[FOM] Hales's proof of the Kepler conjecture

[Alasdair Urquhart]

I've been reading the popular book on Kepler's 
Conjecture by George Szpiro.  The book takes
the point of view that Hales's proof is correct.
According to John Baldwin's recent posting:

"I am reposting Leo Marcus's note because I think many readers, those as 
uniformed as I, may have missed the
significance.  Hale's proof involves extensive computer checking.  The 
paper has been accepted by the Annals
(with an asterisk).  Hales is  organizing a project for further 
 computer work."

When I was at the ASL meeting in Chicago this year, I heard
a rumour that the referees for the Annals of Mathematics
had all given up, or resigned, or something.  So, this would
mean that the Annals is essentially saying: "We've tried
our best to verify this, but we can't say for sure that it's
correct."  Is that right?

Can somebody more knowledgeable clarify the status of 
Hales's proof?