A new chapter in the ever-unfolding Blackwater saga: After it was slammed for its poor conduct in Iraq, the private military contractor company (now known as Xe Services) created a web of 30 “shell companies” to obtain millions from U.S. government contracts, former Blackwater officials and Congressional investigators revealed to The New York Times. The officials and investigators added that, while the number of contracts those Blackwater-linked businesses won remains vague, three had deals with the U.S. military or the Central Intelligence Agency and were awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts. Congress began its investigation last year, after two Afghans were killed by Blackwater personnel, and concerns have continually been raised over the Blackwater-CIA relationship. “I am continually and increasingly mystified by this relationship,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “To engage with a company that is such a chronic, repeat offender, it’s reckless.”

Hurricane Earl finally touched down on Cape Cod Friday night, pummeling the coastline. The storm, which was downgraded to a Category 1 on Friday, will hit Nantucket around midnight. With top wind speeds reaching 80 miles per hour, several storm watches have been changed: Western Long Island and Connecticut are no longer under a tropical storm watch and the hurricane warning in North Carolina has been replaced with a tropical storm warning for north of Ocracoke. "The good news on Earl is that it has been steadily weakening, maybe even a little quicker than forecast," Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center, said in a telephone news conference. “It may even go below hurricane strength about the time it passes southern New England overnight tonight.” Meanwhile, the Cape Cod area continues to prepare for the worst, with extra water supplies, power-line repair crews, and debris clearance teams on standby, and several emergency shelters open in the area. “We will see power outages,” warned one official. “We have not seen anything like this” since Hurricane Bob slammed Cape Cod in 1991.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent in August from 9.5 percent a month earlier. But the private sector added a net total of 67,000 jobs in August, according to Labor Department figures out Friday morning. The number is lower than the 107,000 companies added in the previous month, but made August the third month in a row that jobs were added. Analysts were expecting 41,000 jobs to be added. In August, over 500,000 Americans re-entered the job market and re-commenced their searches, pushing the unemployment rate up (unemployed workers who are not looking for work are not included in statistics charting the jobless rate). Said economist Ryan Sweet: "We really need private businesses to step up and begin to hire more aggressively for this recovery to really gain momentum."

Time for Democratic governors to book the moving vans? Come the November 2 elections, the Republicans appear to be poised for a gubernatorial takeover, according to forecasting whiz Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight model. The nation’s governors’ mansions, which are now held by 26 Democrats, 23 Republicans, and 1 independent, could be drastically altered. Most likely, they’ll do especially well in the Midwest and swing states. For example, in Michigan and Pennsylvania—among 9 others—the Republican candidate has at least an 80 percent chance of victory. Democrats, by contrast, are only favored in four states: Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, and New York.

It’s official: American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi is leaving Fox’s hit talent contest after weeks of media speculation. “I felt like I won the lottery when I joined American Idol two years ago, but I feel like now is the best time to leave,” DioGuardi said in a statement. “I am very proud to have been associated with American Idol—it has truly been an amazing experience ... I look forward to my next challenge, and want to thank everyone who has supported me. All the best to everyone on Season 10!” Fox’s Alternative Entertainment President Mike Darnell said, “Kara was a great addition to our Idol family... She will be missed, and we wish her continued success.” Other reports suggest that Jennifer Lopez is nearing a deal to become an Idol judge, potentially alongside Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler and the show's only remaining original host, Randy Jackson.

A bomb blast at a rally in the city of Quetta, Pakistan, killed at least 55 people and left over 100 wounded on Friday. The attack follows three bombings in Lahore earlier this week, for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Friday's attack took place in a busy commercial area at a Shi'ite rally in which people gathered to express support for the Palestinian people. Alongside disease, crop destruction and homelessness, a major aspect of the fallout from the floods that have devastated the South Asian nation is its army's inability to contend with Taliban attacks. The Pakistani Taliban, which American officials say was behind the failed Times Square bomb attempt, was added to the U.S. terrorism blacklist this week.

