Trends Hot Topics: 06/23/10

Prince Albert of Monaco Found His Couple

Prince Albert of Monaco is finally tying the knot - and an old classmate from Amherst College couldn’t be happier.

“Thank God,” said former state Sen. Warren Tolman, who has known the former playboy prince - and father of two illegitimate children - since their frat-boy days on the western Mass. campus.

The palace in the tiny French principality announced yesterday that the 52-year-old royal is engaged to stunning South African former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, 32, whom he’s dated for several years.

“Not only is Charlene beautiful and smart, she’s unflappable,” said Toland, an attorney at Holland & Knight. “But what really struck me is that she truly cares for him and has his best interests at heart. It’s about time.”

James Mangold wrestles 'Knight and Day' to the screen

Call it the wildest cross-genre experiment in the history of summer movies .

The new Tom Cruise- Cameron Diaz film — perhaps the world's first screwball- comedy, action-romance, Hitchcock-homage, family- drama paranoid- thriller — went through so many script versions that even the writers who worked on earlier drafts may not recognize much about the final film. It has changed names (it was originally titled "Wichita," then "Trouble Man," then "Knight and Day"), stars ( Eva Mendes and Chris Tucker were supposed to play the leads before Cruise and Diaz signed on) and directors ("Shanghai Noon" director Tom Dey before James Mangold took over the reins).

Hollywood development is typically a complicated equation. This looked like Fermat's Last Theorem.

Apple iPhone 4 is the biggest upgrade

With a revamped design, a sparkling new display, a speedy processor, and additional features, Apple iPhone 4 is the biggest upgrade to Apple's smartphone since the iPhone 3G. It's also the showcase handset for Apple's newest operating system, iOS 4, which adds a selection of long-overdue features, plus a selection of smaller tweaks that we weren't expecting.

If they existed independently, iPhone 4 and iOS 4 wouldn't be much more than blips on the smartphone radar screen. When combined into one handset, however, the result is a sleek, satisfying, and compelling device that keeps Apple strongly competitive in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Indeed, the iPhone 4 is fast, the new hardware is a looker, and some of the new features blew us away. On other points, however, we have some concerns. Call reception still has its problems, and though we welcome multitasking with open arms, it has its drawbacks. Also, though the FaceTime video calling is more than noteworthy, we wonder if our interest will last more than a week.

Australia PM Rudd ousted by deputy

Julia Gillard has become Australia's first female prime minister after the ruling Labor party dumped Kevin Rudd as leader.

Rudd won a landslide election victory less than three years ago but support for his government has plummeted in opinion polls since April over a series of unpopular policy moves, and his erstwhile deputy Gillard challenged him to hold a leadership ballot on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Rudd acknowledged that the party's factional power brokers had lost faith in him and did not contest the leadership at a party meeting, leaving Gillard to be elected unopposed.

Al Gore Accused of "Unwanted Sexual Contact" in 2006, Authorities Say

Former Vice President Al Gore was accused of "unwanted sexual contact" by an unidentified woman in Portland, Ore., in 2006, according to local law-enforcement officials, although no criminal charges were filed.

A lawyer representing the woman contacted Portland police in late 2006, according to the office of Multnomah County District Attorney Michael D. Schrunk. However, the woman refused to be interviewed by authorities and said she did not want to pursue a criminal case against Gore.

The woman declined to participate in a criminal investigation because she planned to pursue a civil case at the time, Portland Detective Cheryl Waddell told The Oregonian. There is no evidence a civil suit has ever been opened, according to the newspaper.

Al and Tipper Gore separate after 40 years of marriage

The district attorney's office did not specify the woman's accusations again Gore. However, she reported to the police in 2009 that she was repeatedly subjected to unwanted sexual touching while in his presence, according to The Oregonian.

BP CEO May be Trying to Get Fired, Really

Commentary: Hayward's compensation pales against those of American oil execs

Is BP PLC's Tony Hayward actually trying to get fired?

You might think so after his latest stunt. The hapless honcho, already slammed as "the most hated man in America," skipped out on the Gulf gusher over the weekend to participate a yacht race in England.

A yacht race? Are you kidding? Paging Thurston Howell III!

