Week of January 22, 2009

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin , the former

Republican vice presidential candidate, is

going on the offensive against news

organizations and bloggers she says are

perpetuating malicious gossip about her and

her children. But political observers say Palin

can't have it both ways: trotting out the children

to showcase her family values, then trying to

shield them from scrutiny.

Gov. David Paterson picks Democratic U.S.

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill New York's vacant

U.S. Senate seat, an aide to the governor said,

a day after Caroline Kennedy abruptly withdrew

from consideration. Gillibrand, a second-term

lawmaker from upstate New York, fills the seat

vacated when Hillary Rodham Clinton resigned

to become secretary of state in the Obama administration.

President Obama said that a mammoth economic stimulus package is "on track"

to be passed by Presidents Day, Feb. 16, despite growing concern among some

Republicans that the legislation doesn't include broad enough tax cuts and that

massive spending on roads, schools and other projects won't jump-start the

economy as quickly as it should. In his first White House meeting with

congressional leaders, Obama hosted Republicans and Democrats from the

House and Senate in the Roosevelt Room. "I recognize there are some

differences" between Democrats and Republicans, he said, adding that it's

crucial to get the bill through Congress soon because "we are experiencing an

unprecedented, perhaps, economic crisis."

In a discouraging report for the American economy, General Electric Co. posted

a 46 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings and warned of a “tough

environment”” this year as it struggles with its ailing finance business.

The results cap a difficult 2008 for one of the world’s largest industrial

companies. Shares dropped more than 50 percent as profits at its finance arm,

GE Capital, were sapped by a recession that has forced companies and

consumers to limit borrowing or default on loans.

Microsoft Corp. plans to cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, including

1,400 immediately, as its profit tumbles amid PC market weakness.

The software giant said the moves were driven by deteriorating global economic

conditions and lower client revenue, resulting from weakness in the PC market

Week of January 22, 2009

and a shift to lower-priced notebook models. It also said it is unable to offer profit

and revenue guidance for the rest of the year, due to market volatility.

A British man who murdered his wife after becoming enraged when she changed

her relationship status on Facebook to "single" was jailed for at least 18 years

late this week. Edward Richardson, 41, stabbed wife Sarah, 26, to death in a

"frenzied and brutal" attack at her parents' home in Biddulph, central England,

last May after she altered her profile on the Internet social networking site. The

couple had been living apart since the previous month, said Fiona Cortese, a

spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service which is responsible for

prosecuting cases in England and Wales.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for the first trial to

see if human embryonic stem cells can treat people safely, a company involved

in the controversial research on Friday. Geron Corp, a California biotechnology

company, said it plans a clinical trial to try to use the stem cells to regrow nerve

tissue in patients with crushed, but not severed, spinal cords. The issue of

human embryonic stem cell research has been a political touchstone, with anti-

abortion forces backed by former president George W. Bush arguing the

technique involves the destruction of human embryos. Advocates say it could

transform medicine.

President Obama warned Republicans on

Capitol Hill that they need to quit listening to

radio king Rush Limbaugh they want to get

along with Democrats and the new

administration. "You can't just listen to Rush

Limbaugh and get things done," he told top

GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White

House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus

package.

A British tabloid newspaper is reporting that

Prince Harry and his longtime girlfriend have

broken up. The News of the World reported on

its website that the prince, 24, and Chelsy Davy

decided to split up after a series of talks last

week. Harry, third in line to the throne, began

training to become an Army helicopter pilot earlier this month. He and Davy, a

23-year-old law student, had been dating for about five years, the paper said.

Illinois' beleaguered Gov. Rod Blagojevich said that when he was deciding who

would take President Obama's Senate seat he considered appointing talk show

Week of January 22, 2009

host Oprah Winfrey. Blagojevich made the revelation to Diane Sawyer on "Good

Morning America" on the day his impeachment trial is set to begin. That trial is

expected to toss him out of office.

President Barack Obama has chosen Al-Arabiya - an Arabic satellite TV network

for his first formal television interview as president, delivering a message to the

Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy." The interview underscored

Obama's commitment to repair relations with the Muslim world that have suffered

under the previous administration.

Timothy Geithner is sworn in as U.S. Treasury

secretary, putting him at the center of a global

effort to arrest the financial crisis and end what is

already the nation’s longest recession in a quarter-

century.

Thousands of U.S. troops originally destined for

Iraq have deployed south of Afghanistan's capital

in the first illustration of a new military focus on the

increasingly difficult fight in the South Asian nation,

NATO said.

