Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. U.S.-Iran Talks Put on Hold Again
2. Hillary 'Seemed Like She Had Something to Hide'
3. Murdoch 'Bored' With Britain
4. NY Post's Obama Endorsement All About Business
5. Mel Gibson Cut Ties to Heath Ledger Over 'Brokeback'
6. Madonna Hosting Controversial UNICEF Event
7. Ralph Nader Mulls Another White House Bid
1. U.S.-Iran Talks Put on Hold Again
A critical meeting between the United States and Iran on security issues inside Iraq has been put on hold for the second time, State Dept. sources have told Newsmax's U.N. correspondent Stewart Stogel.
The talks were originally scheduled for Dec. 18, then moved to the week of
Jan. 21. No new date has been set.
The Baghdad government has already hosted a series of talks with an agenda officially limited to Iraqi "security," but other topics have been raised, say diplomats familiar with the discussions.
U.S. and Iraqi diplomats tell Newsmax that one outcome of previous meetings has been an unofficial acquiescence by Tehran in aiding the U.S. military surge and quelling the tide of violence inside Iraq.
It is not known why the latest round of talks has been delayed, but U.S. sources confirm that the Iraqi government is working to set a new date for further meetings.
The delay comes on the heels of the recently completed World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In Davos, both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki toned down recent criticisms of each other and hinted at a possible future accommodation by the two nations.
Rumors of a potential deal between Washington and Tehran had been circulating in Switzerland and at U.N. headquarters, Stogel reports.
In New York, U.S. diplomats at the United Nations confirm they recently circulated a so-called "list of principles" that the Security Council should consider in drafting a third round of sanctions on Iran for its continued nuclear defiance.
Those sanctions have been delayed for more than six months.
Washington and Tehran have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the Iranian nuclear program and the U.N. efforts to control it.
Also on the Iranian front, Russia has delivered the final shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran for its Bushehr nuclear power station. But the plant's activation date, set for April, has now been pushed back to October, Stogel has learned.
Moscow, while delivering all the fuel, has decided to delay the shipment of key instruments needed to monitor the reactor core. Without these instruments, the plant cannot go on line.
Says Stogel: "Word is that the Bush White House may use the delivery of those instruments to pressure Tehran."
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2. Hillary 'Seemed Like She Had Something to Hide'
"In her personal life, she's always seemed like she had something to hide."
That's how former top Clintonista Dee Dee Myers characterized Hillary Clinton in an interview with writer George Packer for an article in The New Yorker magazine.
"She had a difficult father, and she spent a lot of time trying to create an image of a functional family when she could have just said, 'It's my family,'" said Myers, Bill Clinton's top adviser in his 1992 campaign and White House press secretary for two years of his presidency.
"The burden of perfection was upon her, and she carried it into her marriage. There's always this fear of letting people see what they already know."
Those thoughts were echoed by Hillary biographer Carl Bernstein, who told Packer that she had a tendency toward "subterfuge and eliding."
Packer writes that in Bernstein's biography "A Woman in Charge," a constant theme is "her fear of humiliation; as the daughter of a harsh, often cruel father, she learned early on to conceal any weakness and, ultimately, to protect her very humanity from exposure."
Packer also writes in The New Yorker about Hillary's "lifelong habit of self-concealment in the face of exposure, and toughness in the face of hurt."
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3. Murdoch 'Bored' With Britain
Rupert Murdoch is bored with Britain and his media empire there and is obsessed with his newly acquired Wall Street Journal, one of his former editors disclosed.
Andrew Neil, who edited Murdoch's Sunday Times in Britain for 11 years, told a British parliamentary committee: "He loved the Wall Street Journal. He will love it even more now that he owns it.
"He's bored with Britain now. He's got a new toy which totally obsesses him, the Wall Street Journal. He doesn't want to talk about anything else."
Neil said Murdoch often faxed him clippings from the Journal's Op-Ed pieces.
"I used to get them on Star Wars, [Ronald] Reagan, on the Cold War."
Members of Britain's House of Lords are investigating the influence of newspaper owners on editorial policy in the country's newspapers and asking current and former editors to testify, the Web site theage.com reported.
In addition to the Sunday Times, Murdoch's British holdings include the Sun, the News of the World, the Times of London, and satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.
Murdoch completed a $5 billion-plus deal last month to buy Dow Jones & Co, adding the Journal to his News Corp. media conglomerate, which already includes Fox News and the New York Post.
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4. NY Post's Obama Endorsement All About Business
The New York Post has surprised many readers with its unexpected endorsement of Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying he "represents a fresh start."
