Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah has become the first member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to come out against Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination on Friday. Hatch cited her “activist judicial philosophy,” saying, “Over nearly 25 years, General Kagan has endorsed, and praised those who endorse, an activist judicial philosophy. I was surprised when she encouraged us at the hearing simply to discard or ignore certain parts of her record. I am unable to do that.” Kagan still figures to be confirmed, as Republicans do not appear ready to filibuster her, despite their opposition.

Two more suspected spies have admitted Russian citizenship. Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills waived their Miranda rights and told the FBI that they are Mikhail Kutzik and Natalia Pereverzeva. A third defendant, Mikhail Semenko will appear with them for bail hearings today. Prosecutors are asking the judge to deny bail, because, as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan wrote, “They are skilled deceivers who have repeatedly betrayed those closest to them and would readily do so again, by fleeing.” The details of their work here have not been made public yet, but a couple movie-worthy bits have been found by investigators—safe-deposit boxes rented by the couple were found to have eight unmarked envelopes in them—each with $10,000 in crisp Benjamins—and several notebooks were found with secret codes.

William Kristol, the founder and editor of The Weekly Standard, has suggested a lofty Fourth of July weekend proposal: for Michael Steele to resign as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Why? Because of a tenure full of “gaffes and embarrassments”—most recently remarks about the war in Afghanistan. Speaking at a fundraiser in Connecticut, Steele said, “This was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.” It’s not so much that Steele’s opinions are wrong as that they’re at odds with the party he’s supposed to represent. “Your comment is more than an embarrassment,” writes Kristol. “It’s an affront, both to the honor of the Republican Party and to the commitment of the soldiers fighting to accomplish the mission they’ve been asked to take on by our elected leaders.” Kristol called resignation “an act of service for the country you love.”

To prevent future military men from pulling a McChrystal, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tightened the reins when it comes to media. In a three-page memo released Friday, Gates outlined new rules for the military’s interaction with the press. “I have said many times that we must strive to be as open, accessible, and transparent as possible,” he wrote. “At the same time, I am concerned that the department has grown lax in how we engage with the media, often in contravention of established rules and procedures.” Gates then laid out the specifics: All top-level Pentagon and military leaders must now notify the Defense Department’s assistant secretary “prior to interviews or any other means of media and public engagement with possible national or international implications,” for example. Also, not surprisingly, “leaking of classified information is against the law, cannot be tolerated and will, when proven, lead to the prosecution of those found to be engaged in such activity.”

President Obama offered words of remembrance for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd at a funeral program today. Standing on the steps of the West Virginia statehouse, Obama told the thousands who’d gathered to honor Byrd’s 92-year life, “He was a Senate icon, he was a party leader, he was an elder statesman, and he was my friend. That’s how I’ll remember him.” Other guests, including Vice President Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Gov. Joe Manchin, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, offered their thoughts, too. Byrd, who was elected to the House in 1952 and the Senate in 1958, was the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. Often controversial—most notably, he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan—Byrd was remembered, most of all, as an ornate speaker and knowledgeable historian.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in June, but don’t be fooled: “The economic recovery has lost significant steam in the last few months,” writes David Leonhardt at The New York Times. The reason for the drop is because a large number of people gave up looking for work altogether—meaning they weren’t included in the official unemployment tally. Other discouraging numbers: Total hours fell for the first time since February, and the average hourly pay dropped. Leonhardt writes, “The overall picture isn’t so much of a double-dip recession as it is of a badly wounded economy recovering at a slow pace.”

Paris Hilton, who spent a month behind bars in 2007 after a DUI arrest, had a brush with the law again on Friday. The 29-year-old hotel heiress, who was tweeting from the World Cup, was detained in South Africa outside Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium by police who suspected someone in her entourage was smoking marijuana, TMZ reports. Though the website reported that an officer said she was caught red-handed with the illegal substance, Hilton was later questioned, released, and the South African court dropped the charge. According to her publicist, “the incident was a complete misunderstanding.” Her co-accused, Jennifer Rovero, pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and was sentenced to a fine of the equivalent of $130 or 30 days imprisonment. Hilton later tweeted, “Everything is fine guys. I had nothing to do with it.”

