Well, we're glad that's over with: BP says that it has fully contained the oil leak and that oil is not leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since April. BP slowly cut off the flow over the course of Thursday. While the spill is, currently, completely contained, the company still needs to carry out more tests to make sure that the new system can withstand the pressure.

Now that the financial overhaul bill, passed Thursday by the Senate, is on the threshold of becoming law, bankers and regulators are busy predicting how things will change. The legislation empowers 10 regulatory agencies with the ability to write new rules governing all aspects of the financial industry—from the types of trades banks can conduct to the standards for mortgages, credit cards, and ATM fees. Many of these decisions will be made by regulators, and this has lawmakers on both the right and the left worried: Those on the right worry about government overreach, while those on the left worry about regulators becoming cozy with lobbyists. Indeed, the banking industry has been reaching out to regulators for months, and JP Morgan Chase has more than 100 teams studying the legislation.

Apparently, it’s easier for Goldman Sachs to fork over half-a-billion dollars than it is to say sorry: The investment bank has agreed to pay $550 million to the SEC in order to settle charges that it defrauded investors, but it will not admit any wrongdoing, according to The New York Times. Three-hundred-million dollars will go directly to the SEC, while the rest will serve as restitution to the investors who bought mortgage packages that had been handpicked by a hedge fund that wanted to bet against them.

The House Judiciary Committee released a transcript Thursday of its May interview with Jay Bybee, former head of the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel under George W. Bush's tenure, in which Bybee said that the CIA used interrogation techniques his office never approved. He also said that techniques his office did approve, such as waterboarding, were used too many times. Meanwhile, the Obama administration's inquiry into “black site” prison interrogation practices is nearing completion, but Attorney General Eric Holder has stated that the probe won’t necessarily result in criminal charges. Nevertheless, the investigation has attracted criticism from Republicans, who argue that its affect on morale would jeopardize future intelligence operations.

Well, we definitely know what Apple won’t be saying at Friday’s mysterious press conference about the iPhone 4: The Wall Street Journal says the company will not be recalling the phones due to problems with reception resulting from their external antennas. Meanwhile, the Journal corroborates earlier reporting by Bloomberg that Apple engineers warned CEO Steve Jobs about risks with the antenna design, but that Jobs was so enamored with it that he pushed ahead anyway. However, Apple is denying the reporting: “We challenge Bloomberg BusinessWeek to produce anything beyond rumors to back this up. It's simply not true."

Republican-turned-Democratic Senator Arlen Specter will be out of a job at the close of this congressional session, putting an end to his 30-year Senate career. He lost Pennsylvania's primary election to Rep. Joe Sestak, who caused a scandal when he announced that Bill Clinton had offered him a job in an attempt to keep him from running against Specter. But sources tell ABC News that Specter has expressed an interest to the administration to remain in public service. Specter is a close friend of Joe Biden and a well-known supporter of funding for the National Institutes of Health. Republicans, however, are keeping a close watch: Specter recently switched his support in favor of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, after opposing her for solicitor general last year.

How do you get a giant corporation interested in prisoner’s rights? Come from a country with large oil fields: BP admitted on Thursday that it lobbied the British government to carry out a prisoner-transfer with the Libyan government because it feared a delay would damage its business in the country. “It is matter of public record that in late 2007 BP told the U.K. Government that we were concerned about the slow progress that was being made in concluding a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya,” the company said in a statement. Libya wanted that agreement—which never materialized—so it could get its hands on Abdel Basset al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, who returned to Libya last year. However, BP denied involvement in the negotiations directly concerning al Megrahi. “BP was not involved in any discussions with the U.K. Government or the Scottish Government about the release of Mr. al Megrahi,” the statement read. BP came clean just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised to investigate the matter.

Has Pakistan’s terrible violence spilled over the border? Suicide bombers have attacked a Shia mosque in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 100. Al Jazeera reports two explosions,  and says that Revolutionary Guards are among the dead. The attacks targeted Shia Muslim worshippers in the predominantly Sunni city of Zahedan.

