Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who has demanded Rod Blagojevich’s immediate resignation, says she expects sometime tomorrow he will announce he will relinquish his position. "We have heard that there is a possibility that tomorrow he will make an announcement that he will step aside," she said on NBC's Meet the Press. "I don't know if that means he will resign or take another option that's provided under the Illinois constitution, where he can voluntarily recognize that there is a serious impediment in his ability to carry out his duties and therefore temporarily remove himself," she said. The Illinois governor spent the weekend shopping for lawyers. Top of his list is Ed Genson, who defended singer R. Kelly from child sex charges and the newspaper magnate Conrad Black from a fraud indictment. Genson is hesitant about whether to represent Blago. “We’ll make our mutual decision on Monday,” he said. Genson has enjoyed mixed results in the courts. While he managed to reduce Kelly’s 21 counts of having sexual intercourse with a minor down to a single charge of soliciting a minor for child pornography, then an acquittal, Lord Black of Crossharbour did not fare so well. He is currently serving a 78-month sentence in federal prison, he had to pay back his company Hollinger $6.1 million, and paid a fine of $125,000.

Bush’s eight years in the White House will be remembered for two things: the September 11 attacks and the Iraq war. In a valedictory visit to Iraq, where violence has been down significantly from two years ago, Bush has arrived in Baghdad to say his goodbyes. In the light of Iraq’s frail efforts at democracy, the outgoing president says history must be the final judge of whether his Iraq policy was worthwhile. Robert Gates, the present and future defense secretary, who has just returned from Baghdad, says the American mission in Iraq has reached its “endgame.” But a defense spokesman traveling with Gates said he expected American combat troops to remain in Iraqi cities beyond June.

Bernard Madoff’s giant Ponzi scheme came to an abrupt halt when his two sons shopped him to the feds. But how much did they know about their father’s spectacular crime? Victims are expressing their incredulity that Mark and Andrew Madoff, senior executives in their father’s business, could have remained ignorant for so many years. “There’s been a lot of speculation that it was a deal to keep the sons away from the criminal liability,” Brad Friedman, one of the lawyers representing defrauded Madoff investors, is reported by the New York Daily News in its hard copy edition. Meanwhile, the list of good and great names lured into Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme is getting longer. Another day and another rash of burned billionaires emerges: Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey lost a packet, as did the charitable trust of Avram and Carol Goldberg, former owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain. The Loeb family of New York were stung, along with Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, who lost “millions of dollars,” reports the New York Post. Yeshiva University is on the Madoff list, as is the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, which lost $145 million.

When even McCain praises Obama for the quality of the people in his new administration, what is a Republican to do? GOP senators believe they have found a chink in Obama’s armor in the shape of his good friend Eric Holder, nominated to be attorney general. Not only did Holder, as Bill Clinton’s deputy attorney general, recommend pardoning the fraudster Marc Rich, but, more rashly, he advised a group of 16 Puerto Rican terrorists on how best to win a pardon. And they did. Leading the charge against Holder is maverick GOP Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which must approve Holder’s appointment. Specter met with Holder for more than an hour Monday to discuss his decisions made when Clinton’s deputy attorney general. He has asked that the hearing be delayed for two weeks while he awaits more information. “By analogy to the Gonzales tenure, I think it is imperative we be sure the attorney general of the United States does not bend his views to accommodate his appointer; that the attorney general does not bend his views in any way which is partisan or political, to serve any interest other than the interests of justice,” Specter told the Senate.

As America waits with bated breath for the Obamas to choose a hypoallergenic new pup—Goldendoodle or plain mutt?—Vice President-elect Biden has gone ahead a found a pooch of his own. While Obama famously promised his daughters they could have a dog if he was elected, less widely reported was the pledge Biden’s wife, Jill, made him if he became VP: his own puppy. The Bidens got their dog, a three-month-old “happy-go-lucky” German Shepherd, from a breeder in southeastern Pennsylvania. It’s Joe’s third German Shepherd, a spokeswoman reports: “He’s excited to bring it home when it gets a little older and has promised that his grandchildren can name it after the new year.” First up, though: six weeks of training with a police K-9 coordinator.

