Cheat Sheet

A day after the Big Three proposed reforms in exchange for a bailout, the United Auto Workers is offering concessions of its own. The UAW said today that it will allow automakers to delay payments into a health care trust and suspend a controversial jobs bank program for laid-off workers. “‘Concessions.’ I used to cringe at that word,” said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. “But now, why hide from it? That’s what we did.” The job banks program, which gave laid-off workers most of their pay and benefits, has been particularly controversial. The UAW will also launch an advertising campaign for the bailout, asking why Main Street doesn’t deserve the same deal as Wall Street.

Barack Obama has officially appointed New Mexico governor and former presidential rival Bill Richardson to be his secretary of commerce. “There are some who speak of a team of rivals, but I've never seen it that way. Past competitors? Yes. But rivals implies something harder-edged and less forgiving. And in the worlds of diplomacy and commerce, you open markets and minds not with rivalry, but instead with partnership and innovation and hard work," Richardson said. Obama said Richardson would be a “key strategist” in the White House and that “the notion that somehow the commerce secretary is not going to be central to everything we do is fundamentally mistaken.” As commerce secretary, Richardson will help attract jobs and businesses to the U.S.

What’s in store for Azam Amir Kasab, the sole surviving Mumbai gunman? According to The Times of London, “Indian police interrogators are preparing to administer a ‘truth serum’ on [him].” India is trying to determine where exactly Kasab is from. They believe that he is from Faridkot, a small town in Punjab province in Pakistan, but Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said on CNN last night “we have not been given any tangible proof that he is definitely a Paksitani. I very much doubt it … that he is a Pakistani.” Truth serum is banned in most western democracies, but was frequently used in the West during the Cold War. Kasab is being held at an undisclosed location. "All I can say is that it isn't five-star luxury,” said his interrogator.

Laura Bush has finally confirmed the rumors: The Bushes will make Dallas their home after leaving the White House in January. The first lady told ABC News today that she and W. are buying a house in North Texas, which is about an hour-and-a-half from their Crawford ranch. The Bushes are even cutting back on spending this Christmas—Laura says they’re being “very careful”—to save up for the big real estate buy. “I think that’s where we’ll spend our Christmas money,” she said. The buzz in Dallas social circles is that the two will buy in the upscale Highland Park neighborhood, near the home of the future George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Harvard University's endowment has fallen 22 percent in the last four months, the largest drop in modern history, forcing the school to announce it will take a "hard look at hiring, staffing levels, and compensation." The university still has a lot of options: It announced plans to leverage its credit ratings—the highest granted by rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s—to issue bonds that improve Harvard’s cash position. And putting things further in perspective, the loss in its endowment's value, equal to about $8 billion, is larger the total value of any other university endowment save Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT.

In need of an authority to comment on Britney Spears’ comeback (Spears herself presumably being unavailable), People magazine turned to Kevin Federline. K-Fed, you might remember, was married to Spears and, in the wake of her public meltdown, began to take on the countours of a sensible young adult. Those who read the tabloids will not be shocked by much here. Federline claims he was completely “blindsided” by the couple’s divorce and that the night of Britney’s commitment to a mental hospital was “one of my lowest points of depression…I was very, very worried for her 'cause I care about her. That's the mother of my children. Just because I'm not in love with her doesn't mean that I don't love her. I'm definitely rooting for her.”

Who killed Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al Hariri in 2005? The crime remains unsolved, and Joshua Hammer writes that powerful forces are hoping to keep it that way. Many suspect the Syrian government is behind it, but a public accusation could act contrary to the West’s interests in the Middle East. "Given current U.S. strategic imperatives—keeping the region from becoming even more unstable, containing a powerful Iran, tamping down tensions over Israel and Palestine—the tribunal could hardly be coming together at a more awkward time," writes Hammer. Sources close to the investigation now believe it may wither on the vine, with a few minor officials being handed over in exchange for favor with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. As one of Al Hariri's closest allies put it, "You cannot appease dictators. You can only kill them—like they have been killing us ... But nobody at this moment is willing to make the Syrian regime fall down.”

Those of us who had wondered about Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s taste in musical theater will find this of interest: The Times of London reports that Putin met for an hour and a half the other day with songmeister Andrew Lloyd Webber. The putative reason for the meeting was the Eurovision Song Contest, the finals of which take place in Moscow in 2009. (The Eastern bloc countries had caused some mischief in previous years by not voting for the British entry.) But as an unabashed fan, Putin couldn’t resist grilling the Broadway legend. “He suggested a Russian Orthodox Church influence on Jesus Christ Superstar—he was correct—and we discussed the relationship between Islam and Christianity,” Webber said.