With two wars, various other crises overseas, and increased terrorism at home, the lives of President Obama’s national-security officials are not peaceful. Or simple. In a compelling investigation, The Washington Post’s Laura Blumenfeld distills how Obama’s team helps to fight off the nation’s greatest threats, while researching intelligence trends and writing the President’s Daily Brief, “perhaps the most secret book on earth.” Much of the work, it turns out, is done at night—“the fourth act," as Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, an opera fan, calls it. Rarely a dull moment, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, describes late-night work this way: “I think if you asked any of us what keeps us awake at night, it’s the idea of a terrorist with a weapon of mass destruction.” In essence, Blumenfeld's story helps answer the first question Obama has each morning: What happened in the night?

Not your usual pre-Fourth of July warning from government officials. It seems that what was once merely a fictionalized account of a great white shark attack along the Northeast Coast (in the 1975 movie Jaws) could actually happen: The U.S. Coast Guard is warning New Englanders to watch out for sharks over the holiday weekend. “Predation is not generally a concern for boaters and paddlers in Northeast waters,” Al Johnson, of the First Coast Guard, told the New York Post. “But I have no doubt that a great white shark that swims into your comfort zone would surely find a splashing paddle or dangling hand inviting.” In recent years, sharks near the New England coast have measured 6 to 15 feet long.

Between a messy separation and a police rap, who can relax and enjoy a lavish wedding? Al and Tipper Gore have announced that they won’t be attending Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in Rhinebeck, New York, this month, perhaps to spare the former first family the distraction on its special day. “They both wish Chelsea well, believe she is a wonderful young woman, and they share in the family’s excitement,” the family’s spokesperson said in a statement. The wedding’s guest list tops out at a relatively tiny 400, and—for all their well wishes—it hasn’t been confirmed that the Gores were actually invited. When the spokesperson was asked if they made the cut, she replied “no comment.” In December, Gore told The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove that he was " looking forward to Chelsea's wedding."

A year ago, it seemed like Iceland might sink into the sea after experiencing what Paul Krugman calls, “The worst financial crisis in history.” And yet its GDP has shrunk less than Ireland’s and some Eastern European countries while it’s unemployment has been lower. What gives? Unlike countries like Ireland and Latvia, which are attempting to deal with their economic woes by austerity and deflation, Iceland’s situation was so bad it had to devalue its currency and implement capital controls. Krugman concludes, “The moral of the story seems to be that if you’re going to have a crisis, it’s better to have a really, really bad one. Otherwise, you’ll end up taking the advice of people who assure you that even more suffering will cure what ails you.”

Some new light on why the charges against Al Gore were not investigated at the time: The Portland police department admitted on Friday to improperly handling a massage therapist's allegations of sexual assault by Gore in 2006. "We have determined there were procedural issues with the 2009 investigation that merit re-opening the case," said Portland police chief Mike Reese. "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." When Molly Hagerty, the woman who claims Gore assaulted her, made a more detailed statement to police in 2009, three years after she alleges the incident occurred, the Portland police failed to contact the district attorney about moving forward.

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.

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.

Maybe Grigory Perelman really isn’t so smart? Perelman, a reclusive Russian mathematician who lives in a roach-infested apartment in St. Petersburg, declined a $1 million prize for solving one of mathematics’ most baffling puzzles. He said it would not be fair to those who accomplished important work on it before him. Perelman discovered the solution to the famous Poincare Conjecture, which deals with hyperdimensional objects and stood unsolved for over a century, in 2002. And in March, the Clay Mathematics Institute awarded him the cash reward after rigorous tests proved he was right. But Perelman did not want to draw undue attention to himself. “I have refused,” Perelman said. “You know, I had quite a lot of reasons both for and against. That is why I took so long to make up my mind.”

