Beyonce leads Grammys, Taylor Swift close behind 
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Beyonce led the field of Grammy contenders with 10 nominations on Wednesday, closely followed by teen country sensation Taylor Swift with eight, and both will compete for coveted album of the year.
Hip-hop band Black Eyed Peas, R&B singer Maxwell -- making a return to the music business after an eight-year absence -- and rapper Kanye West each earned six nods.
In a list that reflected youth and a drop-off of veteran super groups like U2, glam singer Lady Gaga and rapper Jay-Z each earned five Grammy nods apiece.
Woman claims to have had 31-month affair with Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods offered a "profound apology" to his family and supporters today after Us Weekly published a story alleging he had a 31-month-long affair with a Los Angeles cocktail waitress.
Jaimee Grubbs says she met Woods in Las Vegas following the 2007 Masters and claims to have 300 text messages from him. The magazine also published a voicemail that Grubbs said was left by Woods on Nov. 24, three days before his car crash outside his Orlando home.
Woods didn't offer any specific reason for his apology, saying, "I let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart."
"Precious" and "Last Station" top indie Spirit film nods
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Film dramas "Precious" and "The Last Station" earned five nominations each, including best feature, on Tuesday for Independent Spirit Awards, the leading honors for movies made outside Hollywood's major studios.
Also among the best film nominees for the awards that often foreshadow indie movies competing for Oscars were romantic comedy "(500) Days of Summer," "Amreeka" and "Sin Nombre."
Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, who plays an abused and impoverished young woman in "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire," and Gwyneth Paltrow in drama "Two Lovers" landed in the category for best lead actress.
Attorney: Woods' wife asked neighbors to call 911
WINDERMERE, Fla. — An attorney for the neighbors who dialed 911 after Tiger Woods' car crash last week says they saw no indication the golfer was beaten or driving under the influence.
Attorney Bill Sharpe said Tuesday that Linda Adams and her adult sons Jarius and Jerome Adams went outside their Orlando-area home after hearing the crash.
They found Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, upset about her husband's injuries and she asked them to call 911. Sharpe says Woods appeared woozy and had scratches on his face.
Fresh faces obscured in 'Scrubs' spinoff
Imagine indulging in a passionate goodbye with someone, only to turn the corner and bump into him five minutes later. That sums up the experience of watching the season premiere of the medical comedy "Scrubs," which, after seemingly wrapping up for good last spring after eight years, makes an inexplicable return Tuesday night as a hybrid reincarnation/sort-of spinoff of its former self.
After Season 8's touching finale, which tied up every story line, no one seems more nervous for reaction about "Scrubs" 2.0 than the people who make the show. " 'Scrubs' will be back, but in a new incarnation. . . . I know many of you will have very strong opinions on this topic," series star Zach Braff, who plays J.D., wrote on his MySpace page back in May, adding, "Don't hate it until you see what [executive producer Bill Lawrence] comes up with."
The first few minutes of the premiere take place at some vague point in the future. Sacred Heart Hospital has been torn down, replaced by a new hospital built on the campus of a medical school, in which implausible -- but hopefully hilarious -- medical melodramas will surely play out.
Swiss: Polanski in jail until at least Friday
BERN, Switzerland — Swiss authorities say Roman Polanski will be held in jail until at least Friday because he needs more time to pay his $4.5 million bail.
Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli says Polanski won't be placed under house arrest at his Alpine chalet until the full bail is received.
Gallil said Tuesday that the payment was expected in the next couple of days, and that all other conditions have been satisfied for Polanski's house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Woods doesn't owe media explanation, but he does owe his fans
Most very successful people, particularly athletes, have one trait in common: the desire to control everyone and everything around them.
There is no better example of this than Tiger Woods. No one on Team Tiger speaks for or about him except in the form of an occasional statement made on his Web site. Woods himself rarely speaks publicly on any subject other than birdies, bogeys or a product he's promoting, his charity foundation being one of them. About the only times Woods shows his true feelings is on the golf course: a fist pump after making an important putt or a club slam after hitting a wayward shot. It is not an accident that he named his 155-foot yacht "Privacy."
Perhaps no mega-star athlete in history has done a better job of keeping his private life under tight control. Six years ago, when his intention to ask Elin Nordegren to marry him was leaked 48 hours in advance, Woods was furious. There have been few such breakdowns since.
`New Moon' keeps shining with $42.9M weekend
LOS ANGELES — "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" finished at the top of the Thanksgiving weekend box office with $42.9 million, while "The Blind Side" ran a close second at $40.1 million.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:
1. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," Summit, $42,870,031, 4,042 locations, $10,606 average, $230,947,696, two weeks.
Tiger's world in spin since mysterious car crash
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - News of his car accident in Windermere, Florida, turned the carefully managed life of Tiger Woods upside down on Friday, provoking far more questions than answers.
Speculation about the background to the incident has been rife, largely fueled by the long delay by the golfing great and his advisers to speak out either publicly or to the investigating authorities.
Woods, who has carefully guarded his privacy ever since he first burst into the media spotlight, eventually issued a statement on Sunday in which he took responsibility for crashing his SUV outside his $2.4 million home.
"New Moon" shines atop box offices for 2nd week
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" rose to the top of movie box office charts for the second straight week on Sunday with a three-day haul of $42.5 million, pushing the film's total ticket sales to nearly $231 million in North America, according to studio estimates.
Over the five-day U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the vampire romance starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner took in $66 million in North America, said independent studio Summit Entertainment that backed the movie.
Coming in at No. 2, also for the second straight week, was Sandra Bullock football film, "The Blind Side," with three-day sales of $40.1 million and a five-day haul of $57.5 million.