Hope he had his helmet on: Australian cyclist Mark Renshaw, the lead-out man for his HTC-Columbia teammate Mark Cavendish, went to great lengths to give his team a leg up in the 11th stage of the Tour de France. So much so, in fact, that he head-butted Garmin-Transitions’ Kiwi lead-out man Julian Dean three times. Cavendish went on to win his third stage of the race—and 13th of his career—but Renshaw was declassified immediately and excluded from the Tour. “We’ve only seen the pictures once, but his actions are plain for all to see,” Jean-Francois Pescheux, a top race official, told the Associated Press. “They were blatant. This is a bike race, not a gladiator’s arena.” Nonetheless Cavendish was pleased with his win: “I’m very happy to win,” he said. “The team did a great job.”

This is scary: Pink plummeted from her harness into a barricade during a performance in Nürnberg, Germany, Thursday night. The show was stopped, and she was then hurried into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital. But she was well enough to tweet her fans an apology: “I am embarrassed and very sorry,” she wrote. “didn’t get clipped in2 harness correctly…Getting xrays. I hope it at least looked cool!!!” According to recent tweets from Pink, nothing is broken—she’s “just seriously sore.”

Maybe he was preparing for a role as a sailor? RadarOnline has released another audio clip Thursday morning of Mel Gibson calling ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva a “bitch, c---, whore, gold digger,” but the actor’s lawyers are claiming they have “concrete forensic evidence” that the tapes have been tampered with and edited, according to TMZ. In Radar’s fifth tape, Gibson also claims that he doesn’t “have any f------ money,” blaming Grigorieva for his alleged financial situation. “I gave you shit,” he reportedly yells. “You gave me nothing but f------ grief!” If Gibson’s lawyers’ accusations are true, the tapes would not be allowed in court. The recordings would also have to be authenticated by the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department to be admitted as evidence. Grigorieva’s lawyers say they’re unaware of what Gibson’s lawyers might be presenting to the sheriff’s department, but told TMZ, “We are not surprised they would make such unfounded claims.” Her lawyers will be in court Thursday asking for Gibson’s custody rights to their daughter to be revoked, using the tapes as evidence. A forensic audio expert on NBC's Today show Thursday said the tapes had not been edited.

Hugh Hefner hopes to take Playboy private, but his chances of doing so may be falling apart: on Thursday FriendFinder Networks, the owner of Penthouse magazine, put in a $210 million offer—$25 million more than Hefner's bid—for the iconic, albeit struggling, company. “We are very excited about the prospect for the combination of Playboy Enterprises and FriendFinder Networks,” Marc Bell, FriendFinder’s owner, said in a statement. “We look forward to Mr. Hefner and other key members of management being an integral part of the combined companies.” Bell also noted that, in the event of a buyout, Hefner would retain editorial control of the magazine and keep his famous L.A. mansion. Earlier this week, though, Hefner had different ideas about FriendFinder's impending offer: “Penthouse is just looking for publicity,” he wrote on Twitter. “They're not in the picture.”

Lindsay Lohan moved into a sober-living facility in Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon, in what TMZ first reported as an attempt to “blunt” a 90-day jail sentence. Her newly hired lawyer, Robert Shapiro (of O.J. Simpson trial fame), has been tasked with eliminating or reducing Lohan’s jail sentence. His first move was to have the actress check herself into Pickford Lofts, a sober-living house he founded. The actress was sentenced to 90 days in rehab after her 90-day stint behind bars, but Shapiro sent Lohan to his facility immediately, hoping to mollify Judge Marsha Revel who sentenced Lohan, according to TMZ. The actress’ mother Dina, sister Ali, and ex-girlfriend Samantha Ronson were seen at the facility on Wednesday as well. Lohan is scheduled to begin her prison sentence on Tuesday. Meanwhile, she's actually still thinking about her fans. Lohan was worried they might be susceptible to web viruses when looking for information about her, so she has teamed up with Norton AntiVirus, and says to get updated news straight from the source--her Twitter feed, of course.

Ground Zero apparently doubles as an archaeological dig: Diggers at the World Trade Center site found, buried deep in the dirt, the 33-foot hull of an 18th-century ship. Archaeologists think the ship was buried with other debris to fill in and extend lower Manhattan into the Hudson River over 100 years ago. One archaeologist at the site told the Associated Press that the ship will hopefully be removed from the ground by the end of the day. But it's unclear how much of the vessel will remain salvageable. Currently being cleared by hand, the team aims to save at least several timbers. Exposure to air makes the delicate wood deteriorate, though, so the work to analyze the boat must be done quickly. "I kept thinking of how closely it came to being destroyed," one archaeologist said.

