Business News

• Alcoa to slash jobs and sell 4 units (Reuters) -

  Reuters - Alcoa Inc said on Tuesday it would slash more than 15,000 jobs, halve capital spending and sell four businesses as it reduces aluminum production in the face of the global economic downturn.

  
  
• Bank of America selling $2.8 billion (Reuters) -

  Reuters - Top U.S. lender Bank of America , raising cash to weather a dismal market at home, is selling a $2.83 billion chunk of its holding in China Construction Bank (0939.HK) at a 12 percent discount on Wednesday, according to a term sheet obtained by Reuters.

  
  
• U.S. budget deficit seen topping $1 trillion in 2009 (Reuters) -

  Reuters - Politicians want American consumers to resume spending to pull the economy out of its tailspin, and the U.S. government is leading by example with a potential $1 trillion deficit in 2009 -- even before a massive stimulus plan.

  
  
• Stocks rise on stimulus plan hopes (Reuters) -

  Reuters - Stocks gained on Tuesday on the increased likelihood of a government stimulus package after the release of minutes from the last Federal Reserve policy meeting painted a dismal picture of the U.S. economy.

  
  
• Fed and other agencies to join U.S. fraud task force (Reuters) -

  Reuters - The U.S. government is beefing up a task force to fight mortgage crimes and safeguard federal financial bailouts, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

  
  
• FTSE-100 up 59.28 points at 4,638.92 (AP) - AP - Share prices on the London Stock Exchange closed up Tuesday.
• Leading Democrat offers mortgage aid bill (Reuters) - Reuters - The second-ranking Democrat of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday introduced legislation that would let bankruptcy judges erase some mortgage debt in an effort to stem foreclosures.
• Madoff scandal, SEC role under scrutiny (AP) -

  AP - Two more months of mortgage payments and retiree Allan Goldstein says he'll be broke, just another victim in what may be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history.

  
  
• Goody's liquidates remaining US stores (AP) - AP - Discount clothing chain Goody's Family Clothing will begin liquidating its stores on Friday as the retailer becomes one of the year's first victims of the worsening economy.

Entertainment News

• Best-selling "God" author faces plagiarism claim (AP) - AP - Neale Donald Walsch, best-selling author of "Conversations with God," said Tuesday that he unwittingly passed off another writer's Christmas anecdote as his own in a recent blog post.
• Attorney: Charge against Brolin to be dropped (AP) -

  AP - It's not exactly a presidential pardon, but prosecutors have agreed to drop charges filed against "W." actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright after an incident a Louisiana bar last year.

  
  
• Tom & Katie: NYC's Next Real Estate Moguls? (E! Online) -

  E! Online - Are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes trying to give Donald Trump a run for his New York City real estate money?

  
  
• Batman, Iron Man, Kidman Clash Over F/X Oscar (E! Online) -

  E! Online - Indy, we hardly knew ya.

  
  
• Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Wright Cleared in Bar Brawl (E! Online) -

  E! Online - Looks like there'll be no need for a presidential pardon for this W. crew.

  
  
• Prosecutors to Polanski: All is not forgiven (AP) -

  AP - Fugitive director Roman Polanski received a message from prosecutors in a sexually explicit court motion Tuesday that all is not forgiven and they will fight dismissal of a three-decade-old conviction for raping a 13-year-old.

  
  
• Wii boosts UK games sales, music resilient (Reuters) - Reuters - British retailers sold a record combined number of DVDs, games and music in 2008 despite the economic gloom, boosted by the popularity of Nintendo's Wii and single downloads, trade bodies said on Wednesday.
• NBC and John Wells on "Police" beat (Reuters) - Reuters - NBC, looking to keep a John Wells-branded drama on the air after the March finale of the producer's "ER," is in talks to pick up his new cop show "Police" (formerly "LAPD") for a possible slot.
• Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings: The Fiesta Bowl Leads Fox to Victory; Compatible True Beauty on ABC (Mediaweek.com) - Mediaweek.com - -Yesterday's Losers (excluding repeats): Momma's Boys (NBC)
• 'Hedda Gabler', Starring Parker, Cerveris, Stormare and Sparks, Begins Broadway Run (Playbill) - Playbill - Tony Award winner Mary-Louise Parker exercises a trigger finger starting Jan. 6, with the first Broadway preview of Christopher Shinn's new adaptation of Hedda Gabler, the Henrik Ibsen classic about an unhappily married woman in 1880s Norway.
• Travolta's son cremated, ashes flown to Florida (Reuters) -

  Reuters - The body of actor John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, was cremated in the Bahamas after his sudden death during the New Year's holiday and his parents flew to Florida with his ashes, a Bahamian lawmaker said on Tuesday.

  
  
• All About the Hair at the "Bride Wars" Premiere (Fashion Wire Daily) -

  Fashion Wire Daily - You'd think that at a movie premiere for a flick called "Bride Wars" would be all about the dresses, but in New York on Monday night, it was all about the hair.

  
  
• Cuba opens Hemingway archives to scholars (Reuters) -

  Reuters - Cuba on Monday made the first of thousands of digitized documents, photographs and books that belonged to writer Ernest Hemingway available to scholars after the items languished for decades in the basement of his home outside of Havana.

  
  

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