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in June from 9.8 percent a month earlier, according to statistics released by the Department of Labor Friday morning. But the economic news was still disappointing: The jobless rate fell because 652,000 people gave up on their job searches and left the labor force. People who have given up looking for work aren't counted in the data. And payrolls declined by 125,000 as the government cut 225,000 temporary workers conducting the 2010 census. In initial reactions, economists saw the numbers as a sign that America's job-loss recovery is years away. Stock markets in New York had a muted reaction to the report in trading Friday morning.

Twenty-one people died and six others were wounded on Thursday in a gun fight between rival drug and trafficking gangs near the Arizona border. The violence took place on a dirt road in a primary avenue for moving drugs and immigrants near Nogales, Mexico. According to the Sonora State Attorney General's Office, police captured nine people at the crime, six of whom had been wounded in the fire fight, along with eight vehicles and seven weapons. Officials believe that all of the victims were gang members. Drug violence has now claimed more than 23,000 lives in Mexico since late 2006.

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.

Though the House voted 270 to 153 Thursday to extend unemployment benefits for up to an additional 99 weeks to people who have been without work for long periods of time, Senate Republicans filibustered a similar bill before leaving for their week-long Fourth of July vacations. Some 1.3 million Americans will not have their benefits reinstated, and that number will swell to 1.7 million by the end of the week. Republicans cited a ballooning deficit as their main reason for stalling the measure.  “Americans are not receiving their unemployment checks because Democrats refuse to pay for these benefits at a time of record federal deficits," said Representative Dave Camp (R-MI) referring to the $33.9 billion cost of the extension. Democrats called Republicans on their callousness: "I challenge you to look people in the eye and tell them that you voted no," said Representative John Lewis (D-GA). "Tell them as they swallow their pride that you don’t care."

Six suicide bombers took an American aid compound by storm early morning on Friday, killing at least four people before they died in a six-hour battle. The attack took place at a compound for Development Alternatives Inc., a U.S.-based global consultant company contracted by the United States Agency for International Development. The Taliban have taken credit for the violence, which began at 3 a.m. with the explosion of a car bomb at the compound's gate. The remaining five bombers rushed into the building and began firing rifles. One Afghan police officer was killed, and 23 other people were wounded. Afghan forces rescued six trapped American employees and four security guards. Foreigners are among the dead, including a German and a Filipino. It is unclear if the bombers died during the fight or if they blew themselves up. NATO said in a statement that the attack “was an attempt to intimidate Afghans and members of the international community trying to improve the lives of all Afghans.”

Even though they voted en masse to confirm Gen. David Petraeus this week, Democrats are increasingly showing their frustration with President Obama’s strategy for the war in Afghanistan. They stalled for weeks before narrowly approving a further $37 billion to fund the United States’ two wars—which must also be voted on by the Senate—and, even then, made sure their overall disapproval with the war was known. Along with nine Republicans, 153 House Democrats voted for an amendment to the bill, which would require Obama to offer a plan next April for the "safe, orderly and expeditious redeployment of U.S. troops" and make a provision a vote in Congress to block additional funding if withdrawal does not begin by next July. Ninety-three Democrats also supported an amendment that would allow the war funds to be spent exclusively on withdrawal. Neither amendment passed, but it was enough to make the point. “There is a growing level of concern,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. “The vote reflected it.”

What began as a glitch with the new iPhone is now turning into a lawsuit. In the first week after its release, the phone was widely reported to have connection problems, requiring users to hold it improperly in order to maintain a call. Apple has tried to remedy the problem by releasing a special case for it, but for a pair of law firms in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, it is nowhere close to a solution. The suit, which seeks class-action status, accuses Apple and AT&T primarily of negligence and misrepresentation. "We feel very strongly that Apple has done something wrong and AT&T was complicit," one lawyer on the plaintiffs’s legal team said. "And collectively consumers can and are speaking and I hope Apple hears us and is willing to resolve it."

