Justin Bieber Writes Ballad About Selena Gomez Breakup.

                      Justin Bieber


Bieber and Gomez split in November after more than a year together. Speaking about the sentiment behind the song, Bieber told Billboard, “At the end of the day, there’s nothing like us, you know? That’s just it. It is what it is. People are going to relate to that.”  When asked if he’s heartbroken, Bieber told the magazine, “I’m not in the happiest place that I’ve ever been. I’m trying to get through what I’m going through….[but] I have my really close friends to cheer me up and keep me going.”

Bieber also spoke about his Grammy ambitions and his disappointment at not getting the music industry honor last year for “Believe.” “My whole life I’ve dreamed of winning a Grammy,” he said. “At this point, the excitement of that has gone down. I’m more excited to just make great music for my fans. That’s just something that if it happens, it happens.”

Bieber isn’t attending the Grammys this year — he’s hosting “Saturday Night Live” on Feb. 9, the night before the awards — but he said he’s rooting for Chris Brown because he’s a fan of his music.


Why am i not surprised?


Abcnews

Doctor Shot Dead in Exam Room; Man in Custody.

Police say a 75-year-old man is being held on suspicion of fatally shooting an Orange County physician in his examination room.

Newport Beach police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe identified the suspect on Tuesday as Stanwood Fred Elkus of Lake Elsinore. His bail was $1 million. Police say Elkus shot and killed Dr. Ronald Franklin Gilbert on Monday afternoon at the medical office near Hoag Hospital. Gilbert, a 52-year-old Huntington Beach resident, was a urologist.

Police say as many as seven shots were fired, but no motive was released. A doctor was fatally shot in an examination room of an Orange County medical office, and the man who police believe shot him was taken into custody in the same room without a struggle, authorities said

Several 911 calls reported six or seven shots fired Monday afternoon at the medical office near Hoag Hospital in Orange County, Newport Beach police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe told The Associated Press.

Officers found a man dead from gunshot wounds in a patient examination room, Lowe said.
They took into custody another man in the room.


Abcnews

Rihanna Goes Short Short Again.

Rihanna's gone short again. The singer tweeted this photo her pixie-ish locks on Jan. 28, 2013. (@rihanna/Twitter)


CUTE   :-)



Abcnews

Whitney Houston's Mother Has Words for Bobby Brown.

Cissy Houston has a few words, and a few more, for Bobby Brown.

In "Remembering Whitney," the mother of the late Whitney Houston writes that from the start she had doubted whether Brown was right for her daughter. And she thinks that Whitney might not have ended up so "deep" into drugs had they not stayed together.

"I do believe her life would have turned out differently," Houston writes. "It would have been easier for her to get sober and stay sober. Instead she was with someone who, like her, wanted to party. To me, he never seemed to be a help to her in the way she needed."

"Remembering Whitney" came out Tuesday, two weeks short of the first anniversary of Houston's death. She drowned in a hotel bathtub in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 48. Authorities said her death was complicated by cocaine use and heart disease.

During a recent telephone interview, Houston said she has no contact with Brown and didn't see any reason to, not even concerning her granddaughter, Bobbi Kristina. She reaffirmed her comments in the book that Whitney Houston would have been better off without him. "How would you like it if he had anything to do with your daughter?" she asked.

A request to Brown's publicist for comment was not immediately returned Monday.


Abcnews

1st Execution of Woman Since 2010 Set in Texas

  This undated file photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Kimberly McCarthy Jan. 29, 2013 for the July 1997 killing of retired college professor Dorothy Booth during a robbery.




Defense lawyers have made a late request to halt the execution of a Texas woman set to become the first female put to death in the U.S. in three years.
The request was sent to a Dallas County judge Tuesday just hours before Kimberly McCarthy's scheduled execution.

University of Texas law professor Maurie Levin argues that McCarthy was the subject of racial discrimination by the jury of 11 whites and only one black that convicted her. McCarthy is black.
She said the same in a letter Friday to Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins.

Watkins' office calls the effort a "mere delay" tactic because the record doesn't support a valid legal claim for discrimination. McCarthy faces execution in Huntsville for the 1997 beating, stabbing and robbing of a neighbor.

The execution Tuesday of a Texas woman convicted in the gruesome murder of her 71-year-old neighbor will mark the first time in three years that a female inmate has been put to death in the U.S.
Kimberly McCarthy, 51, was sentenced to death for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of retired college psychology professor Dorothy Booth. Investigators say Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife at her home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas.


