What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - Britain outlined its plan to withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the coming months and Denmark said it will withdraw its 460-member contingent by August. Lithuania also said it may pull back its 53 troops from the country. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that despite the announced withdrawals, "the coalition remains intact." Do you think any of these guys are being accused of 'cutting and running'? And this coalition deal...what are we talking about here, a coalition of one?

Italy - Italian Premier Romano Prodi resigned Wednesday after nine months in office following an embarrassing loss by his center-left government in the Senate on foreign policy, including Italy's military mission in Afghanistan. Wow, those Italians are a tough lot. Here, when the leader's party loses an election based largely on foreign policy issues, all he faces is non-binding resolutions.

Iran - Officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency are likely to say that Iran has expanded enrichment efforts instead of freezing them. The UN Securtiy council set a 60-day deadline on Dec. 23 for such a freeze and said continued Iranian defiance past that ultimatum, which runs out Wednesday, could lead to sanctions additional to those it imposed last month. Top Iranian officials showed no signs of compromise. On Tuesday, Iran said it was ready to stop its enrichment program, but only if Western nations do the same — something the United States and others with similar programs are unlikely to even consider. Nice to see that we're finding some common ground from which further diplomatic solutions to this impasse can be explored.

American Idol - Auditions and Hollywood Week are finally over. The battle for the final 12 began last night with the men, but the real entertainment came from the sparring between Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest went off on Cowell on the Fox network's singing competition after the acerbic judge called him 'sweetheart'. The needling continued throughout the broadcast culminating at the end of the show with Seacrest thanking Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and the band — but not Cowell. Now this is what I call riveting television.

Grey's Anatomy - ABC has decided to pursue a spinoff of its popular medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," starring Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, the sexy neonatal surgeon played by Kate Walsh. I suppose this was bound to happen at some point. The formula seemed to work for the Law and Order and CSI franchises.