Spies, we hardly knew ye: The 10 people accused of spying for Russia have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as unregistered agents of a foreign country. The move is expected to expedite their return to Russia as part of a spy swap, but that plan has apparently hit a snag: NBC News says not all of the spies want to return to Russia and the futures of some of the accused spies’ American-born children are up in the air. Meanwhile, Igor Sutyagin, one of the four spies Russia will be returning to the United States, was seen getting off a plane in Vienna. An additional three Russian prisoners will also be released, along with their families, as part of the exchange.

Somehow, we suspect Tea Partiers won’t be applauding this victory for states' rights: A U.S. District Court judge in Boston has overturned the federal ban on gay marriage, saying that it interferes with the states’ right to define marriage. Massachusetts was suing the federal government because it says the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prevented gay married couples in the state from receiving benefits like Medicaid.

A Los Angeles jury took almost seven days to deliberate before coming up with their verdict: It found BART police officer Johannes Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the 2009 shooting of Oakland resident Oscar Grant. In a region where some say there is a problem of police brutality against minorities, the case had created tension in California’s East Bay because it recalled sentiments leading up to the Rodney King race riots. Grant was black, and his family’s attorney said, "The system is rarely fair when a police officer shoots an African-American male." The jury’s decision to convict on involuntary manslaughter, rather than murder, was “a true compromise verdict,” the family’s attorney said. Mehserle testified in court that he’d meant to taser Oscar, but accidentally grabbed his gun instead, not realizing it until he’d fired it. Mehserle could get anywhere from five to 14 years in jail. Upon news of the verdict, Oakland residents began evacuating.

Since the federal government announced Tuesday that they are suing to challenge Arizona’s new immigration law, thousands of people across the country have been sending money to help defend the law. Retirees and others have contributed almost $500,000 to the cause—nearly 80 percent of it donated since Tuesday. The breadth and speed of the donations suggest widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s border control. "Arizona needs our help," said a retired California municipal worker. “It's a disgrace what our government is doing." The controversial law is due to go into effect July 29 and is now the subject of six pending federal lawsuits.

Over the last week, the pontificating about which team NBA superstar LeBron James would choose to play for has been ceaseless—especially between fans in Miami and New York. Even President Obama joined the fray, arguing that James should stay in Cleveland. The wait is finally over. “The Decision,” as ESPN’s taken to calling it, is official: James announced tonight from the Boys and Girls Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, that he’s signed with Miami Heat after considering five other teams—the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Chicago Bulls. The major reason for his decision: “The best opportunity for me to win,” James said. “To win now and the future also.”

More back and forth on offshore drilling: A U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected President Obama’s request to overturn a ruling that lifted a temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling. The White House has requested a six-month suspension of drilling while investigting the Deepwater Horizon explosion and to allow time to put together new safety regulations. An appeals court in New Orleans rejected the request Thursday, which will likely set off a new set of moratorium regulations by the Interior Department. Oil-drilling companies have criticized the suspension, arguing that it is bad for the local economy.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has announced General Petraeus’ successor as overall commander of Middle East operations, including the Afghan and Iraq wars. General James Mattis, praised by Gates as one of the military’s “outstanding combat leaders and strategic thinkers,” will be the new head of Central Command. Since General Stanley McChrystal’s firing over his controversial comments in Rolling Stone magazine, Gates has outlined a new set of rules for the military and the media. He might have his hands full with Mattis, however. Mattis has already had to field questions about an on-camera 2005 interview in which he said: "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. You go into Afghanistan; you've got guys who slap around women for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway, so it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." Gates’ response? He said the appropriate action was taken at the time, and the “subsequent five years have demonstrated that the lesson was learned.”

Glee is a wildly popular cult phenomenon, but some worried the Fox show would be shut out of awards by the not-so-populist industry voters. It wasn’t. The nominees for the 2010 Emmy Awards were announced Thursday morning, and Glee raked in 19 nominations total. That includes best actor and actress in a comedy for Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele. Critical favorite Mad Men, from AMC, earned 17. The show that pulled in the most nominations was the HBO miniseries The Pacific, with 24. Also noteworthy: Conan O’Brien was nominated for The Tonight Show over Jay Leno. The awards will be presented August 29 in Los Angeles.

In a significant step toward eradicating HIV/AIDS, U.S. scientists have discovered three powerful antibodies that have successfully killed 91 percent of HIV strains, more than any other antibody yet discovered. Scientists also said they had examined the strongest antibody and determined what makes it so successful in fighting the deadly virus. Doctors used a man called Donor 45, a 60-year-old African-American man whose body naturally made the antibodies, and screened 25 million of his cells to find the 12 that produced the antibodies. Scientists said it will take years of work to develop any kind of treatment, and there is one potential downfall: Donor 45's cells took months, and in some cases, years, to create the antibodies, meaning doctors will need repeated shots and boosters to speed up the processes.

