Week of July 23, 2008

In Israel - Barack Obama assures that country of his support.

In Berlin - an estimated 200,000 plus people turn-out to hear Barack Obama. He

called for closer ties between Europe and America.

President Bush signs into law tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe’s regime -

several days after he European Union ratcheted up its own set of sanctions.

More than 150 people have died recently instate-sponsored violence against

opposition activists and supporters. The sanctions freeze the assets of 17

companies.

Pakistan’s military - in a crackdown on rebels, plans to move a major unit of its

regular army into the tribal areas on its western border.

Nancy Pelosi whose approval

ratings are at historic lows, begins a

two-week cross-country campaign to

promote her new book - “Know Your

Power: A Message to America’s

Daughters.”

Sports -

The NFL will offer live streaming of

its Sunday night games beginning in

September. It’s a first for the NFL

and will other games follow?

The WNBA suspends five Sparks

players and five Detroit Shock

players and assistant coach Rick

Mahorn for their involvement in an

on-court melee this week.

On Fox - This year’s baseball All-Star game is the most watched in history - with

14.54 million viewers as the American League best the National League 4-3.

Technology -

ESPN unveils a new digital strategy - called ESPN Action Spots Network - all

online and it will debut in the fall. The new hub encompasses a cluster of Internet

sites - each devoted to a specific “action sport,’ to offer coverage of events that

aren’t usually carried on main-stream television.

Week of July 23, 2008

Another new search engine has launched. “”Cull” - pronounced Cool. Its

president - Anna Patterson - says it is trying to reinvent the search experience.

She’s from Google and was one of the architects of its TeraGoogle search index

that launched in 2006. She says search engines can’t keep up with the explosive

growth of the Internet or with the needs of users who often get frustrated sifting

through random results. Cull indexes 120 billion Web pages, ranks results by

relevance instead of popularity, organizes the results by ideas and protects the

privacy of its users.

Amazon.com repots its second-quarter profit more than doubled and surpassed

analyst expectations.

A House panel votes to cite Karl Rove -

formerly President Bush’s top aide, for

contempt of Congress for defying a

subpoena to testify on allegations of

improper White House influence over the

Justice Department.

Starbucks says that weak sales in the U.S.

and costs related to its closure of 600 under

performing stores led it to post a loss for its

fiscal third quarter. The company reported a

loss of $6.7 million or 1 cents a share.

Toronto-based Cookie Jar Entertainment

says it has reached an agreement to buy the

Care Bars and Strawberry Shortcake

characters from American Greetings Corp.

for $195 million.

Radio news -

The FCC finally approves the Sirius-XM satellite radio merger - ending a 16-

month long drama.

Technology -

Christian Bale is arrested and released in London - and denies allegations made

by his mother and sister that he had assaulted them Sunday night.

Music news -

Leaving EMI - The Rolling Stones sign a long-term exclusive worldwide contract

with Universal Music. The new deal covers both future albums and their back

catalog.

Week of July 23, 2008

Rappers Fox Brown (Inga Marchland) and Lil’ Kim (Kimberly Jones) are sued by

publisher Simon and Schuster over claims that they accepted money as

advancement for books they promised to write. At least one was an

autobiography.

Britney Spears must increase her child support payments to ex Kevin Federline

by $5,000 a month as part of a custody settlement. She’ll now pay a total of

$20,000 a month to the former backup dancer. Spears lost custody of the boys

last year after her behavior became erratic.

Rapper DMX is indicted on felony charges in Arizona for allegedly trying to get

out of paying a hospital bill.

Kid Rock (Robert J. Ritchie ) is sentenced

to a year’s probation and fined $1,000 for his

role in a fight in a Waffle House restaurant

near Atlanta.

Top TV this week -

America’s Got Talent (Tue.) - 13.24 million

viewers

Wipeout - 9.98 million viewers

Two and a Half Men - 9.76

60 Minutes - 9.52

So You Think You can dance? (Wed.) - 8.60

Television news -

Nick picks-up Michael Eisner’s “Glenn Martin

DDS,” - a stop motion animated series.

After scoring with “Puppy Bowl” on Super Bowl Sunday, Animal Planet

announces “Puppy Games 2008” - a three-hour special that will air the same

night as the Olympics opening ceremony.

Passing - Estelle Getty - one of the Golden Girls.

At the movies -

The Dark Knight

Step Brothers

Mamma Mia!

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Journey to the Center of the Earth