Week of January 23, 2006

Stunning - Hamas is declared the winner of Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Ford says it will close 14 factories and eliminate as many as 30,000 in North

America in the next six months.

Street fights erupt in the Gaza Strip in the wake of the militant Islamist group

Hamas’ victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Seventeen days after a U.S. airstrike in eastern Pakistan missed Al Qaeda’s

second in command, a feisty and angry Ayman Zawahiri shows up in a videotape

with a fresh taunt for President Bush. “Bush, do you know where I am? I am

among the Muslim masses, enjoying god’s blessing of their support, care,

generosity and protection.”

The United States is expanding a top-secret effort to kill suspected terrorists with

drone-fired missiles.

Iraq- it’s reported that insurgents are battling each other as foreign extremist

volunteers battle Iraqi militants and the U.S. wants to exploit the divide.

President Bush says Bill Clinton has become so close to his father that the

democratic former president is like a family member.

Lying author - Oprah

Winfrey apologizes to her

audience for her defense of

and the publisher of his

bestselling memoir, “A

Million Little Pieces” on her

show. She admitted that

she “made a mistake” in

backing Frey, whose

account of his drug

addiction and rehabilitation

has been questioned by critics. Frey, on the show, was pressed by Winfrey about

inconsistencies in his memoir. When Frey admitted that he changed details of a

suicide in he book, the audience gasped. When he couldn’t give a straight

answer about whether he had a root canal without Novocain - audience

members booed.

Week of January 23, 2006

On Long Island - A golden retriever playfully nipped at little Kaitlyn Hassard’s

scarf and wanted to play. The dog grabbed hold of her scarf and dragged her,

strangling and killing her.

Technology -

Producer Mark Burnett and AOL announce a treasure-hunt game show called

“gold Rush,” the show would award $1.6 million in gold to Web surfers who can

decipher the given clues and find the booty stashed in 13 locations across the

country. Yahoo is kind of doing the same thing with “Treasure Hunt” and an

association with Steven Spielberg.

More than two months after its debut, Microsoft’s XBox 360 is hard to find, so

much so - customers are irritated. Meanwhile, Sony is set to launch its

PlayStation 3 later this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to take a case over BlackBerry e-mail pagers.

The case gets sent back to a U.S. district Court where a jury found that the

company had infringed patents held by NTP Inc. (back in 2002)/

Sports -

contract with the San Diego Padres. Piazza holds

the major league record for most home runs by a

catcher (374). He became a free agent after last

season in 113 games for the New York Mets.

Music - Look out for the Britain’s hot Arctic Monkeys

- and their debut CD arrives in the U.S. next month.

Philadelphia - Rapper Cassidy is convicted of

involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault in

what prosecutors call the planned ambush of a man who had argued with the

musician’s friends.

On Saturday Night Live - Dane Cook with musical guest James Blunt.

Entertainment news - Survivor winner Richard Hatch - is found guilty of failing to

pay taxes on his $1 million winnings.

Walt Disney Co. says it is buying Pixar Animation studios.

Week of January 23, 2006

Top TV -

American Idol on Tuesday - 35.53

NBC Championship - 35.23

American idol on Wednesday - 31.65

CSI on Thursday - 27.13

Desperate Housewives - 25.33

NBC Championship Post Game - 24.64

Without a Trace - 23.12

Grey’s Anatomy - 21.04

Lost - 19.13

Dancing with the stars - 18.98

Golden Globe Award - 18.76

Skating with Celebrities - 18.74

NCIS on Tuesday - 17.74

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - 16.11

Law & Order: SVU - 16.10

24- 15.70

CSI: NY - 15.55

CSI: Miami - 14.54

Television news -

CBS and Warner Brothers announce that they are

shutting down their struggling UPN and WB networks and

replacing them with the new “CW” Network. The new network will be launched in

September and will include a slice of the network’s top shows including the

Gilmore Girls.

At the movies -

Big Momma’s House 2

Nanny McPhee

Underworld: Evolution

Annapolis

Hoodwinked

Brokeback Mountain

Glory road

Last Holiday

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Matador