Restoring honor, huh? After being outed by everyone from Keith Olbermann to Ed Schultz, Fox News pundit Glenn Beck has copped to lying during his rally in Washington D.C. Beck had said that he held George Washington's handwritten first Inaugural Address in his hands at the National Archives, but after he was called out by many members of the media, as well as a spokesman for the National Archives, he finally admitted to stretching the truth during his radio program Thursday—because he “thought it would be a little easier in the speech.” Beck elaborated, saying, “You can’t actually touch any of the documents” so “they hold them right in front of you,” adding, “I thought it was a little clumsy to explain it that way.”

After confirming an accelerant—diesel fuel, to be specific—was used to start a fire at a proposed mosque site in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, federal investigators said a suspect will be required to determine if the arson case was, in fact, a hate crime. Which is why they’ve announced a $20,000 award to anyone who can provide information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of those involved. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has outgrown their current facilities and had been trying to build a new mosque. Their new project has caused significant heated debate, and they’ve received death threats.

Wen Baragrey, a writer and resident in Christchurch, New Zealand, where an earthquake with a 7.0 temblor struck on Saturday morning, wrote of the account, which MSNBC.com reprinted. “When it hit, I was awake, having terrible trouble sleeping,” writes Baragrey. “I felt the first shifts with my bed shaking and I leaped straight out of it and ran.” After dislocating his shoulder and putting it back in himself, Baragrey collected his daughter, her friend, and two dogs, a shepherd and a collie, and fled in their four-wheel-drive car. “When it finally stopped, we were all screaming. … We dodged it all and got out of the city as fast as we could. None of the traffic lights were working, so it was chaos,” he writes. According to the Los Angeles Times, the massive earthquake damaged buildings, cut out power, and shut down the Christchurch Airport.

A Vanity Fair writer admitted on Friday to a case of mistaken identity in his article about Sarah Palin in the magazine’s October issue. In the story, Michael Joseph Gross describes Palin’s youngest son, Trig, who has Down syndrome, being pushed in a stroller by his older sister, Piper, before a Kansas City rally. The error, which was originally reported by Politico, is that the boy was another child with Down syndrome, not Palin's. What’s more, the mother of the child, conservative activist Gina Loudon, said she made it clear to Gross during the rally that the child was hers. “I told him that. And he ignored it,” Loudon told the Associated Press. “It's not even like he didn't fact check—he just ignored facts.” Palin, in response, referred to the article as “yellow journalism” in a tweet.

In his first major work in over a decade, physicist Stephen Hawking argues that the creation of the universe did not require the existence of God. Contrary to what Isaac Newton believed, our universe’s unique properties mean that it is quite possible that it emerged spontaneously from chaos. "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing," he writes with fellow physicist Leonard Mlodinow. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to... set the Universe going." The book, titled The Grand Design, is due out on Sept. 9 and attempts to answer "the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." And, unlike the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Hawking’s answer is not the number 42.

Apparently, there aren’t many Playgirl subscribers in the Last Frontier: A new Public Policy Polling poll finds that Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin’s grandchild and Wasilla mayor hopeful, has just a 6 percent favorability rating in the state, with only  14 percent of the presumably anti-Palin Democrats having a favorable view. Seventy two percent of Alaskans have an unfavorable view of Johnston. Sarah Palin polls better, but isn’t going to win a popularity contest any time soon—just 37 percent of Alaskans have a favorable view of her, while 55 percent have an unfavorable view. Also discovered in the poll: 11 percent of Alaskans say they can see Russia from their houses.

Who says that America has no exports? Focus on the Family has started an abstinence-only education program in China’s Yunnan province—the fruits of a several-year effort to get a foothold in the country. The Yunnan ministry of education agreed to the program and has trained 512 teachers from half the school districts in the province in the curriculum. It’s one of several international programs by Focus, which has had success with abstinence-only programs in the Muslim world. Focus has had to pledge to the Chinese government to not proselytize.

Prince Harry is getting walloped in the tabloids yet again, this time accused of animal cruelty. The polo-playing chap allegedly cut his horse with one of his spurs during a July match at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park, and continued to ride the pony despite its obviously bloody injury. Animal welfare activists have decried the incident and lambasted the Prince for being "heartless," while The Hurlingham Polo Association has opened an investigation into the matter. According to the sports rules, "Any player intentionally striking another player or any pony with his stick, or abusing his pony by excessive use of the whip or spurs shall be severely penalized." Said a spokesman for the Prince: “As soon as the cut was noticed, play was stopped and the horse was treated properly. The horse was absolutely fine and returned to the field immediately... Prince Harry takes the welfare of his horses incredibly seriously and has been riding this horse for many years."

