Week of May 15, 2009

President Barack Obama restarted a Bush-

era military trial system for a small number of

Guantanamo detainees, reviving a method of

prosecution he once assailed as flawed but

with new legal protections for terror suspects.

In a three-paragraph White House statement,

Obama announced the decision that already

has drawn criticism from liberal groups, arguing

that it will ensure a legitimate forum to

prosecute alleged terrorists being held at the

detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

General Motors told about 1,100 of its dealers

— one in five — that they would be dropped by

late next year, adding to the economic pain

radiating from the beleaguered Detroit

automakers to cities and towns across the

country, including Chrysler's decision a day

earlier to eliminate a quarter of its own, about 1,900 dealerships — many pillars

of their communities and heavy advertisers for local media — learned in a matter

of 48 hours that they would be forced either to sell fewer brands or close

altogether.

A makeshift memorial has been erected outside a New York City school for the

assistant principal who was the city's first swine flu death. Matthew Wiener

(WEE'-ner) died Sunday after being hospitalized since Wednesday. He had been

on a ventilator. Candles and flowers were placed outside Intermediate School

238 in Queens in his memory. Wiener's death is the country's sixth.

Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is

rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising

questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid

might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program.

Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka's president declared his country "liberated from separatist

terror" Tuesday as the military said it recovered the body of Tamil Tiger rebel

leader Velupillai Prabhakaran from the battlefield on which he was slain. A few

hours ago, the body of terrorist leader Prabhakaran, who ruined this country, was

found on the battleground," army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka told state television.

The shuttle Atlantis' astronauts said goodbye to the Hubble Space Telescope for

the last time Tuesday. The seven astronauts aboard Atlantis took the 19-year-old

Week of May 15, 2009

telescope from its perch in the shuttle cargo bay Tuesday morning and released

it back into space. The shuttle then fired its engines to leave Hubble's 350-mile-

high (560-kilometer-high) neighborhood for a lower orbit. The move capped

nearly a week of intense Hubble repairs and five amazing spacewalks by Atlantis

astronauts to add $220 million worth of new instruments and upgrades, as well

as to make unprecedented repairs.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that construction of new homes and

apartments fell 12.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of

458,000 units, the lowest pace on records going back a half-century.

Joined by an uncommon alliance of auto executives, union leaders and

environmental activists, President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced a

national program to cut new vehicle carbon emissions and raise mileage by 30

percent, while also reducing oil needs. "The status quo is no longer acceptable,"

Obama said at a White House ceremony. "We have done little to increase fuel

efficiency of America's cars and trucks for decades." "As a result of this

agreement, we will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles

sold in the next five years," Obama added. "And at a time of historic crisis in our

auto industry, this rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these

companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st

century."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran

test-fired a new advanced missile Wednesday

with a range of about 1,200 miles, far enough

to strike Israel, southeastern Europe and U.S.

bases in the Middle East.The announcement

will not reassure the U.S. government, coming

just two days after President Barack Obama

declared a readiness to seek deeper

international sanctions against Iran if it

shunned U.S. attempts to open negotiations on

its nuclear program. Obama said he expected

a positive response to his outreach for opening

a dialogue with Iran by the end of the year.

New York - Four men arrested after planting

what they thought were explosives near a

synagogue and community center and plotting

to shoot down a military plane were bent on carrying out a jihad against America,

authorities said.

The suspects were arrested shortly after planting a mock explosive device in the

trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat

of a car outside the Jewish Center, authorities said.

Week of May 15, 2009

Technology -

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission filed lawsuits against two

telemarketing firms in Florida and a company claiming to sell extended

automobile warranties for violating the Do Not Call registry and fraud for selling

bogus warranties for between $2,000 and $3,000 a pop. Since 2007, the

companies supposedly made 1 billion calls and generated more than $10 billion.