Tropical Storm Alex may have missed directly hitting the area around the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, but it has still left a fresh set of problems for the Gulf Coast. Because of the difficult conditions at sea, hundreds of oil skimmers had to stay docked as more oil washed toward land. "We had to stand down because of the storm activity. Now that oil has been spewed all over the Chandelier Islands," said one Louisiana official. "We are going out again [Friday] to start cleaning it up. We have to go back out, basically start over." But the coast is not entirely clear yet—the Gulf seas could remain choppy through the weekend. The winds that came with Alex have also altered the landscape for cleanup efforts because oil was driven away from the western end of the Florida Panhandle and back toward the already-battered shores of Mississippi and Louisiana.

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.

The iPhone 4’s weak signal when held improperly sure sounds like a hardware problem, but Apple says it’s not: The company plans to release a software update that it says will correct a flaw in the way the phone displays signal strength. "Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying four or five bars," Apple said in a statement. "Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place." If it's just a software problem, then why is Apple hiring antenna engineers? Gizmodo says the software update won't fix the antenna problem. 

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a gaffe from RNC Chairman Michael Steele. He must have been saving up for this one, because it’s pretty big: Speaking about Afghanistan at a fundraiser in Connecticut, he said, “This was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in … if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed.” It’s not so much that Steele’s opinions are wrong as that they’re at odds with the party he’s supposed to represent. In a statement, the RNC said that Steele “clearly supports our troops” and “Congress must stop playing politics with the war and provide the funding our troops need to win and come home.”

He’s still got it! The Brazilian press is reporting that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hired a troupe of lap dancers on his recent trip to the country. The Telegraph says the women were paid upward of $1,200 and promised roles on Italian television. Berlusconi’s office admits to hiring entertainment, but says the performances were a “typically Brazilian folklore spectacle.”

Spain will have something else to look forward to, should its World Cup match not go as hoped on Saturday: Rafael Nadal is headed to the Wimbledon finals for the fourth time in his last four appearances. The world’s No. 1 player will be heavily favored against 12th-seeded Tomas Berdych, who beat No. 3 Novak Djokovic to advance. Nadal, for his part, dominated fourth-ranked Andy Murray in the semifinals, beating him 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3. He last won Wimbledon in 2008 and had to miss last year’s tournament because of a bum knee.

Apple’s first venture into television—Apple TV—was less than successful, but the company is giving it another go: According to The New York Times, the company is preparing a new product that may run on the iOS operating system that powers the iPad and iPhone. Gizmodo reads between the lines and says the product could be an actual television, rather than just a box. The product will figure to intensify the battle between Apple and Google, which recently unveiled Google TV.

While it's far less than initially rumored, it ain't bad. Elin Nordegren will receive a $100 million divorce settlement, sources confirm to TMZ, plus child support. Some tabloids had reported that she'd receive as much as $750 million, yet TMZ claims soon-to-be ex-husband Tiger Woods is reportedly "only" worth between $500-$600 million. Elin would have gotten much less under the prenup, according to TMZ. Hooking up with the famous golfer seems to pay off: His infamous mistress, Rachel Uchitel, allegedly received $10 million in hush money.

The fairy tale has ended for Ghana, the last African team still in the World Cup. The team’s prospects looked hopeful in the quarterfinal game against Uruguay on Friday, until the very end of extra time—when Ghana missed a penalty kick and Uruguay won the shootout 4-2, after a 1-1 draw. The victory sent Uruguay to the semifinals for the first time in four decades, while the African team left heartbroken, its players crying on the field. Earlier in the day, the Netherlands came from behind in a pulsating game to beat Brazil, 2-1, and advance to the semifinals for the first time since 1998.