The government has not yet aided struggling homeowners directly, but the Federal Reserve is considering relief for credit card holders. The Washington Post reports the Fed will vote on Thursday "on sweeping reform of the credit card industry that would ban practices such as retroactively increasing interest rates at will and charging late fees when consumers are not given a reasonable amount of time to make payments." The proposal includes a ban on raising the interest rates on credit card debt unless the customer was more than 30 days late in paying the minimum. If the Fed approves, it will be, consumer advocates say, the biggest overhaul of the credit card industry in decades. "It covers a lot of issues and is really unprecedented in its scope," said the CEO of the American Bankers Association. "You add them all up, it's going to mark the beginning of a new market."

The Wasilla Bible Church was badly damaged by arson yesterday, leading its most famous congregant to apologize if the crime was a result of her "undeserved negative attention." Sarah Palin stopped by the church after the fire and met with its minister. "Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good," a church spokesman said. No one was injured, but damages are estimated at $1 million.

Who says Bush is a lame duck president? While Obama, powerless until January 20, is wrestling with the financial meltdown by remote control, Bush is busily slipping through last-minute measures that will take months, even years to unpick. The Observer pulls together a list of all the “midnight regulations” Bush is busily signing that run contrary to the spirit of the November 4 election results. One makes it easier for coal firms to dump debris from strip mining into valleys and streams. Another allows power companies to build coal-fired power stations near national parks. Another allows coal-fired stations to increase emissions. A last-gasp regulation lengthens the number of hours truck drivers can drive without rest. Another surrenders government control of rerouting the rail transport of hazardous materials around densely populated areas and gives it to rail companies. Yet another chips away at the protection of endangered species. Gun control is weakened by allowing loaded and concealed guns to be carried in national parks. Abortion rights are hit by allowing health care workers to cite religious or moral grounds for opting out of carrying out certain medical procedures. And the list goes on.

If you think the meltdown has hit you hard, spare a thought for Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, 53, Citigroup’s largest individual investor, who has lost 19 percent of his personal wealth in the past year. Twelve months ago the Saudi billionaire was worth a cool $21 billion, but as of December 2 his personal fortune had slumped to just $17.08 billion, according to the Dubai-based magazine Arabian Business’ website. Alwaleed, a nephew of the late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, stands out among more than 2,000 other Saudi princes because he’s made money, reports Bloomberg. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Menlo College near San Francisco, he returned to the Persian Gulf and parlayed an inheritance of less than $1 million into a billion-dollar fortune in the 1980s, mostly through real estate. Apart from his hefty Citigroup stake, which has plummeted 70 percent in price since the start of 2008, Alwaleed’s assets include a Boeing 747, an Airbus A380, yachts, 400 other vehicles, a jewelry collection, investments in a French port, stakes in Lebanese and Palestinian companies, and a large stash of cash. The report doesn’t say whether he invested any money with Bernard Madoff.

"Energy independence" was a buzzword of the presidential campaign, but, as Michael Kinsley and Roger Sant point out in today's Washington Post, every president since Nixon has promised it. "Despite all the rhetoric, we are twice as dependent," they write, as we were 35 years ago. It seems more feasible now, however, than it has been in previous years: The security and economic issues around energy make protectionism more likely (never mind that Canada, not Saudi Arabia or Venezuela, is our largest supplier of oil). This is fine so long as our efforts are on reducing consumption of oil, rather than simply finding new sources. "The only way the United States alone can weaken the economic and political power of oil is to reduce the amount we use, regardless of where it comes from. So consuming less oil—as opposed to replacing imported oil with domestic supplies—should be the goal."

There has been much grumbling in Israel over the choices for prime minister in the upcoming election. Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians too many concessions in 2000. Benjamin Netanyahu did nothing for the peace process at all. And Tzipi Livni is inexperienced and lacks charisma. "How have we gotten to this point?" Benny Morris asks in today's Los Angeles Times. "These self-serving, affluent leaders are an apt reflection of the development and character of Israeli society over the last few decades: a shift from the idea of the collective to the cult of individualism, from socialism to capitalism, from lean youth to middle-aged paunch," he writes. With no particularly desirable candidates, "Perhaps the best that can be hoped for is an Israel governed during the next four years by a Netanyahu-Livni-Barak triumvirate."

