December 14, 2007 4:52

The Boys of Steroids

Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Gary Sheffield and literally dozens more major league stars have been implicated in what former Senator George Mitchell calls "baseball's steroids era."

In what the New York Times calls a "blistering report", Mitchell names 89 players who are alleged to have taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. At least one player on every MLB roster is implicated but the New York Yankees and Mets along with the L.A. Dodgers are particularly well represented.

Mitchell's report is a damning indictment of a "period in which suspiciously bulked-up sluggers have toppled home run records and aging pitchers have magically regained their youthful form (and fastball speeds)," notes the Smoking Gun.

Could MLB's "collective failure" be fantasy baseball's gain? We're thinking of starting a new team called the Juicers: just look at the roster we could draw from!

New Jersey lawmakers voted to abolish the death penalty yesterday, the first state to do so since the Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976. Governor Jon Corzine has said he will sign the legislation.

And while a snowstorm brought parts of New England to a standstill, authorities in California arrested five men on allegations they "caused a fire that destroyed more than 50 homes and caused over $100 million in losses in Malibu," reports the AP.

World - Gore Slams Bush in Bali

"My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali.” That's how Al Gore summed up the frustrations of global negotiators as the U.S. played a game of brinkmanship that threatened to derail any formal agreement on combating climate change.

I'm talking about you George - REUTERS/Supri

It takes a lot to get European leaders to agree on anything at the moment but the U.S.' refusal to accept language that would commit developed nations to a binding 25%-40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 prompted a remarkable display of unity by the EU. Last night European ministers threatened to boycott President Bush's own "major emitters" summit in Hawaii next month if America didn't accept binding cuts.

The Bush administration complains that the Europeans are moving too quickly on climate change and are supported by Japan and Canada. By this morning, Europe was looking to reduce the temperature of the talks in order to pass some joint statement of intent.

Robert Mugabe has been nominated as the sole candidate in Zimbabwe's national elections, effectively crowning the 83-year old as President for life. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez should be taking notes.

Politics - House Pulls Plug on Waterboarding

The House of Representatives passed a measure that would ban waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation methods" by 222-to-199 votes. Passage through the Senate is not assured however and even then, President Bush has vowed to pour cold water all over the measure.

Mike Huckabee did pretty well from supporters and local businesses out of being Arkansas Governor. According to a Guardian investigation, during his 10 years tenure in Little Rock the GOP squeaky clean contender received "thousands of dollars in presents almost every year: gift certificates to sporting goods stores, clothing boutiques and Wal-Mart, a $3,695 pair of cowboy boots, a $500 belt and more." All the gifts fell within Arkansas ethics rules it should be noted.

Oh you shouldn't have...you're too kind - REUTERS/Keith Bedford

All the Democratic presidential contenders would have fancied skipping yet another debate but Hillary Clinton had more reason than most to want to avoid yesterday's final organized mouth-off before the Iowa caucuses.

Not only is she struggling to "shift from confident front-runner to scrappy, challenged candidate," but she also had to face Barack Obama just hours after offering him a personal apology for remarks made by one of her key advisors about Obama's prior drug use.

Iraq - Iraq Investigator Investigated

Stick with us on this if you can. The Inspector General office, which is responsible for keeping tabs on corruption and mismanagement in the effort to rebuild Iraq, is being investigated for....you guessed it....mismanagement and improper conduct. Allegations include "overtime policies that allowed 10 staff members to earn more than $250,000 each last year," writes the Washington Post.

Iraqi insurgents hit the bottle by blowing up liquor stores in a series of attacks that killed over 19 people around Baghdad.

Back In California, a Marine reservist was found guilty of killing an Iraqi soldier while they stood watch together at a guard post in Falluja last year.

Do Republicans really "like this [Iraq] war" and want it to continue? Those were the words of a very frustrated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday.

Celebrity - Atonement Tip for Golden Globes

The movie adaptation of Ian McEwan's World War Two novel Atonement has garnered seven Golden Globe nominations reports Reuters. Another war story - albeit Afghanistan in the 80s - and another adaptation of a book, Charlie Wilson's War, received five nominations including a nod for its star, Tom Hanks.

