Rupert Murdoch’s son, Lachlan, has set a record for real estate in Australia, paying $21 million for his new house, reports Silicon Alley Insider.

As soon as the name Nidal Malik Hasan hit the web, the right-wing blogosphere erupted.
Muslims should be banned from the U.S. military, the bloggers shouted, in capital letters.
Muslims should be banned from America!! People with Islamic names should be evicted from the White House!!!
And much worse.
Hasan, the suspected shooter in the mass killings at Fort […]

Federal prosecutors have charged 14 more people in the insider trading case revolving around hedge funder Raj Rajaratnam.

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik pleaded guilty Thursday to tax fraud, lying on a loan application and lying to government officials vetting his nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Fortune magazine has chosen Apple chief Steve Jobs as CEO of the decade.

Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and an adviser to the 2008 McCain campaign, has announced that she’ll run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Barbara Boxer.

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will co-host the Oscars, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Does Warren Buffett know something we don’t?
The answer, on so many subjects, is yes. But about railroads making a comeback?
Buffett agreed Tuesday to spend $26 billion on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation.
“This is all happening because my father didn’t buy me a train set as a kid,” he joked.
There may be some truth […]

Billionaire Julian H. Robertson Jr. has won a bid to avoid tens of millions of dollars in New York City taxes, reports the New York Law Journal.

David Friehling, former accountant for Bernard Madoff, pleaded guilty to fraud charges Tuesday, Bloomberg reports.

Indicted financier R. Allen Stanford will no longer be addressed as “sir” in Antigua. The Associated Press reports that his knighthood has been revoked.

Twenty-three presidents of private colleges made more than $1 million last year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome has bowed out of the California governor’s race, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and police officer James Crowley were spotted Wednesday in a Cambridge bar, according to Boston TV station WBZ, apparently continuing their beer summit without the president.

Patricia Kluge, former wife of billionaire John Kluge, has put her Charlottesville estate on the market for $100 million, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Sam Zell said Wednesday that his investment in the Tribune Co. was “certainly the most amount of money I’ve ever lost in a single deal.”

Pfizer is handing out bonuses of $1 million and $1.2 million to two execs handling the Wyeth buyout, Dealbook reports.

Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme lost $21.2 billion of investors’ cash - as opposed to the oft-quoted $65 billion in paper losses - the court-appointed trustee overseeing claims said Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of the Afghan president, is paid regularly by the Central Intelligence Agency, The New York Times reports.

John M. Dowd, who has counseled John McCain and former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti, will defend Raj Rajaratnam against insider trading charges, Bloomberg reports.