The drug dealer Colombians knew as "Captain Nemo," Enrique Portocarrero, designed and built as many as 20 fiberglass submarines for smuggling drugs from southern Colombia to Central America and Mexico. Each submarine was capable of carrying eight tons of cargo, the Los Angeles Times reports. "He had a marvelous criminal vision," Colombian navy Capt. Luis German Borrero said. "He introduced innovations such as a bow that produced very little wake, a conning tower that rises only a foot above the water and a valve system that enables the crew to scuttle the sub in 10 minutes. He is very ingenious." According to a spokesman from the Pentagon's anti-narcotics unit, as many as 60 such submarines could be operative. Portocarrero was arrested in Buenaventura last month, where he lived a double life as a shrimp fisherman.

George Will assesses the American Dream's current state of democracy in New York City: "Any child can grow up to be a billionaire, thereby meeting what seems to have become the threshold qualification for mayor." New York's most likely alternative to current billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg this election may be billionaire John Catsimatidis, owner of the Gristedes supermarket chain, who is the child of Greek immigrants and a college dropout. After opening his first grocery store, Catsimatidis "began opening and buying other stores, then the buildings they were in, and after branching out into oil, airlines and other stuff, the next thing he knew he was rich enough to be restless, a condition that, in the very rich, sometimes is a precursor of a political itch." The "less harmful billionaire" may, however, not face his richer rival (Catsimatidis is only No. 220 on the Forbes 500, compared to Bloomberg's 25) head-to-head. Will says he might only run if Bloomberg's proposed hike in taxes and new tolls are sufficiently unpopular to convince him not to seek a third term.

The statuesque blondes who entered Harry Winston’s tony gem store in Paris just before closing did not take long to make their decision. They pulled a hand grenade and a .357 Magnum from a suitcase and in less than 15 minutes had made off with $105 million in jewels. The dashing dames—in fact four men in drag—are suspected of being part of the Pink Panthers, a group of super-thieves that have struck all across the world, including daring heists in Dubai, Switzerland, Japan, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, and Monaco. "That cool cleverness, boldness and speed are the hallmarks of the ultra lux robberies, which lead investigators to speculate that the Pink Panthers are casting for ideas from the crème de la crème of movie thieves," reports The New York Times. The group is believed to be ex-soldiers from Serbia, a theory supported by the escape from prison of their ringleader, Dragan Mikic, while his gang attacked the jail compound with machine guns. The gang is known for meticulously staking out and planning their crimes and has spawned an interesting sideline: candid movies. A daring daylight robbery in Dubai was captured by security cameras and has gone on to become a viral hit on YouTube.

A new class of elite citizens is emerging in Japan, the Genkinarians, or Super Elderly. There is the head of Tokyo's leading hospital, who is 97 years old, reports The Sunday Times of London. On the Amakusa Islands of Japan, the nightly newscast is hosted by three anchors, aged 84, 92, and 105. "It is amazing that Japanese live so long—and it is also frightening," says Takashi Shimokawara, a 102-year-old Japanese man who holds world records in the shot put and javelin toss for athletes over 100 years old. "The problem is that, as more Japanese live longer and claim pensions, the young are having fewer children, which means fewer workers to pay the taxes that fund the old age pension. In the long term, the books simply cannot be balanced." The high number of centenarians in Japan is attributed to their healthy diet and lifestyle. In 1950, there were only 97 citizens over 100 years of age. Today there are 36,726. The demographic is even developing its own genre of adult entertainment, The Times reports: "Shigeo Tokuda, 73, is the male star of 350 pornographic films, including Maniac Training of Lolitas and Forbidden Elderly Care. The porn business's oldest talent, Yoshiaki Yasuda, 90, had to retire a few years ago after a career-wrecking back injury."