The Oprah Winfrey Show began in 1986 and is now broadcast in 140 countries. With its confessional atmosphere and Ms Winfrey's candour about her troubled childhood and her weight and relationship problems, it's redefined the talk show genre.
It's also made her the wealthiest black woman in the world, and possibly too, the most influential. A Maryland University study suggested her support for Barak Obama had been key to his nomination. Authors appearing on her programme can become bestsellers overnight.

Oprah is still the highest rated talk show on US television but audiences are half what they were a decade ago. Her empire also includes magazines, a radio show and, from next year, a television network, so it seems likely her place in American culture will continue.

Richard Lister, BBC News, Washington

01. Oprah's show to end

In 2007 Lindsay Lohan pleaded guilty to two counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two drunk driving charges.
She went to jail but spent only 84 minutes behind bars. She was also ordered to complete a series of alcohol education courses.

But she failed to do them on time and missed a number of meetings. When the judge announced that she was now sentencing Lohan to 90 days in jail, the actress burst into tears.

She isn't required to go to jail until July 20th but when she's released she'll have to enter an inpatient rehabilitation programme.

Peter Bowes, BBC News, Los Angeles

02. Lindsay Lohan sentenced to jail

James Cameron, who's spent the past five years working on Avatar, was named best director. The film, which is on course to become the highest grossing movie of all time, is now considered to be in pole position to do well at the Oscars.

The Hangover, a film based around a stag party in Las Vegas, won the award for best comedy. Jeff Bridges, who plays a country music singer in the film Crazy Heart, was named best actor. And Meryl Streep took the award for best actress in a comedy for her portrayal of the American TV chef, the late Julia Child, in Julie and Julia.

Many of the celebrities wore ribbons in support of the people of Haiti. TV viewers were encouraged to give money. The organisers of the show, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, said they were donating $100,000 to the earthquake relief fund.

Peter Bowes, BBC, Los Angeles

03. Golden Globe Winner Announced

They're still partying here in Madrid; the celebration of Spain's first ever World Cup win has gone on right through the night.
The city high street, Gran Via, has been closed to traffic as thousands of fans conduct their own victory parade. They've been dancing on dustbins and hanging from lamp-posts. Wrapped in the national flag, they've been singing, drinking, and savouring the moment.

Prime Minister Zapatero has called Spain's success an epic victory; one that’ll go down in the country's history. The team coach calls winning the World Cup reward for beautiful football. There's no doubting that for Spanish fans. Later today, the new world champions will arrive back here in Madrid. This city, the whole country, plan to welcome their footballers as national heroes.

Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, Madrid

04. Spanish fans celebrate World Cup victory

Lights... cameras... philosophy... An unlikely subject for a blockbuster with an unlikely leading man. Chow Yun-Fat, the star of numerous Hong Kong gangster movies, is to swap his sub-machine gun for the scholarly robes of Confucius. The film could also seem unlikely given how the ancient thinker fell out of favour in China. Chairman Mao Zedong said he belonged to the feudal age, and the Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution destroyed his grave.

But that was in the 1960s and 70s. Now China's leaders are turning to Confucius to give the country some spiritual guidance. His emphasis on harmony and self-discipline, without reference to God of course, has been endorsed by the president. Confucian texts have been given greater prominence in universities and the government is now partly funding the 20-million-dollar film.

So what wisdom can we expect up on the silver screen? Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without? Or perhaps one suited to Chow Yun-Fat's earlier movies: before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Keith Adams, BBC

05. Confucius the movie

Michael Jackson's body was airlifted from hospital to the coroner's office in downtown Los Angeles. TV stations here carried live coverage of the helicopter's journey. An autopsy will be carried out later today to establish the precise cause of his death.
Paramedics had been called to the Beverly Hills mansion Michael Jackson had been renting whilst he prepared for a series of fifty sold-out shows in London next month. The singer's brother Jermain told a news conference that after they failed to resuscitate him, Jackson was transferred to a nearby hospital where a team of doctors worked for more than an hour in a vain attempt to revive him.

