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.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's top choice for attorney general is Eric Holder, a former No. 2 Justice Department official in the Clinton administration and Obama campaign aide who would become the first African American to serve as the nation's chief lawyer.

AP - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens dropped further behind Democrat Mark Begich in his re-election bid Tuesday as the convicted felon's 85th birthday became a grueling wait that could determine whether his decades-long hold on power is over.

AP - Sen. John McCain, whose presidential bid was snuffed out two weeks ago by President-elect Barack Obama, is setting up a political action committee as a first step in running for a fifth term in the Senate.

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.

AP - The Santa Barbara County sheriff says a weekend wildfire that destroyed 210 homes was caused accidentally by a bonfire built by a group of young adults. Sheriff Bill Brown said Tuesday that the 10 young people thought they put out the bonfire before they left. The destructive wildfire erupted about 13 hours after the group left the tea garden where the bonfire was built.

AP - An 8-year-old boy accused in the shooting deaths of his father and another man said in a police interview released Tuesday that he did not fire the first shots at the men but later shot them so they wouldn't suffer.

AP - Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue grown from her own stem cells, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs. "This technique has great promise," said Dr. Eric Genden, who did a similar transplant in 2005 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. That operation used both donor and recipient tissue. Only a handful of windpipe, or trachea, transplants have ever been done.

AP - Dustin Pedroia could easily be mistaken for a mechanic, carpenter or plumber, most anything except a major leaguer. "I'm not the biggest guy in the world. I don't have that many tools," he said. "If you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn't think I'm a baseball player." Well, not unless he was carrying his AL MVP award.

Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and members of Congress clashed on Tuesday over the best use for the $700-billion financial bailout fund, with lawmakers demanding money to stem a national wave of mortgage foreclosures.

Reuters - U.S. auto executives warned Congress on Tuesday that their industry was teetering on the brink of disaster as they pleaded for a $25 billion aid package despite political opposition to another multibillion-dollar government bailout.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama moved closer to filling a key spot in his cabinet on Tuesday as his transition team plotted a careful course to shaping the next U.S. administration.

Reuters - Momentum to name Timothy Geithner as the next U.S. Treasury Secretary seems to be building, both among the country's top business executives and bettors with actual skin in the game.

Reuters - U.S. Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, convicted last month of political corruption, turned 85 on Tuesday with his re-election bid facing a mounting hurdle.

Reuters - If Sen. Hillary Clinton is to be picked by President-elect Barack Obama as his secretary of state, it may well depend on a review of the business activities of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Reuters - The U.S. Treasury defended its handling of the financial bailout on Tuesday as American banking and auto woes reverberated around the globe and the International Monetary Fund said it would need extra funding to help countries through the downturn.

Reuters - Senate Democrats on Tuesday yielded to the wishes of President-elect Barack Obama and allowed Joe Lieberman to keep his committee chairmanship despite having backed Republican John McCain for the White House.

AFP - A hijacked Saudi super-tanker, carrying 100 million dollars of oil, anchored Tuesday off a notorious Somali pirate port as sea gangs struck again and seized a Hong Kong cargo ship.

AFP - Rebels announced Tuesday they would withdraw from two fronts to give peace a "new chance" in strife-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as government forces faced new charges of looting.