Members of congress purchased stock in companies while legislation that might impact those businesses was being debated, according to a 60 Minutes report. For example, in 2009, John Boehner bought health insurance stock while congress was debating the public option. While Nancy Pelosi participated in eight initial public offerings in 2008, including Visa Inc., while debating legislation that would have affected the credit card industry. Pelosi commented, “It is very troubling that ‘60 Minutes’ would base their reporting off of an already-discredited conservative author who has made a career out of attacking Democrats.” None of these deals are considered illegal, because insider-trading laws do not apply to members of Congress.

Read it at Bloomberg

The Academy has to make some fast staffing decisions. Less than 24 hours after Oscars producer Brett Ratner stepped down, Eddie Murphy announced he will no longer host the awards ceremony. Ratner stepped down amid a storm of criticism over a Howard Stern interview in which he said, “Rehearsal is for fags.” Ratner is Murphy’s friend and the director of his latest film, Tower Heist. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak acknowledged Murphy’s departure, saying, “I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well.” The Academy has just over three months to fill the newly vacant positions, but on Wednesday a report surfaced in The Hollywood Reporter that J. Edgar producer Brian Grazer would fill Ratner’s abandoned post.

Read it at NY Times

After 46 seasons, legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno will leave the university before the next football game. He’s followed by the college’s president, Graham Spanier, who also got the boot from the school’s board of trustees. Paterno’s firing in particular has sparked a raucous riot on PSU’s campus. Thousands of people have turned out and according to the student newspaper, police have started to use pepper spray to control the crowd.  Though Paterno announced earlier Wednesday that he’d resign at the end of the season, the trustees decided to fire the coach, effective immediately. Paterno has come under fire for failing to alert authorities when he learned of an alleged incident of abuse involving his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and a young boy in the locker-room showers in 2002.

Read it at AP

Is this the week that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government finally falls? Having escaped by the skin of his teeth on several previous occasions, Berlusconi’s parliamentary majority could crumble during a budget vote on Tuesday, and a no-confidence vote may not be far behind. Italian papers estimate between 20 and 40 members of Berlusconi’s majority may rebel—enough to topple his government—and he’s working hard to shore up his support. His greatest asset proves to be the absence of a credible rival. Fears are growing in Europe over Italy’s debt after the yield on Italian bonds rose to a euro-era high of 6.4 percent on Friday.

Read it at Reuters

The International Atomic Energy Agency has a bombshell report on the state of Iran’s nuclear program: the nation is on the brink of nuclear capability. The Washington Post reports that secret intelligence given to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran has the ability to create atomic weapons, having mastered the “critical steps” involved in the process. The revealing documents reportedly present evidence that a Soviet scientist helped teach Iran about detonation reactions, and experts in Pakistan and North Korea also tutored the nation over the years. Officials believe that Iran did not stop its program in 2003. Instead, money for research was funneled through seemingly innocuous civilian institutions. While Israel continues to flirt with the idea of attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, the U.S. maintains that Iran has the skills to create a bomb quickly—but that doesn’t mean it has already done so.

Read it at Washington Post

Police in Iowa have arrested on charges of prostitution an 83-year-old man running for city council. Ben Clifford Dawson allegedly volunteered to perform sex acts on a woman in exchange for repayment of a loan. When she turned him down, he then is accused of grabbing her and kissing her neck anyway. He now faces two aggravated misdemeanor charges: prostitution and intent to commit sexual abuse.

Read it at Heartland

Another shoe drops: Politico, which first broke the story of sexual-harassment allegations against Herman Cain during his time at the National Restaurant Association, reports that one of Cain’s accusers received a severance payment of $45,000. That’s more than the $35,000 that another accuser received, according to The New York Times, and significantly higher than what Cain, under fire from the media, recalled as being only two or three months’ pay. Cain’s wife, Gloria, is set to defend him on Fox News tomorrow night.

Read it at Politico

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou reportedly scrapped plans to vote on the European bailout, officials close to Papandreou said Thursday. While the European bailout is deeply unpopular in Greece, Papandreou said the referendum is in effect a vote on whether Greece would stay on the euro—something that his own finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, said was not an option. European leaders, led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Thursday that if Greece left the euro, the country would be forced to leave the EU—and lose all of the EU’s aid. There were calls Thursday for Papandreou to resign, although his government could be ousted as soon as Friday, when they face a confidence vote by Parliament. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate Thursday in response to what President Mario Draghi called a “mild recession.”

Read it at Guardian

Bond  is back. Producers of the James Bond franchise announced Thursday that  the British secret agent will return next fall in a movie called Skyfall. Daniel Craig will take on the lead role for the third time (he last appeared in Quantum of Solace three  years ago), and he’ll also be joined by Academy Award winner Javier  Bardem. Bond was almost done in by a bankruptcy at film studio MGM last  year.

Read it at AP

Uh-oh, it seems as though Apple’s latest software isn’t as perfect as some thought. The company announced Wednesday that some customers with iOS 5 have had issues with low battery life. Apple said the bugs had been identified and would be fixed with software updates. The iPhone 4S has not been negatively hit by the news—it’s still a major seller with Sprint and AT&T. Meanwhile, the new Gmail app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch also had bugs and was pulled from the App Store shortly after being released.

Read it at All Things D