The Financial Times reported early Thursday that a deal could be imminent for one of Hollywood's marquee names: Private equity group Colony Capital, they said, was close to buying Miramax from Disney for $600 to $700 million. Now TheWrap.com has confirmed the deal, with Los Angeles billionaire Ron Tutor, Morgan Creek, Colony Capital, and David Bergstein, at a reported $675 million. Tutor will lead the company, and Bergstein is expected to be a senior advisor. The studio is known for independent fare such as  Pulp Fiction and is being unloaded by Disney, which says it wants to focus on more family-friendly flicks. The company's much-vaunted library, which includes 600 movies, has seen its value sink along with the slumping market for DVDs in the U.S. The deal is expected to close by July.

A coalition of senators have asked Britain to put Abdel Baset Al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, back in prison nearly a year after he was released from prison with a three-months-to-live prognosis. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) have written a letter to the British embassy calling for an investigation into Al Megrahi's release and asking the doctor who diagnosed the Libyan terrorist to apologize to the victims' families. Karol Sikora, who diagnosed Al Megrahi as only having three months to live, said it was "embarrassing" that he lived so long, and has since admitted Al Megrahi could live longer. "There was always a chance he could live for ten years, 20 years... but it's very unusual," Sikora said. Al Megrahi was convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people-183 of whom were American. He had served eight years of his life sentence before his release.

If you’re easily offended by profanity, you may want to skip this one; otherwise, check out Drew Magary’s rant at Deadspin about why LeBron James is officially a villain now. Magary says James, who will announce his next team in an hour-long broadcast on ESPN Thursday night, is “a self-aggrandizing sack of shit, and ESPN is a bunch of pussy-whipped enablers for giving him a free hour of airtime [tonight].” James’ request to give the commercial airtime to charity isn’t changing Magary’s mind: “That's the most transparent use of charity for the sake of self-glorification I've seen since I saw some actor do it yesterday.” Magary writes, “LeBron is now the guy you openly root against. If he leaves Cleveland tomorrow night, he'll have needlessly strung along an entire fanbase and given them the middle finger by making their breakup spectacularly public. If he stays, he'll have spent two years cockteasing the rest of the world about going somewhere else when he probably never wanted to leave Ohio to begin with. There's no end result [tonight] that makes LeBron a sympathetic figure.”

This can’t be true, can it? The nation of Georgia is saying that one of its citizens turned 130 on Thursday, making her a full 16 years older than the recognized world’s oldest person. Georgia says Antisa Khvichava was born July 8, 1880; although her birth certificate has been lost, the nation says two Soviet-era documents prove her age. Khvichava has only one surviving child, a son who would have been born when she was 60. “I've always been healthy, and I've worked all my life—at home and at the farm," she says. She retired in 1965 at the age of 85.

Honor killings don’t only happen in the Middle East: The brutal Arizona killing last year of Noor Almaleki by her own father has catalyzed Human Rights Watch and Marie Claire magazine to join together in a campaign to renew the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, which expired in 2008. Noor’s father, Faleh Almaleki, disapproved of her American lifestyle (wearing jeans, posting on MySpace) and dreams (marrying for love). He beat her and ultimately ran her over in his SUV, not once but twice, to prevent her from dishonoring the family, equating her with a “small fire” that needed to be extinguished in order to keep the family safe. He is in jail, awaiting trial for first-degree murder. “For an Iraqi, honor is the most valuable thing,” he said after his arrest. “No one messed up our life except Noor.” Noor’s mother supported him, saying, “You are not a criminal. I know how good-hearted and compassionate you are.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Republican challenger in Nevada, Tea Partier Sharron Angle, continues to give Michael Steele a run for his money: She says teenage girls who are pregnant from rape should turn lemons into lemonade. “I think that two wrongs don’t make a right,” Angle said in a radio interview in June. “And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at-risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade.” Angle had previously called pregnancies caused by rape or incest part of “God’s plan.”

Mel Gibson just keeps on getting more despicable: RadarOnline.com says Gibson calls one of his Hispanic workers a “wetback” during a recorded conversation with his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. RadarOnline.com says Gibson tells Grigorieva, “I will report her to the f------ people that take f------ money from the wetbacks.” (Apparently, that’s a threat to turn the worker over to immigration authorities.) It was reported last week that in other recorded conversations, Gibson allegedly tells Grigorieva that “If you get raped by a pack of n-----s, it will be your fault.”