Last year, Tom Watson returned to form and nearly won the British Open. This year, can John Daly do the same? The beloved golfer, whose struggles with alcohol and gambling have only endeared him further to his fans, shot a 66 in the opening round of the tournament. The only thing more eye-grabbing than his name near the top of the leader board—he’s tied for third—was, perhaps, his outfit: He wore purple paisley pants with a peach shirt and a light-blue sweater vest. Daly won the British Open in 1995 and his 66 tied his best score at the tournament. Twenty-one-year-old Rory McIlroy leads the tournament after tying the course record with a 63. Tiger Woods is also in the hunt after shooting 67.

Keeping up with the Gates: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen—who clocked in at No.  37 on Forbes’ latest billionaires list—has pledged the majority of his $13.5 billion fortune to charity. The 57-year-old announced his plans on the 20th anniversary of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Allen has given about $1 billion over the years to causes in science and the arts, including the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the Experience Music Project. His giving has mostly focused on the Pacific Northwest, where he lives. His announcement comes a week after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began publicly encouraging other billionaires to make a “Giving Pledge” and donate at least half their fortunes.

Bristol Palin says that Levi Johnston proposed to her by putting rose petals in the shape of a heart on her bed. After she saw it, he got down on one knee to ask her the big question, Palin explains in a video for Us Weekly as Johnston’s face reddens. The couple, who announced their wedding plans on the cover of the magazine, said the news was a surprise to Sarah Palin, the mom of the bride-to-be. Palin has been critical of Johnston’s antics, including his Playgirl spread. The younger Palin says, “It just feels right to be a family.” Johnston adds, "I've missed out on a lot of his life, and I can't get that back… Seeing him walk or crawl for the first time, or his first word ... I missed all that. More importantly, I am here now, and I am going to make it right."

Landon Donovan says he doesn’t have a love child. Donovan, star of the U.S. World Cup team, was informed during the tournament that a woman might be carrying his baby. He didn’t deny a British report of his potential fatherhood at the time, saying he would support the child if it’s his. But he said he now he knows the claim wasn’t true, telling E! Online during the ESPY Awards that he "won’t be a dad any time soon.” Donovan is separated from his wife, actress Bianca Kajlich. He was on loan to the Liverpool club Everton for a few months last winter.

The Chamber of Commerce has offered an open letter to the Obama administration offering its ideas to create more jobs. The message coincides with the group’s “Jobs Summit” going on now in Washington. Not deviating from its conservatism, the chamber says the best way to make more jobs is to cut corporate income taxes, cut taxes on wealthy people, deregulate business, and have more free trade. It wants the Bush tax cuts made permanent but also calls for cutting the deficit. The chamber says Social Security is to blame for our massive debt and wants U.S. infrastructure to be opened up to private investment.

Kellogg says higher levels of chemicals in cereal box liners caused the weird smell and taste that led to the recall of 28 million boxes of Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks last month. Twenty people complained to the company about the cereal, including five who felt nausea and vomiting. The breakfast delights tasted waxy, soapy or stale thanks to extra hydrocarbons, including methyl naphthalene, in the packaging. Those chemicals typically appear in lower levels in the wax on liners as well as protective coatings on cheese and raw produce, but the risks of moderate exposure to them is unknown. Kellogg said exposure to the stuff isn’t risky, but the FDA is reviewing the information provided by the food giant.

Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri, who American officials said provided nuclear secrets to the U.S. and then had second thoughts, has returned to Iran, the latest development in a strange tale of international espionage and Iran-U.S. relations. Although American officials said Amiri voluntarily gave up Iranian nuclear secrets, Iran has insisted Amiri was kidnapped from Saudi Arabia and imprisoned and tortured in the U.S. Amiri made several conflicting YouTube videos, where he claimed to be held involuntarily or that he was a Ph.D. student who came to the U.S. under his own free will. The radiation specialist was in a program similar to the Witness Protection Program run by the CIA. Three days ago, Amiri went to the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani embassy and asked to return to Tehran.

AIG Chairman Harvey Golub resigned after a long, difficult relationship with the government-controlled company’s CEO, Robert Benmosche. Golub had told the AIG board that his working relationship with Benmosche was “ineffective and unsustainable.” Tensions worsened during a disagreement over selling off a key division of AIG—after Golub won that battle with the company holding on to the unit, Benmosche gave the board an it’s-him-or-me ultimatum. Board member Steve Miller will replace Golub; Miller is considered a specialist in turning around troubled companies and will likely speed up the pace at which AIG pays back the government for its bailout.