Abcnews

Obama Immigration Plan: More Direct Path to Citizenship Than Senate's.

Excerpts from full Story............


President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his principles for immigration reform in a speech in Las Vegas today that will include a potentially quicker path to citizenship than the bipartisan plan a group of senators unveiled earlier this week.

The president will offer some new details about the White House's immigration reform plan, which expands on a blueprint it released in 2011, a senior administration official told ABC News. But for now Obama will stop short of offering his own piece of legislation because of the progress made by the Senate "Gang of Eight."


The White House has sounded positive notes about the Senate group's plan thus far, but the specifics that Obama announces are expected to have some key differences that might cause concern for some Republican senators who have signed onto the senate deal.

Like the senators' plan, Obama's proposal calls for a pathway to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The senators' plan would grant "probationary legal status" immediately to eligible undocumented immigrants, but would not allow them to apply for permanent legal status, or a green card, until the border is deemed to be secure. Think of that as a trigger system.
On the other hand, Obama's framework would not contain a border security measure. Administration officials told media outlets that they believe a path to citizenship needs to be straightforward. They also believe a trigger system, like the one in the senate plan, could lead to a state of legal limbo for the undocumented immigrants who receive legal status.


The Washington Post reported.

Meet the New Class: The Senate Swears in a Historic 20 Female Senators

 Abcnews

Excerpts from the full story below.........


The 3rd of January 2013 will make history in the Senate, swearing in a record-breaking 20 female senators, four Republicans and 16 Democrats -- in office. As the 113th Congress is sworn in today on Capitol Hill, ABC "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer has an exclusive joint interview with the historic class of female senators.

"I can't tell you the joy that I feel in my heart to look at these 20 gifted and talented women from two different parties, different zip codes to fill this room," Sen. Barbara Mikulksi, D-Md., said while surrounded by the group of women senators. "In all of American history only 16 women had served. Now there are 20 of us."

Senator-elect Deb Fischer, R-Neb., today becomes the first women to be elected as a senator in Nebraska.
"It was an historic election," Fischer said, "But what was really fun about it were the number of mothers and fathers who brought their daughters up to me during the campaign and said, "Can we get a picture? Can we get a picture?' Because people realize it and -- things do change, things do change."

The women senators all agree that women will be getting things done in this new Congress, a sign of optimism felt for the new Congress, after the bruising battles of the 112th Congress.
"We're in force and we're in leadership positions, but it's not just the position that we hold. I can tell you this is a can-do crowd," Mikulski said of both Democrats and Republican senators in the room. "We are today ready to be a force in American politics."


And while the number of women in the Senate today makes history, many of the women agreed that they want to keep fighting to boost those numbers. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said that women are still "underrepresented" in the Senate.

"I think that until we get to 50, we still have to fight because it's still a problem," Boxer said. "I think this class as you look around, Republicans and Democrats. ... I think that because of this new class and the caliber of the people coming and the quality of the people coming, I think that hopefully in my lifetime -- and I really do hope and pray this is the case -- we will see 50 percent.


AM SO INSPIRED, WHAT CAN I SAY.

John Boehner Re-Elected House Speaker

  Abcnews

Rep. John Boehner was elected to a second term as House speaker today. But the vote for wasn’t without drama.
Nine Republicans voted against Boehner in support of another candidate. Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia received three votes, former Florida Rep. Allen West of Florida received two votes, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan received one vote and Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho received one vote. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general, also received one vote each.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader and former speaker, took second place, receiving the support of 192 members of her caucus, behind Boehner’s 220.

Before taking the oath of office, Boehner delivered remarks to the House chamber, calling the display of democracy “an interlude for reflection, a glimpse of old truths.”
“To our new members and their families, welcome. You are likely feeling awestruck right about now. History runs through here, and now you are among a select few to share in this privilege,” Boehner told the 113^th Congress. “For those who are returning, who have walked these aisles before, maybe it’s time we feel awestruck again.”

