Far and Wide

Bye-bye, Beckham

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Gossip pages everywhere, David Beckham is all yours for the next six weeks. The stud soccer player won't be in the sports section for a while.

According to The AP's Beth Harris (who actually reports on entertainment and sports with equal aplomb), Beckham has a sprained right knee and won't be playing for the L.A. Galaxy until at least mid-October.

Check out Harris' entire story here.

-- Otis Hart

White House addresses mortgage fiasco

(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

The ongoing subprime mortgage dilemma can be tough to understand at times. But here's what happened on Friday at the White House.

The AP's Martin Crutsinger reports that President Bush is opening up the Federal Housing Administration's coffers to help homeowners hurt by adjustable (read: rising) mortgage rates.

Crutsinger writes:

Under the Bush proposal, which FHA officials said would take effect immediately, an estimated 60,000 homeowners who have fallen behind on payments because their mortgages have reset would be able to refinance with FHA-insured loans. That marks a significant change because FHA does not now insure refinanced loans from borrowers who are currently delinquent.

"This means that many families who are struggling now will be able to refinance their loans, meet their monthly payments and keep their homes," Bush said.

Check out Crutsinger's entire report here.

-- Otis Hart

Nifong found in contempt

(AP Photo/Gerry Broome, FILE)

The disgraced former district attorney in the Duke lacrosse rape case has been held in criminal contempt for lying to a judge.

Mike Nifong, the former district attorney in  Durham County,  was sentenced to a day in jail by Superior Court Judge  W. Osmond Smith on Friday for willfully making false statements while pursuing rape charges against three falsely-accused players on the Duke lacrosse team.

Smith said Nifong lied to the court in September when he insisted he had given defense attorneys all results from a critical DNA test.

Nifong, who has already been stripped of his law license and resigned from his post, had faced up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Read more about the case here.

-- John Marshall

AP: Idaho Sen. Larry Craig to call it quits

Sen. Larry Craig is calling it quits.

That's the word today from GOP officials speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

Craig, R-Idaho, will announce at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning that he will resign effective Sept. 30, the officials told The AP.

The announcement follows by just five days the disclosure that he had pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to a reduced misdemeanor charge stemming from his June 11 arrest on suspicion of soliciting sex in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis airport.

To hear an AP audio report detailing what Craig told police investigators, listen to AP Correspondent Ed Donahue's report here.

--Chelsea J. Carter

Brit's new single

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
Britney Spears circa November 2006.

Is Britney Spears back in the music game? Her new single "Gimme More" debuted today and her label Jive Records promises an album in November. AP writer Erin Carlson has the story here. Meanwhile, the legal back and forth continues between Spears and ex husband Kevin Federline.

Give her new song a listen: Gimme More from Britney Spears

-- Caryn Rousseau

Bernanke and Bush address economic woes

AP economics writer Jeannine Aversa was in Jackson, Wyo., today where she reports in this story that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke promised to protect the nation's economy from the recent credit crunch.
And AP writer Deb Riechmann reports from Washington in this story that President Bush said homeowners who find themselves with money troubles can get help from the federal government. Bush is pictured at right with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, right, and Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson in a shot by AP photographer Ron Edmonds.
-- Caryn Rousseau

INSIDER INSIGHT: The buzz at NowPublic

A train crash in Brazil and a new arrangement between YouTube and Thailand are among the stories getting attention from contributors to NowPublic, the "crowd-powered media" site The Associated Press recently started working with to selectively incorporate citizen journalism -– especially photos and video -– into its news report.

There's also some sort of dispute about ninjas and Shaolin monks playing out on the site.

Listen to this audio clip to get an explanation from NowPublic's Brian Kennedy.

-- Eric Carvin

There's also some sort of dispute about ninjas and Shaolin monks playing out on the site.

Listen to this audio clip to get an explanation from NowPublic's Brian Kennedy.

-- Eric Carvin

Computer viruses: the man who started it all

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
It's not every day that I get to interview a writer of a computer virus -- let alone the very first one. After all, virus writers tend to stay under the radar. They aren't exactly popular with computer users -- or with law enforcement.

Given that this year is the 25-year anniversary of the first personal computer virus, I tracked down its author, Rich Skrenta, who wrote it in the ninth grade for the Apple II as a prank on his friends.

I've spoken with Skrenta before, when he was head of an online news business called Topix, which aggregates news from thousands of traditional news sites and blogs. I didn't know about his past then, and I had to do some research to confirm that he is indeed the same person I had spoken to before.

Not surprisingly, Skrenta, now 40, has matured over 25 years, and his recollections from ninth grade came across like a trip down memory lane. He talked at length about what he did and how he did it and openly acknowledged his participation in the software piracy circles that were common at the time.

I got a sense he was somewhat annoyed that he was being remembered for this rather than for all his professional accomplishments since then. But he remained composed and went through the interview with the type of sense of humor I would expect from someone who spent so much time over a winter break crafting this prank on friends.

Perhaps four years from now, on the anniversary of the first virus to hit PCs running a Microsoft operating system, the Pakistani brothers who wrote that one will be as forthcoming.

-- Anick Jesdanun

INSIDER INSIGHT: The world in focus

Wildfires in two spots on the globe -- Greece and Idaho -- were among the images that AP Photos Supervisor Susan Plageman highlighted at this morning's AP global news meeting.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Above, flames and smoke -- a combination of a back-burn and the main fire -- fill the hills above the Warm Springs area of Ketchum, Idaho.  Below, Green spikes of reed sprouts rise from the ashes in the Kaiafas forest, near Pyrgos in southern Greece's Peloponnese peninsula.

AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

Plageman said of AP photographer Petros Giannakouris' photo, "This is one of the most interesting fire photos I've seen in a long time."

Plageman also highlighted the coverage of a memorial service for Princess Diana, showing this photo of princes Charles, Harry and William. This is the 10-year anniversary of Diana's death.

 

AP Photo/Leon Neal, Pool   

For another photo Plageman highlighted at the meeting, see below.

-- Donald King

Princess Diana remembered 10 years later

(AP Photo/Leon Neal, Pool)

The family of the late Princess Diana marked the 10th anniversary of her death today with a memorial service in London. Her son, Prince Harry, gave the eulogy. He was 12 when his mother died. AP writer Robert Barr covered the event in this AP story. Meanwhile, admirers left flowers and notes at a shrine in Paris.

Prince Harry delivers a eulogy for his late mother.
Prince William reads from the Bible.
The congregation sings at the service.

-- Caryn Rousseau