Failed Times Square Bomber Faisal Shahzad may have not been able to properly complete his plot to blow up a busy New York City street but he cut a suicide video just in case. In a new recording, Shahzad is seen holding an AK-47 and wearing the clothes of an Afghan fighter. Filmed before the May 1 attempt,  Shahzad said, "I will carry this attack on their behalf, and I hope it will please Muslims." He called the attack revenge for "for all the mujahideen" or holy warriors. "Eight years have passed since the war in Afghanistan. You will see that the Muslims' war has just started, and we will tell you how Islam will spread all over the world," Shahzad said. Last month, he pleaded guilty in court.

The White House fired a memo to House Democrats Wednesday defending their campaign actions after complaints that the administration isn't doing enough to keep a Democratic majority following the 2010 elections. The memo highlighted all campaign appearances President Barack Obama has made for congressional Democrats, as well as "40 or so" upcoming scheduled events. The memo comes shortly after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of her caucus attacked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who said Sunday on Meet the Press that Democrats could lose the House. House members have also grumbled that the White House has a bias toward the Senate, although a staffer told Politico, "the whole notion that we're not doing enough or that we have a Senate bias is [BS]."

Tobacco giant Philip Morris has copped to using 10-year-old workers in its farms based in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan. The plantations that provide tobacco to the U.S. company also stripped migrant workers of their passports and made them work extra hours for no pay, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. At least 72 cases of children working on the farms have been documented. A system of human trafficking persisted where workers faced unbearable debts to intermediaries who deliver them to Kazakhstan. The company has pledged to end the abuses.

Verizon has increased its smartphone marketshare dramatically even without Apple’s iPhone, which is paired with AT&T. Verizon’s share of that market is now 26 percent, up from 20 percent less than two years ago, and its partnership with Google is proving it doesn’t need Steve Jobs' creation. Thursday, Verizon starts selling Droid X, a smartphone that uses Google’s Android and could pose a tough challenge to the iPhone. AT&T’s network struggles to keep up with demands of iPhone users, angering customers (its market share dropped to 40 percent from 45 percent). Apple and AT&T signed an exclusive five-year deal before the iPhone’s debut. Understanding the threat, Verizon sought to work with Google, with which it had had an antagonistic relationship. It now has six phones running Android.

Desperate to push back the Taliban in Afghanistan, NATO military commanders agreed on Wednesday to support the establishment of local defense forces which would be used in remote areas to stop attacks. The decision points to anger over the slow pace at which a more permanent security force is taking shape. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had been against the program, saying that he thought the groups could turn into militias that would resist government control. A Pentagon official called the forces “a temporary solution to a very real, near-term problem.”

Lil' Wayne is giving fans a peek at his life behind bars at New York's Rikers Island jail. The rap star has taken to his web site to describe his average day. Weezy says he usually wakes up around 11 a.m., drinks coffee, talks to his family, and reads fan mail. Post-dinner hours, he listens to ESPN on the radio, he says, and reads the Bible. The rapper's music career hasn't been stalled by his stint in the pokey. He phoned in a verse for a version of Drake's recent song "Light it Up." Wayne has more than 100 days left on his sentence for gun possession, but fans can expect another album before then, with a recording scheduling for a Sept. 27 release.

Formerly classified documents show the U.K. tortured its own citizens amid increased security measures after Sept. 11. Some of the papers implicate former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office, and new P.M. David Cameron announced an investigation into the events. One set of documents shows MI5 officers complicit in the mistreatment of a British resident they were questioning at an American airbase in Afghanistan. The MI6’s procedural manual, “Detainees and Detention Operations,” says that during an operation to detain a terror suspect, officers should consider whether "detention, rather than killing, is the objective of the operation." A 2002 document says transferring citizens from Afghanistan to Guantánamo is the "preferred option." Another said Downing Street kept a British citizen held in Zambia from getting support from the consulate, resulting in him being “rendered” to Guantánamo. The documents have been uncovered as part of a civil suit by six former Guantánamo inmates against the British government, which has delayed the release of many papers citing the massive volume of relevant papers.

