Talk show maven Oprah Winfrey’s syndicated show comes to an end this week after 25 years. Here is a look at this and other stories that CNN plans to follow:
Fans, stars turn out for Oprah Winfrey's big goodbye
After a quarter-century that has seen Oprah Winfrey become a pop culture icon, the Queen of Talk has decided to walk away on her OWN terms, as in devote herself full-time to her Oprah Winfrey Network.
But first there's a two-day sendoff - taped last week - that will be broadcast Monday and Tuesday and promises a solar system of stars, surprises, and of course, ratings gold. On Wednesday, the final "Oprah Winfrey Show" will air. Winfrey is reportedly producing the show herself and is keeping her plans secret.
Louisiana, Mississippi officials wait on the water
Louisiana officials are expected to reassess the need for a mandatory evacuation Monday for Butte La Rose in the face of forecasts that the Atchafalaya River will crest just below flood stage.
Many residents living in a swath of Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin have left their homes in anticipation of high water after officials opened floodgates to relieve the state’s pumps and levee systems.
Several Mississippi communities have reported floodwaters while downriver in Louisiana, many residents are waiting and wondering if the alarm was warranted.
Malaysians dig out after landslides
Rescue workers were expected to continue looking for children reported missing following two landslides that buried a Malaysian orphanage.
At least 16 people were killed and nine others injured in the landslides that were triggered by heavy rains, the nation's official news agency reported Sunday.
Rescue workers scoured the area for up to two dozen children believed buried in and around the orphanage near Hulu Langat, southeast of the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, the Bernama news agency said.
The prime minister, who was attending meetings in the United States, said the government would rebuild the orphanage and provide payments to the victims.
Will the volcanic ash cloud in Iceland grow?
Officials in Iceland were expected to monitor the ash cloud that has formed after the Grimsvotn volcano under the Vatnajokull glacier erupted over the weekend.
The eruption forced flight cancellations and the closure of airspace over the country's four international airports, Keflavik International Airport spokeswoman Hjordis Gudmunsdottir said.
Officials will reassess the situation at midnight Sunday (8 p.m. EDT), she said.
Weather patterns this weekend have been very different from the northerly winds that swept through the region after last year's eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull, which spewed an ash cloud that disrupted air travel in Europe.
But the movement of an ash cloud is difficult to predict, a spokeswoman for the official United Kingdom weather agency said.
Ash could reach the United Kingdom and northern continental Europe Wednesday, she said.
Netanyahu set to address AIPAC in Washington
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected Monday to address the main American-Israeli advocacy group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington.
Netanyahu's visit comes after President Barack Obama on Sunday spoke to the U.S. Jewish lobby, softening his remarks after he said last week that Israel-Palestinian negotiations should start from pre-1967 borders.
Originally saying that borders based on Obama's remarks would be "indefensible," Netanyahu struck a conciliatory tone Sunday.
"I share the president's will to promote peace, and I value his current and past efforts to achieve this goal," Netanyahu said in a statement.
"I am determined to act together with President Obama in order to find ways to resume the negotiations for peace," Netanyahu's statement said. "Peace is a vital need for all of us."
'O'bama' heads to Europe, to the sound of Irish ayes
In search of relatives, President Barack Obama is expected to visit Ireland this week, where he may see children sporting "O'Bama" T-shirts and waving American flags.
"It was brought to my attention last year that my great-great-great-grandfather on my mother's side hailed from a small village in County Offaly," he said on the campaign trail in 2008.
To many of the residents in one small village, the presidential visit is a homecoming of sorts, a gesture of solidarity and kinsmanship in troubled times.
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Post by: Journalist Craig Johnson Filed under: Ahead of the curve • Barack Obama • Louisiana • Mississippi • Volcanoes |
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My God, can there PLEASE be media silence on Oprah Winfrey? PLEASE!?!
Arguably one of the Top 10 most annoying people in the public eye.
Please – turn off the Oprah Faucet!
What the heck does that mean?
anyone else notice she has a lazy eye?
Ok when ???
@ Ellis:
Thank you.
This is wonderful. I learned a new word from your comment: "Colisol."
A good vocabulary is important.
I don't want any Colisol.
Somebody please syndicate that lady in the butt so she disappears quickly.
Good riddance Oprah. Enough – I never want to hear her name again. Fat and talentless – that is what makes a TV personality?
I'll bet Oprah can make better pancakes than Aunt Jemima. I likes 'em wiff Mrs. Butterworths syrup.
Don't you mean Missus Butterwerf's syrup?
Maybe Oprah Winfrey and Katie Couric got a thing goin on. Two women leaving on thier own terms? I haven't a clue what that is. Neither one will be able to collect unemployment as a result of "quitting" their livlihoods (like neither one really cares?). Bazillionaires!
Which one am I most impressed with? Well I guess that would be my wife. She pulled through yet another surgery today due to multiple illness, disabled since 1991. Don't know what I'd do without her.
Enough of Oprah. How she came to be the anointed one is beyond me. Are we that stupid as a people that we need someone to tell us what foods to eat, what exercises to perform, what so-called Hollywood types to watch, and best yet, what books to read? Sign off already, and good riddance. Maybe, just maybe, our collective IQ might just rise again (but we would also have to get rid of Jersey Shores and their ilk first – fat chance).
Because for a while it was just her and Phil Donahue as the popular daily talk shows. Then, before Springer, Povich and the others became popular as Donahue was sliding down the ratings, she was effectively the only popular one on. Know how?
Think of who watches talk shows in the middle of the day. It has been and continues to be overwhelmingly women. And Oprah's popular with women for the same reason romance novels are the most popular type of book in the world...Oprah knows how to trigger that little dose of emotions women get high off of.
I can't stand Oprah and glad she's going off the air. She's a hack that passes off her uninformed opinon as scientific fact. More relationships have been destroyed because of what women have learned from Oprah. More money has been spent on useless product that Oprah (probably) got a kickback on.
When Oprah first came on with her shows, I was touched by some of the subjects she covered. I was in deep dark tharapy at the time , could relate to her concerns and felt not so alone with my problems. When Oprah would come on and talked about legislating against certain kinds of abuse I was moved to tears, as I am now at her leaving. You touched my soul Oprah even if the therapist at that time suggested We Don,t have a soul. I'm sure he was wrong about that and so many things. Thanks Oprah, you will be missed.
i mean... is Obama not a Christian?.....maybe he and Oprah should move back to Chicago...ridiculous.
When is Opera even on TV? And who is watching anyway?
To Jeff Franks – I did like your comment about your devotion to your wife. Hope she get's better soon. As for Oprah, it is time for her to go away, like yesterday!