Only a few hours earlier Michael Jackson had been rehearsing at a local sports stadium, but concerns about his fitness for the concert tour had already begun to circulate, amid reports that he was looking frail. Hundreds of fans have maintained a vigil outside the hospital to which he was taken, some to mourn his passing, others to celebrate his music.

For the all the controversy that surrounded the latter part of his career several commentators here have likened his musical legacy to that of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley.

David Willis, BBC News, Los Angeles

06. Music legend Michael Jackson dies

The character of Sherlock Holmes was originally created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle, who featured him in four novels and more than 50 short stories. After his death, his son Adrian wrote several stories featuring the famous Victorian detective, but critics say he was never that popular.
But it's the first time that the Arthur Conan Doyle estate has officially asked an author to write a new novel. He has been named as Anthony Horowitz and is best known his Alex Rider children's series. So was he daunted by the challenge?

07. Sherlock Holmes returns

Women's football - or soccer as it's known in many countries - has been played in England for more than a hundred years. But, unlike men's football, it's always been an amateur game. The new Super League will be the first semi-professional competition for women, with eight teams from across the country competing for the title.

The players will get paid for their efforts, although their salaries will be nothing like those given to top male football stars. The Football Association says it hopes to avoid uneven competition, where a country's richest clubs get access to all the best players.

Each club in the women's Super League will have a maximum annual budget of around $400,000. Some clubs, like Arsenal and Everton, will be helped by their respective male clubs, but others are trying to match their incomes by coaching school pupils or raising money through social events.

Organisers are hoping the league will eventually attract the world's best female players and stop England's top stars heading to Germany and the United States, where there are already major professional competitions.

Maddy Savage, BBC News

08. Female players get football league in England

When she sang and acted, Noriko Sakai could always draw a crowd but rarely as big as the one that turned up to witness her downfall. 6,615 people queued, some all night in pouring rain, to get into the courtroom in Tokyo. Officials set up tents and handed out numbered armbands before holding a lottery draw to decide who would get the 20 seats in the public gallery.

When the hearing began the 38-year-old pleaded guilty to possessing 0.008 of a gram of what's been described as stimulant drugs, and using drugs too.

Noriko Sakai has been famous since she was a teenager, first as a J-pop singer, later as an actress. But her girl next door image was shattered in August when her husband was arrested over a drugs offence. She went on the run for several days before turning herself in. In the meantime the police have found more drugs in her flat.

In court, Noriko Sakai said she wanted a divorce and to make a fresh start, studying nursing care for the elderly. Her lawyers pleaded for leniency. The prosecution is seeking an 18-month prison sentence.

Roland Buerk, BBC News, Tokyo

09. Japanese pop star goes on trial

The words every filmmaker wants to hear:
Spielberg: And the Oscar goes to…

Bowes: came from the legendary Hollywood director, Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg: The King's Speech…

Bowes: The film tells the story of how George the VI employed an unconventional speech therapist from Australia to help him overcome his problem with stammering. Funded in part by the UK Film Council, a body which is being disbanded by the government, the film also won the award for best original screenplay and best director. Colin Firth, who plays the King, joked that his award for best actor meant his career had peaked.

Firth: I'm afraid I have to warn you, that I am experiencing stirrings, somewhere in the upper abdominals, which are threatening to form themselves into dance moves.

Bowes: David Seidler, who wrote the screenplay, said he hoped the award would inspire people who are trying to overcome speech impediments:

I accept this on behalf of all the stutterers throughout the world. We have a voice. We have been heard, thanks to you, the Academy.

It wasn't a clean sweep for The King's Speech, out of 12 nominations it won in four categories, but Oscar glory is bound to boost the film's takings at the box office.

Peter Bowes, BBC News

Otgon Bat-Erdene