DETROIT, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- United Auto Workers leadership gathered in Detroit Wednesday to discuss opening their contract up to negotiations as automakers face possible bankruptcy.

Union representatives convened a meeting at 10 a.m., but said it was unclear whether or not they would vote on the issue, which would then be forwarded for a vote to the union's 139,000 members, The Detroit News reported.

Detroit's Big Three automakers are headed to Washington Thursday to ask for as much as $34 billion in loans they say are needed for their survival. General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) has submitted a business plan that includes shuttering nine plants and eliminating 31,000 jobs, the News reported.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) and Chrysler have each said they need to discuss union givebacks. Chrysler's plan calls for "meaningful concessions from each of its major constituents," the News said.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said he would hold a press conference late Wednesday morning.

Obama adds former rival Richardson to team

CHICAGO, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama Wednesday tapped New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for Commerce secretary, saying his background is suited for the job.

"I know that Bill will be an unyielding advocate for American business and American jobs, at home and around the world," Obama said during a news conference in Chicago. "And I look forward to working with him in the years ahead."

Besides being New Mexico's chief executive for two terms, Richardson also represented the state in Washington, and was a U.N. ambassador and an Energy secretary under former President Bill Clinton.

"During his time in state government and Congress, and in two tours of duty in the cabinet, Bill has seen from just about every angle what makes our economy work and what keeps it from working better," Obama said.

Richardson begged to differ with media outlets labeling Obama's Cabinet a "team of rivals."

"(In) the worlds of diplomacy and commerce, you open markets and minds not with rivalry but instead with partnership and innovation and hard work," he said.

The Commerce Department will play a vital role in the nation's economic recovery, Richardson said.

"The official role of the department is job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and improving living standards -- the same goals of your economic plan, Mr. President-elect," he said. "The catch phrases of your economic plan -- investment, public-private partnerships, green jobs, technology, broadband, climate change and research -- that is the Department of Commerce."

Newspaper ads question Obama citizenship

CHICAGO, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A non-profit group that questions whether President-elect Barack Obama is a natural born citizen is running ads in the Chicago Tribune this week.

We The People Foundation headed by anti-tax activist Robert L. Schulz of New York has placed ads in the Monday and Wednesday editions of the paper that raise questions about the authenticity of Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate, the Tribune reports.

Hawaiian officials say Obama's birth certificate is locked in a state vault and have vouched for its authenticity. Schulz's group contends Obama may have been born in Kenya.

Cases challenging the president elect's citizenship have already been tossed out of courts in several states.

Schulz has told the Tribune his concern about Obama's citizenship is not partisan.

"We never get involved in politics," he said of his organization.

Schulz said he chose the Tribune for his ads after considering USA Today which charged a lot more.

NATO calls on Russia to return to treaty

BRUSSELS, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Foreign ministers of NATO member countries called on Russia Wednesday to return to the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty.

In a joint statement, the ministers called the treaty a "landmark regime," the Novosti news agency reported.

Russia suspended its implementation of the treaty in December 2007 to protest U.S. plans to place a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russian officials also say that the original treaty, signed in 1990, is no longer useful because it was signed before the breakup of the Soviet Union, the end of the Warsaw Pact and the expansion of NATO to include many former Soviet satellites.

The ministers said that Russia, by sending its troops into Georgia in August, "called into question" its commitment to the principles embedded in the treaty. Russia has said it would end its moratorium if NATO members ratify an updated version of the treaty.

White House has patriotic holiday theme

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The Bushes' final holiday season in the White House will have the theme "A Red, White and Blue Christmas," U.S. first lady Laura Bush said Wednesday.

But one ornament -- calling for her husband's impeachment -- won't be hanging from any tree in the White House, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported.

The official White House Christmas Tree is an 18 1/2-foot Fraser fir from North Carolina and is decorated with ornaments depicting the patriotic spirit of U.S. states, districts and territories, her office said.

"We thought it was the perfect theme -- a patriotic theme for our last year here, as well as for an election year," Bush said on NBC's "Today" show.

But the ornament designed by Seattle artist Deborah Lawrence that salutes Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and his support for a resolution to impeach President George Bush was rejected, the Post said.

"This doesn't really surprise me," Lawrence said. "But it's disappointing that I won't get to see it on the tree."

The first lady's spokeswoman, Sally McDonough, confirmed Lawrence's ornament would be absent.

"It's inappropriate and it's not being hung," she told the Post.

While recognizing the dismal economic outlook, Bush said she was aware of people "worrying about the economy and worrying about their own jobs" but wanted to encourage people "to realize what really matters at the holidays, and that is being with your family and your friends. And I think we can get a lot of emotional comfort from our friends."