Week of August 8, 2009

A double truck bombing tore through the village of a small Shiite ethnic minority

near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, while nine blasts wracked Baghdad Monday

in a wave of violence that killed at least 48 people and wounded more than 250,

Iraqi officials said. The attacks provided a grim example of U.S. military warnings

that insurgents are targeting Shiites in an effort to re-ignite the kind of sectarian

violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2006 and 2007.

While families and friends mourn the loss of loved ones in a midair collision over

the Hudson River, divers return to the murky waters Monday to resume their

search for bodies and wreckage. A Pennsylvania family and an Italian tourist

group — nine people in all — were killed in Saturday's crash of a small plane and

a sightseeing helicopter in the busy skies of Manhattan. Divers recovered seven

bodies over the weekend — one teenage passenger on the plane and all six

people aboard the helicopter. They resume the search Monday morning for the

plane's pilot and an adult passenger, New York police spokesman Paul Browne

said.

Retail sales disappointed in July and the number of newly laid-off workers filing

claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week. The latest

government reports reinforced concerns about how quickly consumers will be

able to contribute to a broad economic recovery. "There is really no positive

spin to put on these numbers," Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital

Markets, wrote in a research note. "The U.S. consumer remains very weak. The

jobs situation, while slowly improving, is still dismal."

U.S. home loans failed at a record

pace in July despite ongoing federal

and state programs to avoid

foreclosures, which have severely

strained housing and the economy.

Foreclosure activity jumped 7

percent in July from June and 32

percent from a year earlier as one in

every 355 households with a loan

got a foreclosure filing, RealtyTrac

said on Thursday.

President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver , a champion for

the rights of the mentally disabled and founder of the Special Olympics, has died.

She was 88. Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died at

2 a.m. on Tuesday at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, her family said in a

Week of August 8, 2009

statement. The hospital is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole

surviving brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been battling brain cancer.

Tiger Woods will be fined by the PGA Tour

for his public criticism of a rules official after

winning the Bridgestone Invitational.

Twilight" struck a vein at the Teen Choice

Awards. The adolescent vampire drama

dominated Sunday's ceremony with 11 wins,

including choice movie drama, romance,

liplock, rumble and soundtrack. Kristen

Stewart won the movie drama actress

category while Robert Pattinson picked up

two surfboard-shaped trophies — one for

movie drama actor, another for male hottie.

Philippine troops overran two jungle camps

of al-Qaida-linked militants in their deadliest

clash in years, with 23 soldiers and 31

guerrillas killed in what a top commander

described Thursday as a "slugfest." More than 400 marines, army and police

commandos stormed the hilltop camps on southern Basilan Island on

Wednesday in raids targeting about 150 Abu Sayyaf militants led by two terror

suspects wanted for a series of bomb attacks and kidnappings, said navy chief

Vice Adm. Ferdinand Golez.

The Charles Manson follower convicted of

trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford

was released Friday from a Texas prison

hospital after more than three decades

behind bars. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, 60,

left the Federal Medical Center Carswell in

Fort Worth Though a few photographers had

camped out since the night before outside

the facility surrounded razor wire-topped

fences, Fromme slipped by the group

unnoticed in one of the many cars streaming

in and out of the front gate Friday morning.

The glittery glove that Michael Jackson wore

Week of August 8, 2009

when he unveiled his moonwalk on TV in 1983 is hitting the auction block. This

one isn't like his other glittery gloves, which were made for the right hand and

adorned with hand-sewn crystals. This left-handed glove, which accompanied

Jackson's fedora and dance moves on Motown's 25th-anniversary TV special, is

a modified, store-bought glove covered with a mesh of rhinestones. The glove,

which Darren Julien of Julien's Auctions called "the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson

memorabilia," will be featured alongside other one-of-a-kind items — such as an

early Madonna demo tape and unreleased Jimi Hendrix lyrics — at the Nov. 21

"Music Icons" auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City's Times Square.

20 new classic TV stamps are unveiled this week. : I Love Lucy, The Twilight

Zone, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Honeymooners, Texaco

Star Theater, Perry Mason, The Lone Ranger, Burns and Allen, Ozzie and

Harriet, Hopalong Cassidy, Lassie, Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, The Dinah Shore

Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Phil Silvers Show, Howdy Doody, The Red

Skelton Show, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.

G.I. Joe is the latest toy to invade Hollywood and plant its blockbuster flag.

Inspired by the Hasbro action figure, Paramount's "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"

took command of the weekend box office with a $56.2 million debut domestically,

according to studio estimates Sunday. "G.I. Joe" also took in $44.3 million

overseas for a worldwide total of $100.5 million. Meryl Streep’s Julia Childs tale

"Julie & Julia" opened a solid No. 2 as an alternative for adult crowds with $20.1

million. While "G.I. Joe" was the first choice for young males, women 35 and

older were the main audience for "Julie & Julia."

Brooks & Dunn are done.

Best-selling country duo Kix

Brooks and Ronnie Dunn posted

a message on their Web site

Monday saying they agreed to "call

it a day" after 20 years of making

music together. "This ride has

been everything and more than we

could ever have dreamed ... We

owe it all to you, the fans," they

said in the message. "If you hear

rumors, don't believe them, it's just

time."

Brooks & Dunn will release a greatest-hits album on Sept. 8 and tour one last

time in 2010.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff announced that he has

approved a deal between Michael Jackson's estate, concert promoter AEG Live

Week of August 8, 2009

and Columbia Pictures for a movie. The feature-length flick, out Oct. 30, will

feature rehearsal footage from a planned series of London comeback concerts,

as well as videos from the "This Is It" shows shot in the days before the King of

Pop's June 25 death. It will also offer select sequences in 3-D and feature

interviews with some of Jackson's closest friends and creative collaborators.

Top TV this week -

1. America's Got Talent" (Tuesday)

NBC

2. America's Got Talent" (Wednesday)

NBC

3. NCIS

CBS

4. So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday)

FOX

60 Minutes

CBS

6. Two and a Half Men

CBS

7. The Big Bang Theory

CBS

8. Wipeout

ABC

9. CSI: NY

CBS

10. NFL Exhibition Football: Buffalo vs. Tennessee NBC

11. CSI: Miami

CBS

12. So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday) FOX

13. The Mentalist

CBS

14. Big Brother 11" (Sunday)

CBS

15. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CBS

16. Dateline NBC" (Monday)

NBC

17. Who Wants to be a Millionaire

ABC

18. America's Got Talent" (Tuesday

NBC

19. Hell's Kitchen

FOX

20. Big Brother 11" (Thursday)

CBS