More nominations now but this time it's for the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Madonna and Leonard Cohen head the list of inductees at the expense of overlooked acts like the Beastie Boys and Chic. Ah, seems like just yesterday that little Madonna was getting her big break.....

"Tom likes me in a suit and a mini every now and then. I like it when he likes it. It makes me blush". That's Katie Holmes talking to In Style. Too much information no?

If you've got any old pieces of paper that J.K. Rowling might have scribbled on, hold on to them. A handwritten, unpublished, book of her short stories was sold at auction for $4 million yesterday.

Who shall I make it out to? - TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Finally...and I mean finally, a personal note. After a year of getting up early, digesting the news feeds and writing more than is healthy about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton my time at the Ag has come to an end. Thanks to all the regular readers and commenters.

December 13, 2007 4:07

Central Banks Big Bailout

The Federal Reserve, along with the UK, Swiss and Canadian central banks agreed yesterday to pump more than $50 billion into the world money markets "in a move designed to prevent the worsening credit crunch derailing the world economy," writes the Guardian. The move says the New York Times is the "most aggressive infusion of capital into the banking system since the terrorist attacks of September 2001".

The Bush administration, allied with Canada and India, is intent on blocking language calling for mandatory CO2 emissions cuts at the UN climate change talks in Bali.

The head of the UN climate convention, Yvo de Boer, told reporters "he was 'very concerned' about the glacial pace of talks," writes the BBC. Mmm.....it might want to reconsider that description.

Is Congo on the brink of another war that could ignite pan-regional Hutu and Tutsi bloodshed all over again?

Seventy years after Nanking massacre, China remembers the hundreds of thousands killed while Japan still struggles to "admit its brutality," says the Independent.

Finally in world news, famed and aging Brazilian soccer star Romario has tested positive for the banned substance finasteride. But the 41-year old prolific goal scorer has a good excuse - he says he used it to prevent hair loss.

Politics - CIA Contrition Over Tapes

It was a contrite CIA director who appeared on Capitol Hill yesterday. Michael Hayden admitted that his agency had failed to keep lawmakers fully informed that interrogations of Al-Qaeda suspects had been recorded on video and that the tapes had then been destroyed.

A more contrite CIA? - REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The Republican candidates got together for another debate yesterday and proved that they can be civil to one another. The closest anyone came to vitriol was Fred Thompson and he directed his bile not at his competitors but at the debate guidelines laid out by the Des Moines Register moderator. Mike Huckabee even apologized to Mitt Romney for comments that "appear to disparage the Mormon faith," says CNN.

Even Hillary Clinton didn't warrant a bashing, which must be a serious worry for her as it means she is no longer viewed as the one to beat. It's also a problem for Rudy Giuliani says the Politico which writes: "Giuliani's unspoken pitch, according to GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio, goes something like this: 'You need me to protect you from her. And no matter how bad you think I am, she is far worse.'"

How worried is Hillary about the Barack Obama surge? Enough for one of her top advisers to suggest the Illinois Senator might have more skeletons in his closet than simply his past admissions of illegal drug use. "There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome," said a very concerned for the health of the Democratic Party Bill Shaheen before quickly apologizing for speaking out of line. Job done, no?

Iraq - War Budget Deal in the Making?

The House voted to authorize $$696 billion in military programs, including $189 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate is expected to follow suit next week. The news comes as Democrats seem resigned to the need to compromise on a broader budget that would give President Bush the funds he says he needs for Iraq without any provision to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2008.

The Mahdi army of Shi'ite cleric of Moqtada al-Sadr is getting younger and more radical says the Washington Post. With many of its senior and mid-level leaders dead, arrested or having fled, a new cadre of teenage militants has taken their place and are imposing strict Islamic rule through a campaign of threats and fear.

"Some Iraqis returnees face uncertain lives," is the headline of a Los Angeles Times feature today. Hate to quibble but surely all Iraqis face uncertain lives, no?

