As expected, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London today on a European Arrest Warrant for sexual assault charges filed by two women in Sweden. Assange is due to appear in court later today.

Chinese officials are fuming over Friday's Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony because they really don't like the winner, jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo. Police have arrested many of Liu's supporters, and today the Foreign Ministry called them anti-Chinese "clowns." How mature.

[Spanish bullfighter Julio Benitez, known as El Cordobes Hijo, falls during a bullfight at the Monumental Bullring during the annual fair in Quito, Ecuador. Benitez was not injured. Photo via AP.]

Barack Obama just announced his final deal with Republican leaders on extending the Bush tax cuts, unemployment benefits, and other issues, after secret negotiations. Here are the details. In short: There won't be much government revenue next year.

Elizabeth Edwards, estranged wife of Democratic pariah and recent father John Edwards, has been informed that her breast cancer has spread to the liver, and doctors "recommend against additional treatment." She does not appear to be challenging that recommendation.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Navy sailors serving in the Arabian Sea today that despite the push from him and other Pentagon leaders, the military's ban on gays serving openly is likely to continue into the next year.

The hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management has offered to help Borders buy rival imperiled bookseller Barnes & Noble. Since Ron Burkle's not involved in this bid, you probably won't hear much more about it unless it's successful. [WSJ]

[People paddle a boat at the flooded street in village of Rijeka Crnojevica, Montenegro, where hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes because of floods caused by heavy rains. Photo via AP.]

[Talk show host Oprah Winfrey and musician Paul McCartney, both Kennedy Center honorees, at the Honors Gala in Washington. That's Oprah's boyfriend Stedman and Trade Representative Ron Kirk in the back. Photo via AP.]

[Extras from a Cuban zombie film, "Juan de los Muertos," or "Juan of the Dead," take a lunch break while filming on Havana's Malecón today. Image via AP]

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, political opportunist Newt Gingrich once again teased the American public with his seasonal talk of running for president, saying he's "much more inclined to run than not run," and that he might decide in February.

The small Nevada towns near the 'Burning Man' festival site are effectively jobless and broke after USG Corp., which owns a gypsum mine and produces wallboard, announced the closure of its local operations. What will happen to the drug festival?

A German tarantula smuggler, Sven Koppler, was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles after a months-long sting dubbed "Operation Spiderman," in which Koppler allegedly shipped hundreds of live and rare tarantulas wrapped in straws to buyers in the U.S.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III — single, and quite the ladies' man — has pleaded with gossip-mongering local reporters to stop cramping his style because they're scaring all the eligible women away. And now he's spending Christmas alone. [Philippine Star]

The second day of Senate hearings regarding a "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repeal went better for shameless filibuster-leader John McCain. But that's only because he fully embarrassed himself yesterday. But are the individual service chiefs really against repeal?

Barack Obama got so sick of everyone bitching about him that he issued his first presidential pardons today, to nine world-famous murderers who'll eat the guts of every web commenter who types "GROW A PAIR, OBAMA" from now on. Seriously.

U.S. soldiers in Iraq who try to read about the Wikileaks disclosures—or read coverage of them in mainstream news sites—on unclassified networks get a page warning them that they're about to break the law.

Hey, fluffy newspaper editorial writers, you want Republicans and Democrats to "stop fighting" and "get something done," correct? Well, good news: the Congressional Black Caucus and Republicans might team up to kill the congressional ethics office! America is restored.

New York state senator Kevin Parker is currently on trial for attacking a New York Post photographer last year. Parker's lawyer says the case is "entirely about politics." I dunno. It almost seems like there's a pattern here.

Irving Kristol, father to Fox News talking head Bill Kristol, was the intellectual architect of neoconservatism, a fierce anti-communist, and staunch Republican. So why did FBI counterintelligence agents investigate his contacts with a suspected Soviet agent in the 1980s?