AP - Julie Andrews is succeeding Walter Cronkite as host of the Vienna Philharmonic's annual New Year's Day concert on PBS.

AP - Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, is writing a book about the historic election victory and has retained Washington attorney Robert Barnett, Obama's literary representative, to shop the proposal to publishers.

E! Online - Mark Ruffalo's younger brother has been hospitalized in Los Angeles and listed in critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to his head early Monday morning.

E! Online - Jennifer Aniston is pausing to address all the pregnancy rumors surrounding her.

E! Online - Remember when Britney Spears just showed up at Madonna's L.A. tour stop and sorta comatose-jiggled through a halfassed duet of "Human Nature"? Well, it's payback time!

Reuters - True to form and in keeping with past recessions, Americans are flocking to the movies, the chief executive of the largest U.S. theater chain said on Wednesday.

Reuters - In the summer of 1986, hip-hop pioneers Run-D.M.C. played a show at Madison Square Garden in New York, riding high on the success of their single My Adidas and their third album, Raising Hell.

AP - Julie Andrews is succeeding Walter Cronkite as host of the Vienna Philharmonic's annual New Year's Day concert on PBS.

AP - After years of turning heads with her riotously colorful frocks in Malaysia, fashion designer Tom Abang Saufi can't decide whether to shed a few shades on her batik dresses for the Middle East.

Fashion Wire Daily - It may not even be Thanksgiving yet, but in the make-believe world of the movies, Christmas is already here. It came to Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Thursday night, as the new comedy Four Christmases rolled out the red carpet for its gala premiere.

Fashion Wire Daily - Forget what you've heard about Rihanna. Good Girl Gone Bad is only one half of her story. She may be a brooding and glamorous fashion plate in her music videos, but in her off hours this Grammy-winning artist partnered up with Gucci to be the face of their new Tattoo Heart accessories collection, which Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini designed as part of their annual campaign to benefit UNICEF, now in its fourth year.

Reuters - Top fashion designer Marc Jacobs' company agreed to pay New York state $1 million for improper payments made to secure a venue to hold fashion shows, the New York attorney general's office said on Wednesday.

E! Online - Victoria's Secret brought the sexy to South Beach Saturday at their annual fashion show, featuring Angels' Heidi Klum, Alessandria Ambrosia, Miranda Kerr, Karolina Kurkova and more supermodels strutting their stuff.

AP - Victoria's Secret's angels have descended upon Miami Beach.

AP - The New York Giants expect Antonio Pierce to play in Sunday's game against Philadelphia while the team gathers information on the linebacker's involvement in a shooting that led to the season-ending suspension of star receiver Plaxico Burress.

AP - Dustin Pedroia has a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP, a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger and, of course, a World Series ring. And now he's got the big-bucks contract befitting one of the most decorated young players in baseball. The Red Sox second baseman, who earned $457,000 last season while winning the AL Most Valuable Player award, agreed Wednesday to a $40.5 million, six-year contract that could keep in Boston through at least 2014.

AP - Charlie Weis will return for a fifth year as Notre Dame's football coach despite posting his second straight disappointing season.

Reuters - The Toronto Raptors fired head coach Sam Mitchell on Wednesday, the day after the team suffered one of its biggest defeats.