National - Ice Storms Kill 32 Across Midwest

Thirty-two people are now known to have died in the massive ice storm that has frozen a large part of the central U.S. Oklahoma is particularly badly hit with 400,000 homes still lacking power in freezing conditions.

The Ice Storm - AP Photo/The Joplin Globe, T. Rob Brown

CSI Fresno scriptwriters pay attention: A local biochemist was convicted of First Degree murder yesterday for knocking out her husband and pouring hydrochloric acid on him.

Never mind reds under the bed, have you checked for Venezuelans on the veranda? CNN reports that four alleged agents of that nation have been arrested in Miami and charged with trying to persuade a U.S. citizen to keep quiet about the origin of $800,000 he recently tried to smuggle into Argentina. Investigators say the cash was destined for the campaign of Argentina's new leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Celebrity - Ike Turner Dead at 76

Ike Turner, the influential and infamous musician perhaps best known for his abusive marriage and creative partnership with Tina Turner had died aged 76. Here's a clip of Ike performing just two years ago:

"Britney deposed" we wrote yesterday....well we spoke too soon. Miss Spears was too ill to attend court.

It's been a few days since our last L.A. celeb DUI case but Scott Weiland has saved our barren patch.

Jessica Alba is pregnant. Surely that now marks the death of "lad's mags"?

December 12, 2007 4:49

UN Chief Delivers Climate Cry

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has issued a global rallying cry at the Bali climate change talks. "Climate change is the defining challenge of our age. The science is clear; climate change is happening, the impact is real. The time to act is now," he told negotiators from all over the world.

A 40% cut? The Americans will never go for that! - JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty

Nice words, but will they translate into action? The cornerstone of this new round of talks is the drive by the UN to convince developed countries to commit to cuts of 25-40% from 1990 levels by 2020. But with the U.S. refusing to agree any binding cuts, Ban admitted the current goals might be "too ambitious" to include in the final Bali statement.

A Beirut car bomb has killed Brig Gen Francois Hajj, "the man tipped to be the next head of Lebanon's army," reports the Guardian.

A North African chapter of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the two bombs that exploded near United Nations buildings and may have killed over 60 people in Algeria yesterday.

It's been over seven years since Alberto Fujimori fled Peru after his strong-man democracy imploded. Yesterday he was sentenced by a Lima court to six years for abusing his presidential power. He still faces human rights and corruption charges.

Politics - Rudy on the Wane

Mike Huckabee's support may be rising but all that demonstrates is a general state of confusion among GOP ranks as to who should be their presidential nominee according to a new national Washington Post-ABC News poll. Huckabee's Iowa surge "has begun to translate to the national stage, further shaking up a race that has been volatile from the outset," writes the WPost.

Rudy Giuliani should be happy - he still leads the national Republican race say the poll, but - and this is a big but - his support has plummeted from 53% in the summer to just 25% today.

Me? Worried? - Fred Prouser / Reuters

The Democratic Race is not quite as cut-throat....yet. Hillary Clinton still commands a decent nationwide lead over Barack Obama but she's looking vulnerable in Iowa - how else to explain her giving a "how to take part in the caucus" lesson this weekend in a state her campaign earlier had pretty much thumbed its nose at?

CIA director Michael Hayden carried on a time-honored agency tradition and blamed his predecessors during an appearance on Capitol Hill yesterday. When asked about the now infamous waterboarding videotapes, Hayden said "that the decision to record the interrogations in 2002 was made under George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, and that the destruction of those tapes in 2005 came under the watch of Porter J. Goss, who succeeded Mr. Tenet," writes the New York Times.

National - The Shooting Times

Repeat after me...."Guns don't kill people, people do." Got that? Okay, Now onto the daily shooting news from Las Vegas where six teenagers were shot, two critically, at a school bus stop in a midday attack - possibly gang-related - "that followed a fight over a girl," reports the AP.

In Colorado, an autopsy reveals that gunman Matthew Murray, who killed four people at two local religious institutions, took his own life after being shot several times by a volunteer security guard. "Murray was armed with three guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition," when he was felled by former cop Jeanne Assam reports the Los Angeles Times.