Has the recession made a Grinch of Ikea? The furniture giant is selling reindeer meat, and Rudolph isn't put down kindly: Animal-right activists charge that Ikea's reindeer slices and reindeer salami are products of animal cruelty. Modern reindeer ranchers herd the animals with helicopters, trucks, and snowmobiles over hundreds of miles, causing them mental and physical distress. More heartbreaking: 70 percent of Swedish reindeer slaughtered are calves, which die without ever seeing snow. Ikea has decided to hold its ground, offering this peculiar defense of the hunting methods: "The vehicles keep the reindeer safe from predators."

From The Times of London: Chan Yan Tak has become the first Chinese chef to win three Michelin stars. Undercover Michelin judges dined 12 times at Chan’s Cantonese restaurant, Lung King Heen (View of the Dragon), at the Four Seasons in Hong Kong. Lung King Heen was the highest ranked of the 40 restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau that earned stars in Michelin’s new regional guide. Tak’s specialty is lobster and scallop dumplings, but his restaurant offers more than 133 dishes, including hot and sour shark-fin soup. A spokesman for the inspectors said, “We have followed him [Tak] for a few years, actually for ten years.” For his part, Chan was “excited, shocked, and happy for my team.”

Could this year's must-have toy be a book? J.K Rowling's The Tales of Beetle the Bard hits shelves tomorrow, with a huge global print run of 7.5 million copies. The book is based on a volume of five wizard tales that Dumbledore, the headmaster of Harry's school, gives to his friend Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 100,000 special collector's editions will sell on Amazon for $100. Rowling will donate all proceeds from the book to The Children's High Level Group, which promotes children's rights across Europe. Rowling has indicated that, after Beetle the Bard, she will work on a Harry Potter encyclopedia.

Round 8 (or is it 9? 10?) in the Roman Polanski saga: Lawyers for the notorious filmmaker are seeking to dismiss charges that he had “unlawful sexual intercourse” with a 13-year-old girl in 1978. Polanski’s lawyers point to the recent documentary Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which they say shows improper communications between prosecutors and the judge handling the case. The charges, of course, led Polanski to decamp for France, where he has made films of varying worth ever since. The case comes before a judge on January 21. A spokeswoman for the L.A. DA’s office says, "We're looking forward to seeing Mr. Polanski in Los Angeles to litigate it."

How’s the crunch hitting Google? “In recent months,” writes The Wall Street Journal, “[Google] reduced the hours of its free cafeteria service and suspended the traditional afternoon tea in its New York office.” Sounds like it may be some time before it comes knocking for a bailout, but this still may be foreboding for a company whose perks have included “three free meals a day, free doctors, ski trips and laundry facilities, and subsidized personal trainers.” Google has lost almost one-third of its share price since its record close of $741.79 in November 2007, and is planning to cut spending and new projects. Google Notebook has been axed, while Google Page Creator was folded into Google Sites. And advertising is being introduced into products that previously excluded it, like Google News and Google Finance. Despite efforts to diversify, Google’s revenue still comes almost entirely from advertising on search engine results pages.

Hank Paulson is changing course again. After setting aside the second half of the $700 billion bailout package for the next administration, the Treasury Secretary is now reportedly mulling whether to ask Congress for the funds. Lawmakers are, however, threatening to deny him use of the money in light of their own desires to pass an auto industry bailout and aid to homeowners, both of which Paulson opposes. Then there’s the report from the Government Accountability Office which criticized the Treasury Department's handling of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. TARP currently employs 48 of the 200 employees the GAO thinks it needs to properly function. According to The Wall Street Journal, House Minority Leader John Boehner has told Paulson he does not have the votes to release the funds; a movement is also afoot in the Senate to block the funds.

Folk-music legend Odetta died yesterday at 77 from heart disease. Time writes that Odetta's music "is an aural history, centuries deep, of abduction, enslavement, social and sexual abuse by the whites in power—and of the determination first to outlive the ignominy branded on the race, then to overcome it." Her influence was monumental. "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta," Bob Dylan once said. Time continues, "If a line could be drawn from Bessie Smith to Janis Joplin, from Mahalia Jackson to Maria Callas, it would have to go through Odetta.” On her fan website, shortly before her death, Odetta's manager wrote, "Odetta believes she is going to sing at Obama's inauguration, and I believe that is the reason she is still alive."