A Year After Christmas Eve Senate Vote, Health Reform Celebration Seems Premature (Time.com)

Time.com - Getting President Obama's health care plan passed ultimately required a more torturous path, and that has a lot to do with why it's not as popular as Democrats had expected

Claire Danes Courteney Cox Courtney Love Dania Ramirez Deanna Russo

Russian space officials fired over satellite crash (Reuters)

Reuters - President Dmitry Medvedev fired two senior Russian space officials Wednesday over the loss of three navigation satellites that crashed into the sea this month.

Patricia Heaton Paula Cole Penelope Cruz Portia De Rossi Rachel Bilson

Experiments test if implant can block sleep apnea (AP)

AP - Loud snoring may do more than irritate your spouse: It can signal sleep apnea, depriving you of enough zzzz's to trigger a car crash, even a heart attack.

Minka Kelly Minnie Driver Miranda Kerr Mischa Barton Molly Sims

And They're Off! Oscar Nomination Ballots Mailed To Academy Voters (omg!)

omg! -

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The race to the 2011 Oscars is officially on!

Nomination ballots for the 83rd Academy Awards were mailed to the 5,755 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday.

Gloria Estefan Gwyneth Paltrow Hayden Panettiere Heather Locklear Helena Bonham Carter

Authorities search for thief who robbed Las Vegas casino (The Starting Point)

The Starting Point - The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news that occurred overnight and a preview of the stories we expect to cover today. Featured story An armed man robbed the Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas strip yesterday, and made ?

Demi Lovato Denise Richards Diane Lane Drew Barrymore Eliza Dushku

Cloud Growth Will Be Tempered By Some Restraints (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Whatever else 2010 might have been, it was the Year of the Cloud. Cloud computing became the buzz phrase of the moment, with Salesforce.com, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, Rackspace, Dell and others investing major efforts to position themselves in the new clouds. But what's ahead for cloud computing?

Whitney Port Winona Ryder Zoe Saldana Alanis Morissette Alicia Silverstone

Allstate sues BofA, Mozilo over Countrywide losses (Reuters)

Reuters - Allstate Corp has sued Bank of America Corp, its Countrywide lending unit and 17 other defendants for allegedly misrepresenting the risks on more than $700 million of mortgage securities it bought from Countrywide.

Patricia Heaton Paula Cole Penelope Cruz Portia De Rossi Rachel Bilson

Artificial Christmas trees get nod over fresh: poll (Reuters)

Reuters - Far more Canadians, Americans and Britons will celebrate Christmas on Saturday with artificial Christmas trees in their houses than real ones, according to a survey released on Friday.

Sarah Shahi Sarah Silverman Scarlett Johansson Selma Blair Shannon Elizabeth

Apple sued over apps privacy issues; Google may be next (Reuters)

Reuters - Two separate groups of iPhone and iPad users have sued Apple Inc alleging that certain software applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent.

Gina Gershon Gloria Estefan Gwyneth Paltrow Hayden Panettiere Heather Locklear

Gbagbo camp defiant as leaders deliver ultimatum (Reuters)

Reuters - Three west African presidents met incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday to deliver an ultimatum from the ECOWAS regional bloc to step down or face removal by force.

Jennifer Love Hewitt Jenny McCarthy Jessica Alba Jessica Biel Jill Wagner

The Force is strong: 'Empire' tapped for registry (AP)

AP - Darth Vader proclaiming he's Luke Skywalker's father, John Travolta preening in his underwear and an early 20th-century deaf activist communicating in sign language are among the images that will be preserved by the Library of Congress as part of its National Film Registry.

Winona Ryder Zoe Saldana Alanis Morissette Alicia Silverstone Allison Mack

French classics scholar Jacqueline de Romilly dies (AP)

AP - French scholar Jacqueline de Romilly, a specialist on ancient Greece, a prolific writer and one of the first women to join the prestigious Academie Francaise, has died. She was 97.

Amy Smart Angelina Jolie Angie Harmon Anna Faris Anna Friel

THE GAME-CHANGER LIST (Richard Reeves)

Richard Reeves - LOS ANGELES -- The Associated Press, as usual, released last week its editors' poll of the 10 top stories of the year 2010. No. 1, with 54 first-place votes, was the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The congressional passage of health care reform was second with 30 votes.

Anna Faris Anna Friel Anna Nicole Smith Anne Hathaway Anne Heche

Executions fall due to cost, lack of lethal drug (Reuters)

Reuters - The United States executed fewer people this year, in part because there is a shortage of the drug used in lethal injections and because executions are too expensive in tough economic times, a report released on Tuesday said.

Reese Witherspoon Rene Russo Renee Zellweger Reon Kadena Rita Hayworth

Israel's Lieberman tweaks Turkey. Is he flanking Netanyahu? (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor - A recent attempt to mend Israel-Turkey ties appears to be on the rocks, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lobbying against apologizing to Ankara for the killing of nine Turkish citizens on the Gaza aid flotilla when they challenged Israel's naval blockade of the territory in May.