To Illinois now and CNN quotes a local pastor who says missing person Stacy Peterson "told him in August that her husband, Drew Peterson, admitted killing his previous wife, Kathleen Savio". Peterson is the chief suspect in his wife's disappearance.

Finally the weather. It's icy out there in the Midwest.

Iraq - Bomb Attacks in South

More than 30 people were killed and 40 more injured this morning when three bombs exploded in the southern Shi'ite dominated city of Amara.

Fighting the war in Iraq will remain the U.S. Military's main focus despite the worsening situation in Afghanistan. That was the message delivered yesterday by Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "It is simply a matter of resources, of capacity. In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq, we do what we must," said Mullen. That will have the Taliban quaking in its boots.

In Iraq, the U.S. Military is undertaking the first major change of command since General David Petraeus introduced the Surge.

The Independent's veteran reporter Patrick Cockburn's most recent column on Iraq adds weight to the growing suspicion that the new more peaceful Iraq may not be constructed on the soundest of alliances.

Writes Cockburn: "The U.S. military -- the State Department has been very much marginalized in decision-making in Baghdad -- does not want to emphasize that many of the Sunni fighters now on the U.S. payroll, who are misleadingly called 'concerned citizens,' until recently belonged to al-Qaida and have the blood of a great many Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers on their hands."

Celebrity - Britney Deposed

Mike Blake / Reuters

First the legal news. Britney Spears will be deposed today by ex-hubby, K-Fed's lawyers in their ongoing custody case. "It's expected that Spears will be grilled about her past drug and alcohol use, her alleged failure to follow court orders, and anything that reveals whether she's a fit mother," writes People, positively salivating at the prospect.

To New Jersey now where David Chase, creator of The Sopranos. is going to testify in a federal case brought against him by a consultant who claims he helped create the HBO series. The Smoking Gun has the details.

Orson Welles' personal script for Citizen Kane was sold at auction for almost $100,000 yesterday but his Oscar for the 1941 masterpiece went unclaimed.

Jeapordy's Alex Trebek has had a minor heart attack at the age of 67. The longtime host of the game show is resting and will be back in work in January. Trebek has been hosting Jeapordy since 1964....oops, make that '84.

December 11, 2007 3:37

How Waterboarding Worked

A former CIA interrogator has gone public with information about "waterboarding." The agent, John Kiriakou, says he did not do it himself: strapping down a suspect, wrapping the head in cellophane and pouring water into the throat to simulate drowning. But Kiriakou questioned the first high-ranking al-Qaeda suspect captured after 9/11, both before and after the technique was performed. It "may be torture," Kiriakou says, but it proved effective. "It was like flipping a switch" to make the suspect talk, he says, according to the WPost, which has today's most exhaustive waterboarding take. Kiriakou says he once believed the technique was necessary. "I think I've changed my mind," he told ABC.

That may make life harder for CIA chief Michael Hayden. He's due to appear before Congress today to explain why his Agency destroyed hundreds of hours of tapes of al-Qaeda interrogations in 2005, when Congress was investigating claims of alleged torture. The NY Times has an anonymously sourced story that says CIA lawyers gave written approval to destroy the tapes. Those documents, if found, would no doubt help government investigators to piece together what happened.

On the campaign trail:
Mike Huckabee's surge continues. He is now neck and neck with Rudy Giuliani nationwide, according to a CNN poll. But another poll shows a vast majority of GOP voters still undecided about which candidate to support.

Bill Clinton was stumping in Iowa yesterday, telling voters why his wife is the "most gifted person of our generation."

National - Cracks in drug sentencing laws

The Supreme Court voted 7-2 on Monday to let judges deviate from sentencing guidelines that give vastly harsher penalties on crack-cocaine crimes than powder-cocaine crimes. The L.A. Times reports that the "return to more individualized sentences will have its greatest impact in drug cases, but it will affect other federal crimes" as well. Today the U.S. Sentencing Commission will decide whether nearly 20,000 prisoners sentenced under the guidelines will be allowed to appeal.

Just don't expect massive changes. The NY Times notes in an analysis piece that, as a rule, when judges have the power to deviate from sentencing guidelines, they don't do it very much anyway.

