So what exactly went down between Julian Assange and the two women bringing sexual assault allegations against him? Assange has not been formally charged with a crime, and his lawyer Mark Stephens attributed the allegations to a large-scale conspiracy against Assange, using the unfortunate expression: "The honeytrap has been sprung," to describe the womens' claims. But police reports obtained by Guardian describe the encounters from the perspective of the two women:

Houston businessman Farid Seif didn't intend to bring a gun on a flight out of Houston, but he did just that after he forget he'd packed it and TSA screeners at Bush Intercontinental Airport failed to catch it. The loaded .40 caliber pistol that Saif carries for protection was safely tucked away inside a carry-on computer bag, where it stayed throughout the flight. He reported the incident as soon as he landed and said, "There's nothing else in [the bag] How can you miss it? You cannot miss it." Lest you think this is an isolated incident, it's actually brought to light how common this type of thing is. In fact, it's apparently possible that the majority of weapons pass through TSA screeners. Although ABC News says "how often it occurs is a closely guarded government secret," they found out:

"There are whispers amongst the conservative movement that if Ron Reagan and Sarah Palin and the likes can ascend to such political positions, then there's hope for a kooky kid like Stevie B," Stephen Baldwin told us on Thursday at a Cinema Society screening of Casino Jack. However, Alec's religious conservative brother has no plans to run for political office; he has higher goals. "I'm 44 years old, my plan is to be a billionaire by 50, which these days, that's very doable," he said. "And once I achieve that goal, my plan would be to be the George Soros for Jesus."

An Amtrak ride from Washington to Philadelphia gone horribly awry last night was live-tweeted by at least one cold, terrified, somewhat hysteric passenger, ABC-7 Washington reporter Stephen Tschida. At some point in the night, a wire fell across the track, stranding the train for six and a half hours. It finally reached Philadelphia at 4:40 a.m., ten hours after it was supposed to arrive, and not before Tschida relayed to the world news of a passenger mutiny, the sad-eyed Spanish lady, his fear of impending doom, and his desire to break down and cry. Here's his Twitter stream in reverse chronological order.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit was talking up the embattled superbank's recovery on CNBC yesterday. "I feel very good about how we're positioned," he said. "2012 is the year to look forward to." Of course, this could just be executive bluffing. To really know how Citi is doing, you have to look closely at the details. By which we mean, the snacks on offer at their events. Let's take a look back.

2009: At the annual shareholder meeting, the bank "skipped the coffee and doughnuts to save cash after three bailouts," chairman Richard Parsons indicated to the Times.

April 2010: At the following year's meeting, "the coffee was back. But what about the doughnuts? “This is called incremental progress,” Mr. Parsons said.

Thursday: At the launch celebrating their fancy new bank branches in Union Square yesterday, "the bank did not hold back on the glamour," according to the Times. "It laid out a red carpet entrance at the entrance, built a coat check by the teller windows and hired a waiter to walk around with a platter of bite-size donuts and a sugary dipping sauce."

Citigroup Opens Bank of the Future, Flat Screens and All [DealBook/NYT]