American Beauty actress (and Now and Then, mustn't forget that) Thora Birch has been fired from the off-Broadway revival of Dracula, reportedly because her father/manager, former adult movie star Jack Birch, was threatening other actors.

The AP, even with its recession-inspired cutbacks, is a great news service—but a pricey one, by newspaper standards. So Thomson Reuters is starting a competing U.S. news service. Like AP, but crappier cheaper.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Navy produced this educational video warning against the dangers of syphilis. Rather than make a boring old film strip, they recruited Count Spirochete, the VD vampire, and showed him— literally—crawling into a lady's vagina.

Hugh Jackman, the world's most famous living Australian, was injured today while taping the second of Oprah Winfrey's four shows from Syndey. He tried to zip line from the top of the Sydney Oprah House and crashed instead.

The golden couple of Disney breaks up on Vanessa's 22nd birthday. Katie Couric goes to a Bieber concert. Michael C. Hall divorces. Miley barters for her bong video with Macbooks. Tuesday gossip is always a trade-off.

Here's a map of the world, as drawn by Facebook (click to enlarge it). What does that mean? Well, basically: The entire image is defined not by topographical features or political boundaries, but by Facebook friendships.

Archaeologists in China have dug up what they believe is a 2,400-year-old bowl of bone soup, as well as a pot of wine, near China's former capital Xian.

A German man was frustrated with the police's inability to stop his 17-year-old daughter from seeing her 57-year-old boyfriend. So he took matters into his own hands, and cut off the boyfriend's balls with a bread knife.

A few weeks ago, the Smithsonian removed a work of art from an exhibition over complaints that it was offensive to Christians. Now the Andy Warhol Foundation—which gave $100,000 for the exhibition—says it'll stop funding Smithsonian shows.

Richard Holbrooke, the longtime U.S. diplomat and current special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has died at age 69, apparently of a torn aorta. He had been admitted to the hospital over the weekend, and underwent surgery on Saturday.

Have questions or concerns about the Gawker security breach over the weekend? We're addressing the issues here. Or go here for an updated FAQ.

Nicholas Brooks, the 24-year-old son of pervy composer Joseph Brooks, has already been charged with the attempted murder of the girlfriend who was trying to dump him, Sylvie Cachay. But he may soon be charged with murder, too. [NYP]

A 25-year-old Tehranian who blinded his girlfriend's husband by throwing acid in his face has been sentencing to having acid drizzled over his face and eyes. Apparently they're seeking "forensic scientists" to carry out the punishment now. [Daily Mail]

The CEO of Twitter and the CEO of Microsoft last week had breakfast together in San Francisco, Twitter's hometown. Neither company will comment, but there's already speculation about a takeover. Maybe Microsoft will expand beyond productivity software into anti-productivity software.

David W. Johnson, the extremely close aide to New York Gov. David Paterson who was charged this year with assaulting his girlfriend—a case that unraveled his boss' political career—was finally fired today after nine months of unpaid leave.

"Out of consideration for the family's privacy," Bernie Madoff says he won't seek permission to attend the funeral of his son Mark, who committed suicide Saturday. The investigations into Mark Madoff's role in the family fraud will continue.

The Senate is voting on whether to move forward with President Obama's tax compromise, and will likely approve it. But how is this grab-bag of taxcuttery even polling? Quite well! Not necessarily for its contents, though.

The Obama administration has loudly opposed a provision of the omnibus spending bill, passed last week by the House, that would ban the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. soil, even for trial.

A cabal of centrist Democrats and lapsed Republicans are gathering in New York today to launch "No Labels," a group that advocates ditching partisan politics for supposedly common sense solutions. Cute! But don't pretend that this isn't ideological.

A phantom pisser left his (or her) mark in a Harvard library this weekend, by dousing a selection of books about LGBT issues with human pee. The "vandalism by urine" will be investigated as a hate crime.