Kelly Brook Kerry Washington Keyshia Cole Kim Kardashian Kirsten Dunst

Deadly Afghan year takes toll on 101st Airborne (AP)

AP - The 101st Airborne Division, a force in America's major conflicts since World War II, is seeing its worst casualties in a decade as the U.S. surge in Afghanistan turns into the deadliest year in that war for the NATO coalition.

Christina Ricci Cindy Crawford Claire Danes Courteney Cox Courtney Love

Best One-Liners About Julian Assange's Book Deal (The Atlantic Wire)

The Atlantic Wire - The Wall Street Journal reports Monday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has signed a book deal to publish his memoirs. Assange will get an $800,000 advance from American publisher Alfred A. Knopf and £325,000, or $502,000, from the U.K. publisher Canongate Books. As Assange explained to the U.K. newspaper The Times, the money
will go toward paying Assange's legal bills and helping keep the WikiLeaks
site afloat, since it can no longer receive donations
through Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal. The news of Assange's book deal
has occasioned some smirking in the blog world; here are some of
the best quips we've come across.

Emmanuelle Chriqui Eva Longoria Evan Rachel Wood Fiona Apple Geena Davis

Let it snow, let it snow (The Newsroom)

The Newsroom - Everybody loves snow, right? Tons of snow means school cancellations, snowball fights, snowmen and snow forts. But the best part? Coming inside from the snow -- kicking off cold, wet boots and getting warm and dry. Unless you're Steve and ?

Scarlett Johansson Selma Blair Shannon Elizabeth Sharon Stone Sienna Miller

That Santa feeling hasn't quite left shoppers yet (AP)

AP - Forget the returns line. Americans hit the stores after Christmas to buy stuff, indulging the rediscovered retail appetite that may have made 2010's holiday shopping season the biggest ever.

Mila Kunis Milla Jovovich Minka Kelly Minnie Driver Miranda Kerr

Why Crisis and Violence Persist in Cote d'Ivoire (The Atlantic Wire)

The Atlantic Wire - Over three weeks into the Cote d'Ivoire political crisis,
with president Laurent Gbagdo refusing to leave office despite losing
the recent election, low-level violence continues and several efforts at
international intervention
have failed. The internationally-recognized election winner, Alassane Ouattara,
has struggled to push his way into office. Though Ouattara has the backing of
the African Union and the United Nations, as well as the majority of the
Cote d'Ivoire voters, Gbagdo has the loyalty of much of the military,
making him very difficult to remove from power peacefully. The latest on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, and why it's not getting better:

Michelle Monaghan Michelle Rodriguez Michelle Williams Mila Kunis Milla Jovovich

Tracking Santa (The Newsroom)

The Newsroom - Santa doesn't start his long journey from the North Pole until Christmas Eve, but already, searches on the Web are heating up on the jolly fellow's journey. Enter the North American Aerospace Defense Command, aka NORAD, the U.S.-Canadian military organization ?

Eliza Dushku Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Taylor Emma Bunton Emma Watson

H&R Block says HSBC terminates tax-refund loan funding pact (Reuters)

Reuters - H&R Block Inc has said HSBC Holdings Plc will not provide funding for the no.1 U.S. tax preparer's refund-anticipation loans, or RALs, after U.S. regulators ordered the lender to terminate the contract.

Diane Lane Drew Barrymore Eliza Dushku Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Taylor

At 64, diva Gruberova plays Verdi's young heroine (AP)

AP - At the dizzying heights of her operatic career, Edita Gruberova has unexpectedly chosen to return to the role that helped make her famous.

Teri Hatcher Tia Carrere Tina Fey Tricia Helfer Uma Thurman

Online flirting: it's all about lip service (Reuters)

Reuters - "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?," asked Shakespeare. Now, women of the world have replied: "No, just tell me I have beautiful lips."

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Love Hewitt Jenny McCarthy Jessica Alba Jessica Biel

Study ties brain structure size to socializing (AP)

AP - Do you spend time with a lot of friends? That might mean a particular part of your brain is larger than usual.

Rachel Blanchard Rachel McAdams Rachel Rice Rashida Jones Rebecca Gayheart

Action, Hope, 2011 (The Nation)

The Nation - The Nation -- In the wake of the midterm elections, with conservatives and the Tea Party wielding new power in Washington, we have entered a tough period in our politics. But history helps us understand that dark periods come and go, and they can be overcome if—and it’s the critical if—we all do our part.

Katherine Jenkins Katie Couric Katie Holmes Keira Knightley Kelly Brook

The Fast Fix: The best of 2010 (The Newsroom)

The Newsroom - Looking back at the three most memorable political moments of the year