Harsh drug laws? Judges can now relax the sentences - Robert Nickelsberg / Getty

In the courts himself: Conrad Black was sentenced Monday to 6.5 years in jail for defrauding his newspaper-empire shareholders and helping himself to $60 million. He's appealing the conviction.

Police have linked two Colorado shootings on Sunday, one at a mission center outside Denver and another in Colorado Springs. Cops say the gunman, Matthew Murray, 24, had been kicked out of a missionary training school a few years back. He won't make it to court, though: he was killed in Sunday's shooting at Colorado Springs.

For the Midwest, there's no reprieve from ice damage. The AP reports that more than 600,000 buildings were without power and at least 15 people dead because of the weather. Oklahoma has declared a state of emergency.

World - Putin's successor

Russia's Vladimir Putin is backing Dmitri Medvedev to succeed him as President in March. The NY Times calls Medvedev "a protégé with no background in the state security services and virtually no power base in the Kremlin," and guesses, therefore, "that Mr. Putin is seeking to retain influence by turning his office over to someone he can readily steer from behind the scenes."

Putin and protégé - Dmitry Astakhov / Presidential Press
Service / Itar Tass / AP

But before the handover, get ready for a Russia-West showdown over the Balkans. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo announced Monday they'll start immediate talks with Western supporters to declare Kosovan independence, since the breakaway province failed to reach an autonomy deal with Serbia by yesterday's U.N. deadline. E.U. countries are split over how much backing to give. Russia continues to oppose Kosovo independence unless Serbia is on board.

In Algeria, two car bombs detonated in the capital on Tuesday morning. One of them appears to have targeted the U.N. refugee agency. Early reports suggest at least 45 people are dead.

And Argentina has its first democratically elected female President: Cristina Kirchner was inaugurated Monday, taking over from her husband, Nestor, who decided not to run again. The center-left pol is "said to model herself on the businesslike approach of Germany's Angela Merkel," reports The Guardian.

Iraq - A new U.S. mandate

Iraq's PM is requesting a one-year extension to the U.N. mandate of U.S.-led forces in Iraq. His letter to the Security Council said this will be the last extension, and that Iraq may even ask for the mandate, which would then finish at the end of 2008, to be cut short. (There might be bilateral U.S.-Iraq agreements afterward.)

It looks like the U.S. has a renewed mandate at home already -- of a sort. An AP-Ipsos poll shows most Americans now feel there is progress in Iraq. Still, most still believe the war will be judged a mistake overall.

El Salvador is renewing its mission: the central American country has announced it will send 280 soldiers next year.

Back on the ground, Iraq's Interior Ministry is demanding that all female police officers hand in their guns for redistribution to men, the L.A. Times reports. Critics call the decision a clear sign of the government's cultural conservatism.

Trainees at the Baghdad Police Academy - Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP / Getty

Celeb - Led Zeppelin live!

You may have heard about a small get-together that everyone from AlJazeera to the NY Times has called the most anticipated rock reunion in memory. Led Zeppelin's show in London last night, the band's first full set since 1980, had millions of fans vying for just 18,000 tickets. The show seems to have been a crowd-pleaser despite the hype. Jason Bonham filled in capably on drums for his dad, John, who choked on his own vomit and died in 1980. The tunes were good. And the mostly glowing reviewers seem relieved that, unlike the Stones, Led Zeppelin members on stage these days are opting to keep their shirts on.

There's less dignity for Kevin DuBrow. TMZ says Nevada officials believe the Quiet Riot singer, found dead in Vegas in November, died of a cocaine overdose.

And less still for NFL star Michael Vick. The football player behind a notorious dogfighting ring was sentenced Monday to 23 months in jail.

Michael Vick, jail-bound quarterback - Jason Reed / Reuters

December 10, 2007 3:36

Five dead in Colorado shootings

Five people died in two separate Colorado shootings on Sunday. Early in the day, a man opened fire at a missionary center outside Denver after he was refused a bed. About 12 hours later and 65 miles away, a gunman shot at megachurch parishioners in Colorado Springs. He killed two and was then killed by a security guard. Authorities are still investigating, but it seems the attacks were linked.