OK, maybe Hayward's critics are being hypocritical. After all, if his hour-by-hour presence in the Gulf of Mexico is absolutely essential, why was it appropriate to drag him away for that ridiculous circus up on Capitol Hill last week?

Nonetheless, from the point of view of spin — and we live now in the age of spin, to the point where almost nothing else seems to matter — the move seems crass, even for "Tone-Deaf Tony," the gaffe-prone chief executive.

As Russian president visits Silicon Valley, Cisco announces $1B investment

Cisco Systems today announced a $1 billion initiative to drive entrepreneurship and innovation in Russia at a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"Simply put, we're all in," Cisco CEO John Chambers told Medvedev.

Medvedev was joined by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a demonstration of Cisco's video conferencing, business social networking and sports casting technology.

Analysis: Obama couldn't give McChrystal a pass

President Barack Obama had little choice. Already weakened by the seemingly insolvable Gulf oil spill and his party's dicey prospects in the coming congressional election, Obama could not afford to give his Afghanistan commander a pass for his inflammatory public words.

In essence, Gen. Stanley McChrystal fired himself. It fell to Obama to make the announcement.

The real surprise Wednesday was that Obama persuaded four-star Gen. David Petraeus, who steered U.S. military fortunes in Iraq out of a dark place, to take over from McChrystal. Petraeus was instrumental in the naming of McChrystal 13 months ago to shoulder the burden of the lagging U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.

First Asian carp found in waterway near Great Lakes

It was the first time the voracious invader has been found beyond the electric barriers in the waterways that connect Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes, with the Mississippi River basin, where the carp have proliferated.

"It's important evidence, and the more information we know about where the carp are, the better ... that's the reason we're intensifying the effort" to find any Asian carp beyond the barriers, said Chris McCloud, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The live Bighead carp was fished out on Tuesday by a fisherman contracted by the government in Lake Calumet, 6 miles (10 km) from Lake Michigan. It could have been dumped there or could have found its way past the electric barriers meant to block all fish species, McCloud said.

UPDATE 1-Oil firms want ruling lifting drill ban enforced

Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS.N) and other companies that won an injunction blocking a six-month U.S. moratorium on deepwater drilling have asked thejudge to enforce his ruling after an Obama administration official said he would try to keep the ban in place.

In a federal court in New Orleans on Tuesday, Judge Martin Feldman granted an injunction blocking the moratorium on the grounds that it was too broad, arbitrary and not sufficiently justified despite the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama officials said they would quickly appeal but have yet to do so, or request a stay of the ruling pending the appeal.

Additionally, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Wednesday he would try to reformulate the moratorium and would include criteria for ending it, prompting the request by Hornbeck and the other companies.

U.S. defeats Algeria, 1-0

Landon Donovan's goal in extra time lifted the U.S. to a dramatic 1-0 win over Algeria on Wednesday, sending the U.S. on to the second round of the World Cup for just the third time in history.

The options were clear for the U.S. entering the game: Win and go on, or lose and go home. And that's not a scenario the U.S. has had success with, never having won a third game in a World Cup, going 0-7 while being outscored 20-6.

For more than 90 minutes Wednesday, it appeared as though that wasn't going to change. But in the first minute of extra time, after a clutch save by U.S. goalie Tim Howard, Donovan pushed the ball up the right wing on a counterattack. He fed Jozy Altidore deep in the Algerian side, but Altidore's cross to Clint Dempsey hit Dempsey's foot at about the same time Algerian goalkeeper Rais M. Bolhi did.

England defeats Slovenia, 1-0

Fabio Capello believes England can put a traumatic group stage behind them and approach the rest of their World Cup campaign "without fear" following a 1-0 victory over Slovenia.

Jermain Defoe's first-half goal ensured England's progress to the knockout stages but with Landon Donovan scoring in the dying seconds of USA's game against Algeria, Capello's side will finish second in the group. That means old rivals Germany could await in the second round if they top Group D.

The win over Slovenia draws a line under a traumatic few days for England. Following a disappointing 0-0 draw against Algeria, Capello said his side were crippled by fear, and the unity of the camp was called into question when John Terry said in a press conference he would be challenging the manager's authority at a team inquest into the Algeria result.

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