So much for Tiger Woods’ Manhattan bachelor pad. As it turns out, the place that Us Weekly claimed Woods was buying for himself earlier this week might not live up to the luxurious standards he is used to. "No way Tiger would live there,” one real estate agent said. “It's an '80s conversion, run-down, with leaky ceilings. If it really was Tiger who was spotted moving boxes in from a BMW, brokers say he might have been helping a girlfriend. It would have to be a mistress he doesn't care about." According to the New York Post, Woods always stays on his yacht, “Privacy,” any time he comes to New York. It seems more likely that he will remain in Florida, where he has secured a $54.5 million mortgage on his waterfront estate on Jupiter Island, Fla. Almost as remarkable is the fact that he intends to have it paid off in full by January 2016.

After years of raising money for Africa through concerts and charity albums, Bob Geldof is moving into the boardroom. He’s trying to capitalize on Africa's resurgent economy by raising $1 billion for a fund called 8 Miles, which will invest in agribusiness, financial services, and telecommunications. The African Development Bank has already earmarked $50 million, and the World Bank’s private sector division has offered a similar amount. The Financial Times reports a person familiar with the project saying that Geldof plans to raise funds and make deals using the reputation and connections he has established since doing the Live Aid campaign for victims of the Ethiopian 25 years ago. “Sir Bob has got fantastic connections. He is there because he knows something about Africa and can get people to sit up and take notice,” said another source.

FBI Special Agent Steve Moore, who once claimed that Amanda Knox was guilty of murdering her British roommate, now says there’s no doubt she’s innocent. “When Amanda Knox gets out, if she needs a roommate, I’ll send my daughter over,” Moore told Good Morning America. “The evidence is completely conclusive.” After independently researching and analyzing Knox’s case for the past year, having obtained the crime scene video, autopsy photos, and legal documents, Moore said his opinion has quickly changed. “There is no DNA evidence. What they're saying is that whoever killed Meredith cleaned up in Amanda's bathroom. That's all they say,” Moore said. “They found Amanda’s DNA in her own bathroom? Astounding.” Since her November 2007 arrest, Knox has spent about three years in an Italian prison.

Is Jennifer Lopez one step closer to becoming the new judge on the block? While it’s been rumored for weeks that she’s been in talks to sign on for American Idol’s tenth season, sources tell TMZ that a deal is now imminent. And contrary to earlier reports, negotiations between the pop star and Idol producers have been drama-free, according to the site. Unless a last-minute issue arises, Lopez will be sizing up contestants with Randy Jackson—the only remaining judge from the original panel—in a matter of weeks. Since Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell left the reality-television juggernaut, it’s struggled to find replacements with good chemistry. Sources tell TMZ that producers see Lopez as the "key to re-energizing the show."

To the experts following North Korean politics, the country’s upcoming Worker’s Party gathering looks like déjà vu. It is eerily reminiscent of the gathering 30 years ago that saw Kim Jong Il come to power and speculation is swirling that he is preparing to pass the mantle to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un. South Korean activists believe that the party congress will begin tomorrow and last through the weekend, with “the reorganization of its leadership structure” topping the agenda. The elder Kim, whose health is believed to be deteriorating, has already made two trips to China this year, possibly to earn an endorsement for his son. Kim Jong Un is a mysterious figure and little his known about him outside his homeland, besides the fact that he is likely in his late 20s.

Here’s one way not to start a political debate: silence. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Arizona Governor Jan Brewer did during a televised debate on Wednesday night. “We have, uh, did what was right for Arizona,” Brewer said after much fidgeting. Even Brewer herself, during an interview with a Phoenix radio station on Thursday, said she could have done better. “It certainly was the longest 16 seconds of my life,” she said. “I’m human, I’m human.” Not surprisingly, the pause—and the media’s post-debate about it—became an Internet sensation Thursday, with Brewer getting roasted on political blogs. Salon.com’s headline, for example: “Jan Brewer: Bumbling politician of the year.”  Brewer became governor when her Democratic predecessor resigned in January 2009; she’s since drawn national attention for signing the state’s controversial immigration law.