What is vishing? The term "vishing" is a socially engineered technique for

stealing information or money from consumers using the telephone network. The

term comes from combining "voice" with "phishing," which are online scams that

get people to give up personal information. How does it work? Typically

attackers use a technique called caller ID spoofing to make it look like calls are

coming from a legitimate or known phone number. It's a very similar technique to

email spoofing, which makes e-mail addresses look like they are coming from a

trusted source. But because people typically trust the phone service and caller

ID, spoofing phone numbers can be particularly damaging.

Sports - Lakers Win - With Pau Gasol

dominating on both ends of the court, the Lakers

emphatically silenced the doubters and the

Houston Rockets, winning the decisive final game

of the Western Conference semifinals 89-70 on

Sunday.

Playing with emotion, Gasol scored 21 points and

grabbed 18 rebounds. The Lakers looked like the

conference's top-seeded team, not the

maddeningly inconsistent one that was pushed to

the limit by the undermanned, smaller Rockets.

Former Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden is

replacing Tony Kornheiser on ESPN's Monday

Night Football broadcast team. Kornheiser cited a

fear of flying in his decision to leave after three

years.

Barbara Mandrell, Roy Clark and Charlie McCoy were inducted into the Country

Music Hall of Fame on Sunday in an at times emotional ceremony that saluted

them for their music as well as their contributions to bringing the genre to a mass

Week of May 15, 2009

audience through television. "All three of tonight's inductees looked at the way

country music was presented on television and said: 'We can make this even

better. We can present country music to a mainstream audience with respect,

love and humor," said Tammy Genovese, the Country Music Association's chief

executive officer.

Rapper Kayne West has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming

from a scuffle with a paparazzo last year. Los Angeles City Attorney's

spokesman Nick Velasquez says West entered the plea through his attorney on

Friday. The 31-year-old was not in court.

An Atlanta man was charged with murdering a promising rapper at an upscale

Los Angeles shopping mall earlier this week.

Aubrey Berry, 23, is accused of shooting 21-year-old Roderick Burton, a.k.a.

Dolla, in the head on Monday. Dolla was standing in the parking garage at the

Beverly Center, a mall near Beverly Hills. Dolla's song "Feelin' Myself" was

featured in the 2006 dance movie "Step Up." The Atlanta-based singer had flown

to Los Angeles earlier in the day to finish work on his debut album, stopping to do

some shopping before heading to the studio.

CANNES - Brad Pitt and Angelina

Jolie kicked off their time in Cannes in a

big way - a dinner for 60.The super screen

couple dined at the Michelangelo in Cap

D'Antibes on Tuesday night to celebrate

Brad's movie "Inglourious Basterds,"

which debuts at the 62nd annual film

festival on Wednesday

Just under 100 million votes -- a new

world record according to "Idol" -- were

cast on Tuesday night, but in the end, it

was 23-year-old Kris Allen, from Conway,

Arkansas who walked home with the title

of the Season 8 "American Idol."

Television news - A documentary that shows Farrah Fawcett’s battle against

cancer in wrenching detail drew an estimated 8.9 million viewers, NBC said.

"Farrah's Story" details the former "Charlie's Angels" star's treatment and hopes

for recovery, following her through chemotherapy and other grueling treatment.

Fawcett, 62, was diagnosed in 2006 with anal cancer that has spread to her liver.

The film was NBC's most-watched television program in its Friday night time slot

Week of May 15, 2009

in more than a year, excluding the Olympics, according to preliminary ratings

released Saturday.

MTV has bought the rights to “ Paris, Not France" (Hilton) which reportedly

portrays the heiress as "more thoughtful and self-aware" rather than a "ditzy

party girl," according to the trade magazine. It was directed by music-video

director Adria Petty, who had "enormous access" and reportedly interviewed

many of Paris' family and friends for the feature.

Cynthia Nixon announced her

engagement to girlfriend Christine

Marinoni on Sunday at a rally for

gay marriage. Cynthia began

dating Christine in 2003 after

splitting with husband Danny

Mozes, with whom she has two

children, Samantha and Charles.

The "Sex and The City" star told

the crowd at the Love, Peace and

Marriage Equality rally in New York

City that she became engaged last

month.