Well over a million people shivered in ice-bound

homes across the country Wednesday, waiting for

warmer weather and for utility crews to restring

power lines brought down by a storm that killed 23 as it took a snowy, icy journey

from the Southern Plains to the East Coast. But with temperatures plunging,

utility officials warned that it could be mid-February before electricity is restored

to some of the hardest-hit places. The worst of the power failures were in

Kentucky, Arkansas and Ohio.

Passing - John Updike , the Pulitzer Prize-

winning novelist, prolific man of letters and

erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other

adventures in the postwar prime of the

American empire, died Tuesday at age 76.

Updike, a resident of Beverly Farms, Mass.,

died of lung cancer, according to a

statement from his publisher, Alfred A.

Knopf.

A businessman's plans to sell a doll named

after a slain 2-year-old Orlando girl were

Week of January 22, 2009

suspended early Tuesday after public outcry over "The Inspirational Caylee

Sunshine Doll." Caylee Anthony's story touched people across the country. After

a five-month search, her body was found in a wooded area near Orlando. Her

mother, Casey Anthony, is charged with first-degree murder in the case.

Medical - in S. California - A

woman gave birth to eight babies,

only the second time in history

octuplets have survived more than

a few hours, doctors said. Dr.

Mandhir Gupta, a neonatologist at

Kaiser Permanente Bellflower

Medical Center, told ABC's "Good

Morning America" the eight babies

"are doing actually very, very well."

Wyeth in a move that will consolidate two of the industry's largest drug

developers. The deal comes as Pfizer's profit takes a brutal hit from a $2.3 billion

legal settlement over allegations it marketed certain products off-label, or for

conditions they are not yet approved. The company is also cutting 10% of its

workforce, slashing its dividend and reducing the number of manufacturing sites.

Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor and Viagra, said it will pay $50.19 a share under for

Wyeth, valuing it at a 14.7% premium to the company's closing price of $43.74

Friday.

US fast-food giant McDonald's says its 2008 net profit soared 80 percent from a

year, lifted by growing demand from consumers seeking low-cost meals in a

deepening global recession. Net profit for the full year totaled 4.3 billion dollars,

compared with 2.3 billion in 2007, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said in

a statement. Customers served per day increased to more than 58 million in

2008.

Technology - Ready 2 Almost Ready - Justin Timberlake and David Beckham

don't have any real-life beef with each other, but cartoony characters resembling

the famous crooner and soccer player will face off — along with 16 other A-list

impersonators — in the upcoming Wii boxing game Ready 2 Rumble Revolution

from publisher Atari and developer AKI. Besides the Timberlake and Beckham

copycats, players can don boxing gloves as a lanky Brad Pitt ringer named Fight

Clubber or a flabby John Travolta lookalike dubbed Fever Friction. Other

characters resemble such famous faces as Sylvester Stallone, David Hasselhoff,

James Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shaun White, Simon Cowell and Antonio

Banderas.

Week of January 22, 2009

Vatican to begin YouTube channel - Now the pope is trying to broaden his

audience by joining the wannabe musicians, college pranksters and water-skiing

squirrels on YouTube. The Vatican said that with the YouTube channel, it hoped

to broaden and unite the pontiff's audience — an estimated 1.4 billion people are

online worldwide — while giving the Holy See better control over the pope's

Internet image.

The creator of "Star Trek" and his wife will spend eternity together in space.

Celestis Inc., a company that specializes in "memorial spaceflights," said Monday

that it will ship the remains of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry

into space next year. The couple's cremated remains will be sealed into specially

made capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. A rocket-

launched spacecraft will carry the capsules, along with digitized tributes from

fans. The Roddenberrys' remains — and the spacecraft — will travel ever deeper

into space and will not return to earth, company spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld

said.

Billy Powell of Lynyrd Skynyrd dies at his northeast Florida home. He was 56.

15 th annual SAG Awards - Winners:

Movies:

Cast: "Slumdog Millionaire."

Actor in a leading role: Sean Penn, "Milk."

Actress in a leading role: Meryl

Streep, "Doubt."

Supporting actor: Heath Ledger ,

"The Dark Knight."

Supporting actress: Kate Winslet,

"The Reader."

Stunt ensemble: "The Dark Knight."

Television:

Drama series cast: "Mad Men."

Actor in a drama series: Hugh

Laurie, "House."

Actress in a drama series: Sally

Field, "Brothers & Sisters."

Comedy series cast: "30 Rock."

Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock."

Actress in a comedy series: Tina Fey, "30 Rock."

Actor in a movie or miniseries: Paul Giamatti, "John Adams."

Actress in a movie or miniseries: Laura Linney, "John Adams."