in an alcohol-induced blackout at the time he traded,” according to the report. When Perkins regained consciousness from the massive bender, he tried to reverse the trades and later tried to claim the transactions were on behalf of clients. But the damage was done. He has been fined $107,600 for market abuse and has been barred from working in the financial-services industry for five years.

Christopher Hitchens, the outspoken Vanity Fair columnist and author, announced Wednesday he has been diagnosed with cancer and must undergo chemotherapy. The author, 61, was forced to cut short the book tour for his memoir, Hitch. A longtime smoker, Hitchens quit in 2008 "out of fear," and his wife said he wanted to "live to see his political enemies defeated."

The House of Representatives voted 237-192 to approve President Barack Obama’s sweeping financial overhaul, paving the way for the Senate vote, which will take place in mid-July. Democrats scrambled to finish the final version of the bill earlier in the week after key Republican senators voiced doubts about a $19 billion 10-year bank tax. Democrats have claimed the bill will prevent the series of events that led to 2008’s financial meltdown, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the bill will “bring accountability to Wall Street.” Republicans remained staunchly opposed to the bill, which could face a filibuster in the Senate.

Top Republicans Jon Kyl and John Cornyn called a filibuster of Elena Kagan highly unlikely on Wednesday, but some GOP senators are still holding out hope: “I wouldn't rule out a filibuster,” Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said on Wednesday. Republicans aren’t the only ones who are frustrated: Democrat Arlen Specter let loose on Kagan for her evasiveness during Wednesday’s hearings. “You have followed the pattern which has been in vogue since Bork,” he told her. “It would be my hope that we could find some place between voting no and having some sort of substantive answers, but I don’t know that it would be useful to continue these questions any further.”

Just in time for the holiday weekend: The BP oil spill is close to capturing the record for the largest slick ever to stain the Gulf of Mexico, officials say. In yet another reminder of how long the crisis has dragged on, the oil spilled is nearing 140 million gallons, the record set by Mexico’s Ixtoc I in 1979-1980. That estimate is based on the high end of government guesses at how many barrels of oil are spewing out each day. But BP’s fiasco is still far smaller than the biggest spill of all time: that award goes to the Iraqi government, which opened valves at a terminal during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, sending 460 million gallons of oil into the sea. In one bit of good spill news, the largest oil skimmer in the world has been dispatched to the Deepwater Horizon site. It can hoover up 21 million gallons a day.

There is, apparently, no rock bottom for film director M. Night Shyamalan. How bad, exactly, is his latest film, The Last Airbender? Here's Roger Ebert: " The Last Airbender is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here." He particularly takes issue with the film's retrofitted 3D effects, calling it the "drabbest, darkest, dingiest movie of any sort I've seen in years." Ebert says the film should have been animated as anime, attacks Shyamalan for casting white actors for characters who were Asian in the source material, and calls the performances "are bland, stiff, awkward and unconvincing."

Larry King isn’t the only gray-haired man with his eyes on the exit sign at CNN: The channel’s biggest star, Anderson Cooper, is close to leaving it behind, according TheWrap.com. Cooper’s contract is up at the end of the year, and he’s been entertaining offers from competitors due to frustration with CNN’s low ratings. And the silver-haired reporter’s expensive trips to report in places like Haiti and the Gulf have caused “widespread resentment” among his network colleagues. (CNN brushed off reports of Cooper’s exit.) Meanwhile, the network is in talks with The View's Joy Behar about replacing Larry King, who announced his retirement after decades in broadcasting. Behar’s primetime show on CNN’s HLN has performed well. Other names mentioned to replace King include Ryan Seacrest, Piers Morgan, and Katie Couric.