TV makers worldwide saw their

revenues slide 12 percent in the

last year, according to a report set

to be released Tuesday by DisplaySearch.

A total of 43.3 million TVs were sold worldwide in the first quarter of this year, a 6

percent drop compared to the same quarter a year ago, and prices dropped 6

percent, too, according to the Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast

Report.

Shawn Williams is adding a mirrorball trophy to her collection of Olympic medals.

The 17-year-old gymnast was named “Dancing With the Stars” champion

Tuesday during the season finale of the hit ABC show. The winning couple held

the mirrorball trophy aloft as the rest of the contestants rushed out to greet them,

hoisting them into the air as sparkling confetti flew. This has been the best

experience ever," Johnson said after her victory. "I've grown so much."

Johnson was tied with fellow finalist Gilles Marini after Melissa Rycroft was

dismissed earlier in Tuesday's show. All three finalists performed one last dance,

each earning a perfect score of 30 from the judges. Viewer votes are combined

with judges' scores to determine the "Dancing" champ.

Week of May 15, 2009

Lucy Gordon - who played a reporter in

Spider-Man 3 is found dead in her

London apartment. The actress -- named

one of Britain's most promising young

stars by the Times -- apparently

committed suicide by hanging herself.

One French newspaper reported her

boyfriend was sleeping in the apartment

at the time.

Hip TV Sunday (TVS)

At 7, ABC has two new episodes of

Extreme Makeover , then the two-hour

season finale of Desperate

Housewives .

CBS has a new 60 Minutes at 7, followed by the season finale of Survivor .

NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 7, then Saturday Night Live Just Shorts .

At 8, FOX has the season finale of The Simpsons , then the season finales of

King of the Hill , Family Guy , and American Dad .

PBS has a new Nature at 8, followed by a new Masterpiece Mystery!

Food Network has a new Challenge at 8.

Disney has a new Jonas at 8, followed by a new Sonny with a Chance .

Also at 8: TNT has the Celtics/Magic game.

At 9, USA has a new Law and Order: CI , then a new In Plain Sight .

HBO has two new episodes of In Treatment at 9, followed by a new Russell

Simmons Presents Brave New Voices .

There's a new episode of The Tudors on Showtime at 9, then a new Tracey

Ullman's State of the Union .

GSN has a new High Stakes Poker at 9.

At 10, AMC has a new Breaking Bad .

At 11:45, Cartoon Network has a new Aqua Teen Hunger Force .

Top movies this week in 2009 -

Angels and Demons

Star Trek

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Ghosts of Girfriends Past

Obsessed

17 Again

Monsters vs. Aliens

The Soloist

Next Day Air

Fighting

Week of May 15, 2009

Hannah Montana The Movie

Hot hits this week in 2009 -

Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas

Poker Face - Lady Ga Ga

Second Chance - Shinedown

Blame it - Jaimie Fox fea. T-Pain

Halo - Beyonce

Gives You Hell - All-American Rejects

If U Seek Amy - Britney Spears

How Do You Sleep? - JESSE MCCARTNEY

FEAT. LUDACRIS

Kiss Me Through The Phone - Soulja Boy fea.

Sammie

Don’t Trust Me - 3Oh!3

I Don Not Hook Up - Kelly Clarkson

My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

The Climb - Miley Cyrus

You Found Me - Fray

Hot Country -

It Happens - Sugarland

Kiss a Girl - Keith Urban

Then - Brad Paisley

She’s Country - Jason Aldean

Out Last Night - Kenny Chesney

Sideways - Dierks Bentley

Whatever it Is - Zack Brown Band

I Told You So - Carrie Underwood Feat.

Randy Travis

I Run To You - Lady Antebellum

Always the Love Songs - Eli Young Band

Top Alternative Rock -

Know Your Enemy - Green Day

Hey You - 311

Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked - Cage the

Elephant

Feel Good Drag - Amberlin

Audience of One - Rise Against

Careless Whisper - Seether