With all the attention focused on what Congress can do to pass legislation to help end the slowdown in economic recovery, the Federal Reserve may be the one to actually have an impact. The central bank is considering taking small steps to boost growth. "If the economic situation changes, policy should react," one Fed official told The Washington Post. "You shouldn't sit on your hands...I think there's plenty more we could do if we had to." One approach would be to make it clear that the Fed plans on leaving interest rates near zero for a long time to come. Another move might involve lowering the interest rate paid to banks for keeping extra cash with the Fed. Alternatively, the Fed could purchase new mortgage securities to replace those being paid off as people benefit from the already-low interest rates for refinancing.

Lindsay Lohan is preparing for 90 days in jail—but she may now have a bigger problem. TMZ reported early Thursday that Lohan’s lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, has quit. According to the site, when Holley was reached for comment about another story, she announced that she was no longer representing the actress. TMZ reports that Holley’s replacement is a woman named Tiffany Feder-Cohen, who was reportedly only admitted to the bar in November. This news come hours after Holley released a statement early Thursday in which she stated that Lohan’s jail sentence was “unfair.” In the statement, Holley said: “We believe that the penalty is far harsher than what others would have received under similar circumstances.” Lohan’s lawyer also addressed the photographs that surfaced of Lohan’s fingernail, on which the words “f--- u” had been stenciled. Holley claims the real issue is that a photographer bothered to zoom in so closely. “The fact is, the words could barely be seen by the naked eye," Holley said.

Why has Michael Steele said so many weird, embarrassing things since becoming chair of the Republican National Committee? Maybe because he’s going to run for president, Politico’s Roger Simon argues. Democratic presidential candidates—even victorious ones—haven’t won a majority of the white vote for decades. (They usually win by combining an overwhelming majority of black voters and a large minority of white voters.) As a black Republican, Steele could win much of a typical Republican’s white voters and carve out a bit of Democrats’ slice of black voters. It would be a way to defeat Obama next campaign. Sure, Steele has said some goofy things, but 2012 is a long way off. And he’s already setting himself up, by calling Afghanistan a war “of Obama’s choosing.” He may be mocked as unserious, but political history is littered with serious losers, like Michael Dukakis and Al Gore. “So when you look at Michael Steele, you are not seeing a man wildly blundering,” Simon says. “You are seeing at a man running for president. It just looks like the same thing.”

With the White House lifting sanctions against Russia's military exporter, orders for Russian aircraft may get a boost from a new buyer: the U.S. military. Trying to outfit Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan armies with helicopters and other fixed-wing aircraft, the U.S. has in recent years often turned to Cold War rivals, like Russia. The sellers now include Rosoboronexport, Russia's state arms dealer, which had faced sanctions for making deals with Iran. The 2011 defense-authorization bill going through Congress would require that the U.S. military consider its own helicopters when outfitting the Afghan forces. "I would love to transition this to all-Western [aircraft], as a U.S. pilot and aviator," an Air Force officer told The Wall Street Journal. "But the fact remains I need to make decisions based on what's best for the Afghans."

CNN’s Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs Octavia Nasr will be leaving the network after she tweeted that she “respected” fallen Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Mediaite quoted an internal memo that says Nasr’s “credibility in her position… has been compromised.” Nasr’s tweet caused a firestorm, and she was criticized for praising someone who has been considered terrorist. Nasr later said in a CNN blog post that she should not have phrased the comment the way she did, but she did not apologize. Nasr has been with CNN for 20 years.

Could it all just be a ploy for a comeback? Jeremy London isn't ready to get out of the spotlight yet. The fallen star will reportedly be checking into Dr. Drew Pinsky’s Celebrity Rehab either Sunday or Monday. Last month, the actor claimed he was kidnapped and forced to take drugs. London first entered rehab in September 2009 for an addiction to prescription drugs, and has been subject to random drug tests after losing custody of his 3-year-old son. His wife Melissa is also subject to random drug tests, and sources said she will be periodically taking their son to visit his father at Celebrity Rehab. London will reportedly be paid $40,000.

The hole grows larger and deeper for the Braveheart actor as RadarOnline reveals details of a tape in which he reportedly tells his ex, and mother of his daughter, that she “f------ deserved” to be hit. The website previously revealed Gibson was taped allegedly telling his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, “You look like a f------ pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n------, it will be your fault.” In another exclusive, Radar reports that the tape also recorded Grigorieva asking the star, “What kind of a man is that who would hit a woman when she is holding a child in her hands, hitting her twice in the face?” To which he allegedly replies: “You know what—you f------ deserved it.” The report sheds new light on the former couple’s battle regarding who was abused in the relationship. According to Gibson’s legal team, the actor did not hit his ex. They are reportedly looking to find out who released the tape of the troubled actor. RadarOnline and the Russian aspiring singer’s lawyers deny that she released the recording.

