Week of July 8, 2009

In Italy - G8 leaders believe the world economy still faces "significant

risks" and may need further help, according to summit draft documents

that also suggest failure to agree climate change goals for 2050.Progress

on the environment was impeded by Chinese President Hu Jintao

returning home due to unrest in northwestern China in which 156 people

have died. Before he left, summit host Silvio Berlusconi spoke of Chinese

"resistance" on climate goals.

Vice President Joe Biden has

announced a White House deal with the

hospitals to help pay for President Barack

Obama's overhaul of health care. Biden

made the announcement Wednesday

morning at the White House with hospital

administrators and Health and Human

Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Biden said, "reform is coming." Biden said

the hospitals are ready to give up about

$155 billion over 10 years in government

payments. The money could then be used

to help pay for covering millions of

uninsured.

A charging bull gored a man to death Friday at

Pamplona's San Fermin festival, the first such

fatality in nearly 15 years. Nine others were injured in a particularly dangerous

and chaotic chapter of the running of the bulls.

Lasting worldwide recovery "is still a ways off," President Barack Obama

declared Friday, but he also said at the conclusion of a global summit that a

disastrous economic collapse apparently has been averted. Obama said world

leaders had taken significant measures to address economic, environmental and

global security issues. "Reckless actions by a few have fueled a recession that

spans the globe," Obama said of the meltdown that began in the United States

with a tumble in housing prices and drastic slowing of business lending. The

downturn now threatens superpowers and emerging nations alike.

A North Korean army lab of hackers was ordered to "destroy" South Korean

communications networks — evidence the isolated regime was behind

Week of July 8, 2009

cyberattacks that paralyzed South Korean and American Web sites — news

reports said Saturday, citing an intelligence briefing.

Members of the parliamentary intelligence committee have said in recent days

that the National Intelligence Service has also pointed to a North Korean boast

last month that it was "fully ready for any form of high-tech war."

Retired auto worker

John Demjanjuk was

formally charged

Monday with 27,900

counts of acting as an

accessory to murder

— one for every

person who died at

the Nazi death camp

where he is accused

of serving as a guard.

The charges by

prosecutors a Munich

state court are one of

the final steps before an expected autumn trial for the 89-year-old, who has been

fighting a variety of Nazi-era charges since 1977. Demjanjuk and his family have

argued that he is in poor health. Photos taken in April showed him wincing in pain

as immigration agents removed him from his home in Seven Hills, Ohio, where

he had been living since 1993.

Iraqi authorities imposed vehicle bans in two mostly Christian towns and

increased security around churches in Baghdad after attacks targeting the

Christian minority. The measures followed a series of bombings in or near

churches that killed at least four people Sunday, including one that happened as

worshippers were leaving Mass in eastern Baghdad.

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday set a new course from her Democratic

predecessor on the issue of abortion, signing a measure imposing new mandates

and restrictions. One of the bill's provisions is a requirement that those who visit

an abortion provider wait 24 hours before getting an abortion. The visit would

have to include disclosures by doctors in person about the procedure, risks and

alternatives, and the fetus' probable characteristics.

Britney Spears’ latest campaign for Candie's clothing line looks so good,

the pop star is wearing the looks elsewhere! After showing off a

conservative dress and a pair of jeans in ads for the affordable apparel

line's upcoming fall campaign, Spears will also wear Candie's in her new

Week of July 8, 2009

music video, "Radar." The print ads for Candie's, which is only available

at Kohl's department stores, will premiere in September in fashion

magazines.

Technology - Internet radio got a break when the sector reached an agreement on

streaming-music royalty rates with SoundExchange, the group that collects

royalties on behalf of artists and labels. The agreement calls for large ad-

supported radio services, such as Pandora, to either share 25 percent of revenue

with the music industry or pay a per-stream rate of 0.08 cent retroactive to 2006,

whichever is greater. That rate will increase until reaching 0.14 cent in 2015.

Sites that generate less than $1.25 million in revenue must pay 12 percent to 14

percent for streaming rights.

There was already little doubt that Google was aiming at Microsoft's empire, but

the announcement of a Chrome OS takes the competition to a new level. For

those who missed it, Google said late Tuesday that it plans to enter the operating

system game in the second half of next year with a Linux-based OS that can run

on both traditional PC chips and the ARM-based chips popular in cell phones.

The idea behind Chrome OS is to create an extremely lightweight operating

system that boots directly to the browser, in which all applications run.

Hip Hop moguls - Jay-Z The

Brooklyn-born rapper pulled

in an estimated $35 million

over the past 12 months,

topping the list of Hip-Hop

Cash Kings. It's far from the

$82 million he made last

year, but more than enough

to reclaim the crown from

2008's monarch, 50 Cent.

The Queens native drops to

fourth place with $20 million,

down from $150 million a

year ago. Both rappers had a

hard time living up to prior

yearly totals fattened by one-

time megadeals. For 50, it

was a $100 million windfall

from the sale of his stake in VitaminWater parent Glaceau to Coca-Cola;

for Jay-Z, a front-loaded $150 million deal with concert promoter Live

Nation.

Week of July 8, 2009

Death won't still the voice of Billy Mays or his mighty powers of persuasion.

Viewers will continue to find the boisterous, bearded TV pitchman hawking

household products for the indefinite future. And at least one of his commercials

is being introduced posthumously. "Just stretch, wrap and it fuses fast," says

Mays, demonstrating a product called Mighty Tape on a kitchen drain pipe in the

new commercial. Moments later, he's seen, still wearing his signature sport shirt

and khaki slacks but accessorized with scuba gear, as he repairs a hole in

another diver's air hose underwater using Mighty Tape. The commercial will

begin airing July 20. Mays' advertising for other products in the Mighty brand line

returned to the air earlier this week. The commercials were pulled after Mays'

death June 28 of an apparent heart attack.

Ryan Seacrest - The "American

Idol" host has closed a major new

three-year deal with CKX, parent of

"Idol" producer 19 Entertainment,

worth $15 million per year. Under

the pact, which is believed to be the

richest ever for a reality host,

Seacrest will be exclusive to CKX in

broadcast TV primetime to host

"Idol" or any CKX-produced show

that might succeed it. The pact,

which had been in the works for the

past several weeks, more than

triples his previous salary of slightly

less than $5 million per season.

Jersey City, N.J., stopped Bobby

Gunn, Hackensack, N.J., 4, to retain his IBF cruiserweight title. SUNRISE, Fla. -

Joseph Agbeko, Ghana, won by unanimous decision over Vic Darchinyan,

Australia, 12, to retain his IBF bantamweight title.

LaToya Jackson on the death of her brother - "Michael was murdered," La

Toya, 53, reportedly told the News of the World. "And we don't think just

one person was involved. Rather, it was a conspiracy of people. I feel it

was all about money. Michael was worth well over a billion in music

publishing assets and somebody killed him for that. He was worth more

dead than alive." La Toya allegedly said that her brother, who died on June