BusinessWeek Online - To the 1 million viewers of Bravo's reality show Flipping Out, Jeff Lewis is the acerbic, demanding, and sometimes petulant face of real estate speculation. In the program's first two seasons (already in reruns), Lewis turned a hefty profit buying and updating homes to sell in Los Angeles' toniest neighborhoods. At the start of the year he sold a 1,900-square-foot house to Lost star Dominic Monaghan for $1.6 million.
Politico - Hillary Rodham Clinton isn’t certain she would accept the Secretary of State post even if Barack Obama offers it to her, several people close to the former first lady say.
AP - A new witness has come forward in the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba, and prosecutors said Tuesday they are seeking more evidence against the only remaining suspect.
Reuters - An extensive new research study has found that unhappy people watch more TV while those consider themselves happy spend more time reading and socializing.
Reuters - Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said on Tuesday it is "pretty clear" the U.S. economy is in a recession, and forecast no recovery until the housing market stabilizes around the middle of 2009.
AP - The Brazilian government will begin using a plane equipped with body-heat sensors to locate — and protect — uncontacted Indian tribes in the Amazon, officials said Tuesday.
AP - Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with a reluctant Congress Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, pointedly warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse. Millions of layoffs would follow their demise, they said, as damaging effects rippled across an already-faltering economy.
AP - Eric Holder, formerly second in charge at the Justice Department, is President-elect Barack Obama's top choice to become attorney general, an Obama official and people close to the matter said Tuesday. Holder's selection would mark Obama's first step toward filling his Cabinet, and he would become the nation's first black attorney general if confirmed by the Senate.
AP - Target Corp. said Monday it will aggressively cut prices to give consumers bargains during the holiday season, after weak sales of its apparel and home offerings led third-quarter earnings to fall 24 percent.
AP - State officials on Tuesday took into protective custody 21 children associated with an evangelical group whose founder faces federal child sex charges.