Nationwide, a backlog of Social Security disability claims has left hundreds of thousands of Americans unable to work and without government assistance for which they're likely eligible, the NY Times reports. The disability wait-list grew by more 400,000 applicants -- more than doubling -- between 2000 and 2007.

A Midwest ice storm cut off power to tens of thousands of people Sunday. The ice has grounded airplanes and is blamed in six traffic deaths.

But in Chicago, Conrad Black feels the heat. He awaits sentencing today for his July convictions on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice.

World - Kosovo deadline

Today is the deadline for Kosovo -- still legally a Serbian province -- to reach an agreement with Serbia over the region's future. Talks lasted many months, but failed. Now ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo are threatening to declare independence unilaterally. And if they do, says the Wall Street Journal, expect a further chill on frosty relations between Russia, which backs Serbia, and the West.

NATO troops are still in Kosovo. Many ethnic Albanians want independence - Hazir Reka / Reuters

Relations are warming in the east, though. It's goodbye, Ping-Pong diplomacy, and hello, Beethoven, as the New York Philharmonic has agreed to visit Pyongyang in February. That's the first major American cultural visit in North Korea's history.

In Canada, a pig farmer accused of being one of the world's most prolific serial killer was convicted Sunday on six counts of second-degree murder. The man, Robert Pickton, faces another 20 murder charges, for which a trial date has not yet been set.

Politics - Oprah's endorsement

Oprah Winfrey was on tour this weekend in support of Barack Obama. "We need a president who can bring us all together," she says, and Obama "is the one." About 30,000 people came to see her Sunday speech: the biggest 2008 campaign event to date, according to CNN.

On the campaign trail, Oprah and the Obamas - Darren McCollester / Getty

The Republican Presidential hopefuls, meanwhile, toned down their anti-immigration rhetoric for a televised Spanish-language debate Sunday. They stood firm on the underlying issues, though.

The U.S. says it will not commit to binding emissions targets at this month's U.N. climate conference in Bali.

And in Washington, the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has released a new assessment of pork on the hill. The papers run with it. The WPost singles out House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer as one of the Top 10 House earmarkers -- $96 million worth of pet projects this year, it reports -- despite anti-pork campaigning. The L.A. Times checks out instead Hillary Clinton's pork through the years.

Iraq - Britain's PM visits Basra

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Basra on the weekend. The region, which is the last area still under U.K. control, will be transferred to Iraqi authority in two weeks. Britain plans to draw down its 4,500-troop force to 2,500 by spring. Brown then moved on Camp Bastion, the U.K.'s largest military base in Afghanistan on Monday. It's his first trip to the country as Prime Minister.

Brown in Basra - PA

Mortar shells killed at least seven Iraqi prisoners Monday in an attack on an Interior Ministry jail. The U.S. military had no immediate info about the attack.

The police chief for central Iraq's Babil province was also killed by a roadside bomb Sunday, the AFP reports.

To stem the violence, Iraq's Defense Minister vowed Sunday to launch a new crackdown in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. The minister says that the offensive, if successful, could cut violent incidents in the capital by 95%.

Celebrity - Thieving Britney?

TMZ caught Britney Spears on video as she stole a lighter from a gas station Friday night. The mid-meltdown diva appears more annoyed than furtive as she pays for some other stuff, then goes back to the check-out and snatches the lighter. "I stole something. Oh, I'm bad," she says to the TMZ camera with sarcasm.

Spears, living the high life, perhaps not taking the high road - Toby Canham / Getty

In the U.K. papers:
The mother of Grammy-nominated singer Amy Winehouse, Janis, published an open letter in yesterday's News of the World, begging the troubled musician to come home. Jack Nicholson takes a slightly more relaxed approach to parenthood. He told The Sun he "used to live so freely" that he figures he could have fathered as many as 9,000 kids. Hm.

Let him be an inspiration to the newlyweds. Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough, 34, and Happy Days star Scott Baio, 46, both married their girlfriends on Saturday.