Lindsay Lohan has reportedly finally found someone—to legally represent her, that is. The fallen starlet hired a new lawyer, Robert Shapiro, according to TMZ, although sources tell the website he will not be appealing her upcoming prison sentence. Shapiro, who was part of O.J. Simpson’s original legal “dream team,” will reportedly be asking Judge Marsha Revel to put Lohan in a rehab facility to reduce—or possibly eliminate—her jail time, according to TMZ. Lohan is set to turn herself in for a 90-day jail sentence next Tuesday. Shapiro, who had a son die of a drug overdose in 2005, reportedly wants Lohan to go to a rehab facility that he is involved in with his charity, The Brent Shapiro Foundation.

Before he was outed as the 12th member of a Russian spy ring uncovered by American officials last month, Alexey Karetnikov tested codes for Microsoft, the Redmond, Washington software giant. The 23-year-old had been on the junior-level job for less than a year, and the Justice Department says he didn't have access to any sensitive information. A private researcher told the Financial Times that Karetnikov could have been looking for vulnerabilities in Microsoft programs to aid his comrades in their espionage endeavors.

It turns out President Obama is in the minority in thinking that a ban on offshore drilling is a good idea. Seventy-three percent of respondents to a new Bloomberg National Poll said the ban on the kind of activity pursued by BP when the Deepwater Horizon rig sank is unnecessary. Those respondents said the explosion, which has left oil pumping into the Gulf of Mexico for more than 80 days, was a "freak accident." So far the White House has issued two moratoriums on offshore drilling after the first one was overruled by a judge. Only a third of respondents said that they support drilling less than they did before the BP rig sank.

How do you say "hooray" in Spanish? Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage on Thursday. The vote took place in the Argentinean senate at 4 a.m. after 14 hours of debate, with 33 senators voting for, 27 against, and three abstaining. The Roman Catholic Church fought the measure tooth and nail, organizing a 60,000 person march on Congress. The legislation will also give gay couples all the same rights enjoyed by straight couples, including adoption and inheritance. 

Now that a leak has been fixed, BP is ready to test the latest cap it’s put on the busted rig spewing oil into the Gulf. National Incident Commander Thad Allen said that BP would start testing Thursday and had already begun some preliminary steps, including reopening two valves that had been closed. The procedure can begin once the cap seals are tested again and underwater robots are moved into place. Work was delayed Wednesday when scientists discovered a leak in the seal between the cap and the choke line that vents some oil; the whole choke line assembly was switched out overnight. The cap is a stopgap until the relief well is drilled. It’s unclear whether the device will be used to channel oil to collection vessels on the surface or to shut off the oil entirely.

He’s not the obvious choice, but Mark Ruffalo may have broken out of his Indie corner: he’s in talks with Marvel to play Hulk in the forthcoming film The Avengers, E! Online reports. He’s currently earning rave reviews for his performance as a lesbian couple’s anonymous sperm donor in The Kids Are All Right. The decision comes as a result of last weekend’s news that Edward Norton would not be reprising his role as the green-skinned muscleman. Casting is reportedly not finished yet, and Ruffalo’s team hasn’t commented.

Last week’s heat wave wasn’t an anomaly: The first half of 2010 was the warmest January through June on record. The average temperature in that time span was 57.5 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Climatic Data Center, whose records go back to 1880. That’s 1.22 F above the 20th-century average. The previous record for the hottest first half of the year was in 1998; 2005 has the record for the hottest whole year.

Could an iPhone 4 fix or recall soon be coming? Apple is holding a press conference on Friday at 10 a.m., Pacific time. It hasn’t announced the exact nature of the press conference yet. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Apple’s senior antenna expert warned CEO Steve Jobs early in the design phase of the iPhone 4 that the external antenna could lead to dropped calls. Bloomberg adds that a “carrier partner” also voiced concerns about the antenna design. Despite the antenna problem, and the brouhaha around it, the iPhone 4 has broken all previous Apple records, selling 1.7 million devices in the first three days.

Maybe someone can hide a file in his statuette, should he win: Robert “Joe” Halderman, serving six months at Riker's Island for extorting David Letterman, has been nominated for an Emmy. Halderman is one of four CBS producers nominated for contributing to an April 2009 segment on 48 Hours about Amanda Knox titled “American Girl, Italian Nightmare.”

President Obama has another feather to stick in his cap: The Senate passed financial reform by a vote of 60-39 on Thursday. The House already passed the 2,300-page bill, which means that all it needs is Obama’s signature before it officially becomes law. Three Republicans voted for the measure in the end: Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.