[The Obamas had front row seats alongside Santa at the National Christmas Tree lighting in D.C. last night. Image via AP]

Jet-setter Sarah Palin just can't stop scheduling overseas trips. She'll go to England and Israel in the new year, but first, she's heading to Haiti with Franklin Graham's Christian charity group, amidst scary post-election violence.

Barack Obama has invited Bill Clinton to the White House for a political strategy session today, where Clinton will teach the president how to move to the center. Or at least they'll have a nice lunch together and catch up.

An imam from Queens was riding the subway this week when he was allegedly attacked by racist idiots hurling anti-Muslim slurs. Just another day on the downtown A train, amirite? New York is full of hate crimes.

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo's chair sits empty at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony today in Norway. Committee secretary Geir Lundestad (left) said, "We regret that the laureate is not present. He is in isolation in a prison in northeastern China."

[Why, yes, that is a once-abandoned three-month-old sea otter named Ollie curled up for a nap on her rescuer Caitlin Dixon's boots. And, yes, it is, actually, the cutest picture ever taken. Photo via AP. And yes, there's video.]

Students protesting a university tuition fee hike in London mobbed a Rolls Royce carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla last night as they headed to the theater. As they say in the UK: Shite just got real.

[A rather bland Lady Gaga wax figure was unveiled today at Madame Tussauds in Manhattan. Sadly it doesn't have a new outfit on every time you see it. Image via AP]

And another weird New York institution bites the dust: The Off-Track Betting Corporation, the state-owned horse betting business, has finally closed after years of threatening to do so. Fifty parlors were shut down and 1,000 people were laid off.

Operation Payback is facing a little payback of its own. First Twitter closed the pro-Wikileaks hacker movement's account. And now we hear the Feds are shutting down some online discussion of Operation Payback attacks.

House Republicans have released their schedule for next year's session: One week off for every two weeks on. Think of all the full weeks you'll be able to spend with your congressmen now!

Silly ex-Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has noted the three tragedies America suffered yesterday: "Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth Edwards's passing and Barack Obama's announcement of extending the tax cuts, which is good, but also extending the unemployment benefits." All equally terrible.

An original, three-foot-tall edition of J.J. Audubon's Birds of America, complete with gorgeous illustrations, sold at Sotheby's London recently for $10M, a record. Upon hearing that Birds of America sold for $10M, Lorrie Moore got really excited for a second.

China's beef with the Nobel Committee over its selection of dissident Liu Xiaobo for this year's Peace Prize has turned comical, with the government creating its own "Confucius Peace Prize," which will go to Taiwan's former VP this week.

Hundreds of attractive people dressed in black descended on Miami this past week for Art Basel Miami Beach, the international art exhibition. But don't be sad if you didn't go! We've got you covered here with plenty of sweet photos.

4chan-affiliated hacker group Anonymous has declared war on enemies of secret-sharing site Wikileaks. Internet war! Their first targets: PayPal, which won't facilitate donations to Wikileaks, and PostFinance, the Swiss bank that froze founder Julian Assange's accounts. Update: And Mastercard!

[A shot from downtown Meadville, Pa., where two feet of snow has fallen since Sunday, with another half a foot expected tonight. Photo via AP]

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, died today. Her breast cancer had metastasized to the liver and she stopped treatment. She released a farewell statement, to life, just yesterday. R.I.P.

President Obama's lip has quickly healed from his terrible basketball injury, which required 12 stitches to repair. His lips are once again both supple and divine, so you can stop worrying. Phew! Click to see an extreme close-up, perverts.

The foolish financiers who lent money to the bankrupt Tribune Company are reportedly planning to sue recently departed Tribune destroyer Sam Zell, saying that he took on so much debt when buying the company that he made it "immediately insolvent."