Sources say LeBron James will go to the Miami Heat, though sources have been saying a lot of things about the NBA demigod all week. ESPN reports that James is leaning toward joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, potentially forming an unstoppable trio that would challenge the Lakers’ post-season domination. The Cleveland star has been cheerfully gallivanting around, even as the rest of the NBA (and its fans) clenched its teeth waiting for the most coveted free agent to pick a team. His hometown, with its “LeBron-based economy,” will be devastated if he decides to desert. James will make his official announcement at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Three alleged al Qaeda plotters were arrested in Norway Thursday; they’re suspected of being part of a terrorist plan similar to plots in New York and the U.K, for which five people were charged Wednesday. The men have been watched for more than a year. Investigators say the men were planning to use bombs similar to the one used by the thwarted New York subway bomber last year. Officials said they weren’t sure whether the latest plotters had picked out a target to explode their homemade peroxide bombs. They also aren’t sure why Norway was a target (though al Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al Zawahri, has named Norway among other countries, as a possible target for terror.) Salah al Somali, who once headed al Qaeda’s external operations, is thought to have organized these plots. A drone killed al Somali last year; he was thought to have planned the attempted subway attack.

Transocean, little-known in the U.S. outside the energy industry, is well-known around the world for testing legal limits. The offshore drilling company has received criticism for its role in a Myanmar drilling project that included a deal with a company suspected of laundering money for that country’s brutal government—one that is under U.S. sanctions. Transocean has dealt with two state sponsors of terrorism—it owned a stake in a company doing business in Syria until last year and used a forwarder to ship drilling equipment through Iran. Norway is investigating the company for tax fraud, charges that could bring Transocean $840 million in taxes and fines, it says. And of course, there have been accidents: eight people died off the Scotland coast when a ship capsized. Congress may investigate whether the company used Switzerland as its corporate HQ to exploit the U.S. tax code. Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon, the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, and leased it to BP. In the wake of the massive oil spill, Transocean’s dealings are being scrutinized, though the company blames BP for the rig explosion that caused the disaster.

Cuba plans to release 47 political prisoners, the largest mass release in 10 years there. The decision was made after negotiations between President Raúl Castro and Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain’s foreign minister. The prisoners will be allowed to leave the island. They were rounded up with 28 others seven years ago after the Cuban government cracked down on opposition; of that group, 54 have remained imprisoned for conspiring with Washington to bring down the communist government in Havana. Cuba has been under intense scrutiny since political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo died during a hunger strike earlier this year.

Did we at least get her number? Britain's Telegraph says that the “hottie spy,” Anna Chapman, will be returned to Moscow Thursday as part of a spy swap between the United States and Russia. Russian media is saying that the “special arrangement” will not be officially announced. Unfortunately, the United States won’t be getting any “hotties” in exchange—all four of the prisoners we’re set to receive back are men over the age of 45. In addition to Igor Sutyagin, an arms-control and nuclear expert who was convicted of giving info about Russia’s nuclear subs to the CIA in 2004, the United States will receive Sergei Skripal, a retired Russian colonel accused of working for MI6; and Alexander Zaporozhsky and Alexander Sypachev, two more former colonels accused of passing info to the CIA. Bloomberg says the exchange could go down in London.

Let’s hold them to it: BP is hoping to finish drilling its relief well in the Gulf of Mexico by July 27—weeks earlier than the deadline the company has set publicly. "In a perfect world with no interruptions, it's possible to be ready to stop the well between July 20 and July 27," says the head of BP's Gulf Coast restoration unit, managing director Bob Dudley, before adding that hurricane season made perfect conditions “unlikely.” However, even if the relief well is finished early, it may not work. BP is developing backup plans. The Wall Street Journal says these include connecting the leaking well to two nearby pipelines.

Looks like it’s back to drinking the Communion wine for miscreant priests: The Catholic Church will revise its laws on sexual abuse of children by priests next week. The changes will allow local bishops to defrock priests in cases with “clear and grave” evidence without canonical trials, the statute of limitations will be doubled to 20 years after the victim’s 18th birthday, and will punish priests found with child pornography.

BP’s concessions to the federal government do not appear to have translated yet into good behavior: More than 500 fishermen from Louisiana and Mississippi never received the checks BP promised to pay them on Wednesday. BP had agreed to pay the clients of lawyer Jeffrey Briet every 30 days, but changed the process without notifying him. “Not only did they spring it on us that the process has changed, but the people I’ve been dealing with for six weeks who’ve done a good job said, ‘We don’t know what the process is going to be. We’re not authorized to talk to you about it. Someone from BP will contact you,’” Briet said, adding that no one from the company has reached out to him yet.