Boehner reminded members that each member-elect takes the same oath of office, that “makes no mention of party, faction, or title” and “contains no reference to agendas or platforms – only to the Constitution.”
Boehner then drew upon his Catholic faith, talking about the temptation to “invoke the assistance of our Heavenly Father” in the oath of office. “This covenant makes us servants of posterity. It calls us to refuse the pull of passing interests and follow the fixed star of a more perfect union,” he said. “We are sent here not to be something, but to do something; to do the right thing. It’s a big job, and it comes with big challenges.”
As he prepares for a second term as speaker, Boehner said that “government has built up too much debt” and he noted that the U.S. economy “is not producing enough jobs.”

Pakistani Girl Shot by Taliban Leaves UK Hospital

  Malala Yousufzai, center, waves goodbye as she is discharged from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to continue her rehabilitation at her family?s temporary home, Jan. 4, 2013.


A 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has been released from a Birmingham hospital to live with her family, doctors said Friday.

Photographs and a video released by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham showed Malala Yousufzai hugging nurses, waving and smiling shyly. Her steps seemed tentative as she walked down the hospital corridor talking to nurses, but hospital officials say she is strong and recovering well.

Malala will live with her parents and two brothers in the UK while she continues to receive treatment, but will be admitted again in the next month for another round of surgery to rebuild her skull. Experts have been optimistic that Malala, who was airlifted from Pakistan in October to receive specialized medical care, has a good chance of recovery because the brains of teenagers are still growing and can better adapt to trauma.

"Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery," said Dr. Dave Rosser, the medical director for University Hospitals Birmingham. "Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers."

Malala was returning home from school in Pakistan's scenic Swat Valley on Oct. 9 when the Taliban targeted her for criticizing their efforts to keep girls from getting an education. The militants have threatened to target Malala again because they say she promotes "Western thinking."

Pakistani doctors removed a bullet that entered her head and headed toward her spine. The decision to send Malala to Britain was taken in consultation with her family; Pakistan is paying for her treatment.
Pakistan also appointed Malala's father, Ziauddin, as its education attache in Birmingham. The position, with an initial three-year commitment, virtually guarantees that Malala will remain in Britain for now.

Citing patient confidentiality, hospital authorities declined to say what her plans were to continue her education, though they acknowledge she is able to read in both English and Urdu. Her case won worldwide recognition, and the teen became a symbol for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan. In an indication of her reach, she made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2012.


Abcnews

Quadruple Amputee Gets Two New Hands on Life

  Abcnews  (Lindsay Ess was just 24 years old when an infection forced doctors to amputate her hands and feet. Four years later, she underwent a hand transplant).


It's the simplest thing, the grasp of one hand in another. But Lindsay Ess will never see it that way, because her hands once belonged to someone else.
Growing up in Texas and Virginia, Lindsay, 29, was always one of the pretty girls. She went to college, did some modeling and started building a career in fashion, with an eye on producing fashion shows.
Then she lost her hands and feet.


When she was 24 years old, Lindsay had just graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University's well-regarded fashion program when she developed a blockage in her small intestine from Crohn's Disease. After having surgery to correct the problem, an infection took over and shut down her entire body. To save her life, doctors put her in a medically-induced coma. When she came out of the coma a month later, still in a haze, Lindsay said she knew something was wrong with her hands and feet. "I would look down and I would see black, almost like a body that had decomposed," she said. The infection had turned her extremities into dead tissue. Still sedated, Lindsay said she didn't realize what that meant at first.

 For the next couple of years, Lindsay exercised diligently as part of the commitment she made to qualify for a hand transplant, which required her to be in shape. But the tough young woman now said she saw her body in a different way now.

Autopsy: Cowboys Player Killed in Crash Was Sober

 Abcnews  (Josh Brent and Jerry Brown (R), are shown in these 2012 file photos


An autopsy has found that Dallas Cowboys practice squad player Jerry Brown Jr. was sober when he was killed in a crash that led to an intoxication manslaughter charge against the teammate at the wheel.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office reported Thursday that Brown died of head and neck trauma when their vehicle overturned. He had a dislocated neck, a severely bruised spine and a blood alcohol content of 0.056 percent. That's well below the Texas drunken driving standard of 0.08 percent.
Police have said Cowboys nose guard Josh Brent, who was driving, had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit when after the Dec. 8 crash in Irving, a Dallas suburb. He remains free on $100,000 bond.
Police say neither men was wearing a seatbelt.

The world Rings in the New Year

   Revelers celebrate the New Year on the Champs Elysee in Paris, Jan. 1, 2013