Kidnapped Australian photographer asks for help. An Australian held hostage in Somalia says he is in poor health and want mores help from the government to secure his release. Photographer Nigel Brennan, who is being held with Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout, spoke to an AFP correspondent in Mogadishu by phone for five minutes on Sunday from an undisclosed location. The call was obtained after weeks of efforts to establish contact with the hostages, who appeared to be reading or reciting a statement, possibly under duress. There was no independent confirmation of their identities. Brennan said the nine months of detention had taken a heavy toll. — Herald Sun

Times fumbled Watergate. The Watergate break-in eventually forced a presidential resignation and turned two Washington Post reporters into pop-culture heroes. But almost 37 years after the break-in, two former New York Times journalists have stepped forward to say that The Times had the scandal nearly in its grasp before The Post did — and let it slip. Robert M. Smith, a former Times reporter, says that two months after the burglary, over lunch at a Washington restaurant, the acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, L. Patrick Gray, disclosed explosive aspects of the case, including the culpability of the former attorney general, John Mitchell, and hinted at White House involvement. — New York Times

UK special MPs’ expenses Question Time beats opposition in earlier slot. The decision to move British Question Time to 9pm to capitalise on the MPs’ expenses crisis gave BBC1 a ratings victory in the slot last night, Thursday 21 May, even though the show attracted slighter fewer viewers than it did last week at its normal later time. BBC1’s schedulers moved an episode of Traffic Cops to run Question Time in the 9pm hour, with controller Jay Hunt saying that she wanted to make the show available to the “widest possible audience”. Last night’s edition was watched by 3.7 million viewers and attracted a 17% share, making it the most popular show in the 9pm hour, according to unofficial overnights. — Guardian

Will Annie Leibovitz be forced into bankruptcy? Über-photographer Annie Leibovitz was forced to mortgage the rights to all her photographs last year in exchange for $15 million, and she’s been the target of multiple creditor lawsuits for not paying bills. Now a source tells Gawker that one of them is preparing to force her into bankruptcy. Our source got a hold of an involuntary bankruptcy petition drawn up by photo supplier B2Pro, which has sued Leibovitz and Vanity Fair publisher Condé Nast for unpaid bills. — Gawker

Weeds promo looks at history of marijuana. Usually when you’re making promotional advertisements for the new season of a popular drama you might consider using provocative footage from the upcoming scenes, teasers of the plot perhaps, but not a history lesson. Yet Showtime have done just this for the latest season of Weeds. Given the subject of the drama, it’s not really surprising, but it’s certainly a unique approach and the animation is cool:

What happens if the Boston Newspaper Guild doesn’t ratify the Globe contract? That’s one of the questions that Globe publisher Steven Ainsley answers in a memo distributed Thursday. His answer: “The Globe has told the Guild leadership that if the contract proposal is turned down, then it will immediately be withdrawn by the Globe. It will be replaced with the Globe‘s final offer of a 23% pay decrease, which the Globe has previously communicated to the Guild Committee. Implementation of this final offer would allow the Globe to secure the $10 million in immediate savings which it must have.” — Poynter Online