Oh, the irony: BP claims that if Congress passes legislation barring the oil giant from getting new offshore-drilling permits, it may not have enough money to pay for the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A ban would also stunt the company’s ambitious restoration efforts, they argue. “If we are unable to keep those fields going, that is going to have a substantial impact on our cash flow,” David Nagle, BP’s executive vice president for BP America, told The New York Times. Another overhaul bill, passed by the house July 30, concerns BP because of an amendment that would bar companies with 10 or more fatalities on onshore or offshore drilling facilities from Outer Continental Shelf drilling permits. “If BP needs to sell assets to meet its financial obligations, that’s a decision they have to make,” said Daniel Weiss, chief of staff for Rep. George Miller (D-CA), who wrote the provision. Meanwhile, BP announced Friday that the cost of the cleanup has risen by another $2 billion over the last month to a total of around $8 billion.

Aside from setting a schedule for the reopened peace talks, Israeli and Palestinian leaders ended the first day without much progress. The stakes are high when they meet again Sept. 16: Israel’s partial moratorium on new settlements in the West Bank is due to expire on Sept. 26. Jewish officials are largely opposed to extending it, but if construction resumes, the talks threaten to break down entirely. Any discussion of the settlements is usually bitterly fraught, with the sides unable to even agree on which ones are at issue. "Talking about the settlement blocs without a detailed map is like playing chess with yourself," one Israeli official said. "The Palestinians [will] say, 'You won't get them for free. Show us a map.'" From now on, the talks will also remain shrouded in secrecy as the United States has urged both sides not to publicly declare their positions, so that negotiators don’t dig themselves in because of popular opinion.

By copying the Hollywood script, porn czar Steven Hirsch's Vivid Entertainment has managed to carve out a giant piece of the porn pie. Vivid, the leader in pornographic videos, pulls in about $100 million a year in an industry that brings in an estimated $13 billion annually—compared with Hollywood's $10.6 billion. Hirsch's company has managed to stay top dog by embracing the current tabloid atmosphere and marketing TMZ-pimped celebrity sex tapes and Hollywood porn parodies. "We have done celebrities for many years but have more recently acquired more than ever before as public appetite has increased," Hirsch told The Hollywood Reporter. "The days of generic adult films are gone because there are many, many websites for stuff like that." Laurence Fishburne's daughter Montana's sex tape—the subject of tabloid scandal—has grossed $1 million, selling 25,000 tapes so far at $45 a pop. And the blurring of Hollywood/porn has helped porn starlets like Riley Steele ( Piranha 3D) and Sasha Grey ( Entourage) cross into the mainstream. "The media and consumers love this stuff," said one industry source. "Paris didn't lose anything, and Kim Kardashian escalated her fame." Next up for Vivid: Superman XXX: A Porn Parody, and spoofs of movies including Grease, A Clockwork Orange, and even The Godfather.

American youth's crush on Obama is cooling. Though many young people are still passionate about liberal social issues, a weak job market and faltering economy has led many to lose confidence in the Democratic Party. According to a new Pew survey, compared to 2008, far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds today identify as Democrats. This shift has serious implications for the upcoming midterms; the youth vote's ability to upend the results in November and hand back a majority to Republicans can certainly compromise Obama's agenda. “Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?” asked director of survey research at the Pew Research Center Scott Keeter. “The jury is still out.”

A page from the Palin playbook: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is refusing to debate her Democratic opponent again after her disastrous performance on Wednesday night in which she stopped speaking, looked downward at the table for several seconds, and even began to giggle. “I certainly will take my message in a different venue out to the people of Arizona,” Brewer said, adding that the only reason she agreed to the first debate with her opponent Terry Goddard was so that she could quality for $1.7 million in public-campaign funds. She said that she and Goddard have both served in elective office long enough that the public already knows what they stand for. “Why would I want to give Terry a chance to redefine himself?”

Does this mean he’s the new Bono? Former director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag has signed up with The New York Times to write a regular column for the op-ed page. Orszag’s first column will appear on Tuesday, September 7 and he’ll write once or twice a month from there on out. He’s apparently signed up to cover several economic and domestic issues. He’ll also write for the Times’ website’s Opinionator blog.