Week of March 8, 2009

President Barack Obama is ending former President George W. Bush's limits on

using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research, with advisers calling the

move a clear signal that science — not political ideology — will guide the

administration. Obama was to sign an executive order on stem cells and memo

on science Monday in an East Room ceremony, a long-promised move that

would fulfill a campaign promise. Advisers said it was part of a broader

declaration on science that would guide the administration's policies on matters

ranging from renewable energy to climate change.

President Barack Obama says human cloning is "dangerous, profoundly wrong"

and has no place in society. Obama made the comments as he was signing an

executive order that will allow federal spending on embryonic stem cell research.

Some critics say the research can lead to human cloning. Obama said the

government will develop strict guidelines for the research because misuse or

abuse is unacceptable. He said he would ensure that the government never

opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction.

Merck & Co. is buying Schering-Plough Corp. for $41.1 billion in stock and cash

in a deal that gives the companies more firepower to compete in a drug industry

facing slumping sales, tough generic competition and intense pricing pressures.

A suicide bomber struck Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders touring a market after a

reconciliation meeting west of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 33 people in the

second major attack in the capital area in two days.

to 11 criminal counts including

money laundering, perjury and

securities, mail and wire fraud

and will do so without a plea

deal, knowing it carries a

potential prison term of 150

years, lawyers said Tuesday in

court. Lawyers outlined the plea

arrangement for the 70-year-old

former Nasdaq chairman that

was set to unfold later this week

after Madoff waived several

potential conflicts of interest

between Madoff and his lawyer, Ira Sorkin.

Saying he was "deeply sorry and ashamed," Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty

Week of March 8, 2009

Thursday to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history and was

immediately led off to jail in handcuffs after his seething victims applauded in the

courtroom.

Embattled Citigroup Inc. surprised Wall Street with news that the bank company

has operated at a profit in the first two months of the year. But despite the upbeat

news, Congress and the Fed continue to review strategies for dealing with a

further deterioration of the troubled global banking giant.

A 17-year-old gunman dressed in black opened fire at his former high school in

southwestern Germany , killing at least 15 people before police shot him dead,

officials said. Nine students and three teachers were among the dead, State

Interior Minister Heribert Rech said. It was Germany's worst shooting since

another teenage gunman killed 16 people and himself in another high school in

2002.

Another shooting spree - this one in Alabama - Police say Michael McLendon of

Kinston went on a two county rampage before turning the gun on himself. The

Coffee County coroner said McLendon started his day off with bloodshed at the

Kinston area home owned by his mother; a home he ended up burning to the

ground. The mother's body was still inside the house Tuesday evening,

but Coroner Robert Preachers said officials had not been able to enter the

house to determine if she was shot. It's also believed McClendon's girlfriend was

killed inside the home. The death toll now stands at 12, including the gunman.

Others citizens and law enforcement officers were wounded as McClendon drove

though town firing shots at anyone in his path.

Weekly radio address - President Obama says the nation's decades-old food

safety system is a "hazard to public health" and in need of an overhaul, starting

with the selection of a new head of the federal Food and Drug Administration.

He announced the nomination of former New York City Health Commissioner

Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner, and his choice of Baltimore Health

Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy.

CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim

Cramer appears on Jon Stewart’s

Comedy Central Daily Show.

Stewart - for good reason,

trashed a lot of the CNBC air

talent for being irresponsible.

Stewart has charged that people

at CNBC knew what was going

Week of March 8, 2009

on behind the scenes on Wall Street but didn't tell the public. He has accused

CNBC anchors and pundits of abandoning their journalistic duties and acting like

cheerleaders for the market. This appearance was highly touted in the media and

Stewart had a nice ratings bump.

Singer and actress Ashlee Simpson is

the latest star said to be headed to the

newly renovated "Melrose Place."

Ashlee will reportedly play a fresh faced

small-town girl named Violet, who has a

dark "calculating, shrewd sex kitten

within," according to the mag - which

bears a striking resemblance to the

show's original good-girl-gone-bad,

Sydney, played by Laura Leighton.

get a work visa to travel to the United

States in time to perform at a leading

music festival because she was charged

with assault last week. Winehouse, 25,

had been expected to perform at the

annual Coachella festival in California,

where she was due to join acts including

Paul McCartney and The Killers. According to the festival website, she was down

to sing on April 18.

Trends - Media companies and people with camcorders and spare time — the

drivers of popular online sites including Hulu.com and YouTube— are starting to

face tough new competition for the attention of Web users who like to watch

videos.

Businesses, colleges and institutions are leaping into online video production as

the audience for clips soars and production and distribution costs plummet.

known for the original rendition of the Christmas novelty hit

"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" in 1952, has died. He

was 70. "I Saw Mommy" shot to the top of the Billboard

charts three weeks after it was released. It sold 2 million

records in less than 10 weeks. It has since been interpreted

by such artists as the Jackson 5, John Mellencamp and

Amy Winehouse.

Week of March 8, 2009

A Yale University student from Ohio has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million from

US Airways for a video game console he says was taken from his luggage.

Twenty-one-year-old Jesse Maiman alleges that during a flight from New Haven,

Connecticut, to Cincinnati in December, his Xbox 360 with a specialized hard

drive disappeared from his luggage.

Poison frontman Bret Michaels promises to tell all when he publishes his

autobiography, "Roses and Thorns: The Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy to My Reality." "It

will give people the untold story," Michaels tells Billboard.com of the Simon &

Schuster book, which hits shelves in June. "It gives you the sex, the drugs, the

rock 'n' roll, but it also gives you the diabetes. It gives you every aspect of my life

and what I'm going through. I think it's pretty frank. It's honest. It's at times self-

deprecating. It's about what happens when you try to live out your dream and the

reality of it all sets in and it's the hardest and the strangest thing you will ever

do…”

Beverly Hills Police Department is confirming

a warrant was in fact issued [March 13] for

warrant issued by the Beverly Hills Superior

Court stems from a May 2007 arrest of Miss

Lohan for DUI and hit-and-run. The

circumstances leading to the issuance of the

warrant by the court are not readily available

at this time. It is our hope that Miss Lohan will

surrender herself so that this matter will be

resolved in a timely manner."