Rupert Murdoch's Post also opined that Hillary Clinton and her husband "stand for déjà vu all over again — a return to the opportunistic, scandal-scarred, morally muddled years of the almost infinitely self-indulgent Clinton co-presidency."
But the Obama endorsement "was not about politics or Billary hating as much as it was about business," Charles Warner observes on The Huffington Post.
Murdoch wants to use his newly acquired Wall Street Journal to challenge the New York Times and his Post to drive the New York Daily News out of business, observes Warner, who speculates on what Murdoch might have been thinking:
"I hate The New York Times and want to position the Post as its opposite, especially after the Times endorsed Billary. By endorsing Obama I appeal to many of my core readers, especially younger ones, which advertisers love.
"By endorsing Obama before the Daily News does, I get a nice little circulation pump and I put the News in a bind — a strategic dilemma. If it endorses Billary" it will perturb many of its readers "and look like it is taking a cue from the Times. If the News endorses Obama, that's good because it might help defeat Billary, plus it will make it look like it is following the Post — a win/win in either case for me."
By endorsing Obama, Murdoch "has achieved another edge on the Daily News," Warner concludes, "even if he had to get under the political bedcovers with liberal Ted Kennedy."
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5. Mel Gibson Cut Ties to Heath Ledger Over 'Brokeback'
Mel Gibson broke off relations with recently departed actor Heath Ledger after he spurned Gibson's advice not to accept the role of a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain."
The two stars had grown close when Ledger played Gibson's son in "The Patriot."
"Ledger asked Gibson whether he should take the role of Ennis Del Mar in 'Brokeback,'" according to private investigator Paul Barresi, who told the New York Daily News that a major Hollywood producer had disclosed details of the Gibson-Ledger relationship.
"Gibson strongly counseled against it. The role apparently ran counter to Gibson's morality. And he felt that it would ruin Heath's career.
"When Gibson parted ways with Heath, it broke his heart."
Ledger won an Oscar nomination for his role in "Brokeback Mountain." The 28-year-old actor was found dead in his New York apartment on Jan. 22. Gibson has called his death a "tragic loss."
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6. Madonna Hosting Controversial UNICEF Event
Pop icon Madonna is co-hosting a star-studded fundraiser at United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday night.
Called "A Night To Benefit Raising Malawi And UNICEF," the $2,500-a-plate dinner will include a live auction by comedian Chris Rock and performances by Alicia Keys, Timberland and Rihanna.
Joining Madonna will be Drew Barrymore, Adrien Brody, Salma Hayek, Sting, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, among others.
More than 1,000 "plates" have been sold, sources told Newsmax's U.N. correspondent Stewart Stogel.
But key U.N officials have privately expressed reservations about the event.
Although organizers expect to raise close to $2 million, only about $750,000 will actually go to UNICEF, according to the sources.
The remainder is expected to go to Raising Malawi, a private group dedicated to the plight of children in the AIDS-stricken African nation.
The group has strong ties to the Kabbalah Center of Los Angeles. Kabbalah counts Madonna as a follower.
The Kabbalah connection has made key U.N. officials "uneasy."
In a move that is also creating controversy, the Italian fashion house Gucci will completely underwrite the event.
Gucci is tying the fundraiser to the opening of its New York flagship store. The U.N. has previously frowned upon any commercial marketing tie-ins.
As a result, the U.N. is downplaying its connection to the event. The event's organizers have decided to ban any press coverage inside the gala.
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7. Ralph Nader Mulls Another White House Bid
Ralph Nader has formed a presidential exploratory committee and said he will launch another presidential run if he believes he can raise enough money to appear on most state ballots in the fall.
Nader, who ran for president in the past three presidential elections, told ABC News he established the committee with the Federal Election Commission and launched a Web site after Dennis Kucinich withdraw from the race last week.
And now with John Edwards also out of the race, Nader said he feels his candidacy is more urgent than ever.
"When Kucinich threw in the towel, now you have Edwards gone — who's going to carry the torch of democratic populism against the relentless domination of our government" by "powerful corporations," he told ABC.
"You can't just brush these issues to the side because the candidates are ignoring them."
Nader has criticized Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for failing to push for a higher minimum wage and increased taxation of corporations.
Nader said early last year that he would enter the presidential race if Clinton became the Democratic Party's nominee, calling Hillary "just another bad version of Bill Clinton."
Responding to charges that he was a "spoiler" who may have cost Al Gore a presidential victory in 2000, Nader said the major candidates "represent parties that spoil our electoral system and our government."
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