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A 12-day-old general strike in Venezuela turns violent again as supporters and critics of President Hugo Chavez battle in Caracas. Detractors say Chavez has impoverished the country. The leftist leader fired four dissident oil executives Thursday, increasing tensions. NPR's Gerry Hadden reports.

NPR Religion Correspondent Duncan Moon reports on the dilemma the Roman Catholic Church faces over whether to give the Boston Archdiocese the go ahead to declare bankruptcy. Cardinal Bernard Law, archbishop of Boston, resigned this week after meeting with Vatican officials in Rome. Moon reports that bankruptcy may not remove the tremendous financial problems the Boston Archdiocese faces because of lawsuits, filed by victims of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

Cardinal Law resigns as Archbishop of Boston as controversy persists over his handling of sex-abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic clergy. The move comes after 58 priests called for Law to step down. The Archdiocese's financial problems remain. Hear from NPR's Bob Edwards, John Allen of The National Catholic Reporter and NPR's Duncan Moon.

As part of NPR's year-long Housing First project, Morning Edition this week airs three reports on the economics of housing for some of the neediest Americans. In the third report, NPR's Cheryl Corley reports from Boston on a controversial program that's had some success turning around crumbling neighborhoods, but can also be used to clear desirable land for high-rent construction.

Cardinal Bernard Law resigns as Archbishop of Boston as controversy persists over his handling of sex-abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic clergy. The move comes after 58 priests called for Law to step down.

Starting Dec. 16, Morning Edition premieres its first original radio play, "I'd Rather Eat Pants." The five-act play, starring Edward Asner and Anne Meara, is a comic tale of an elderly couple's cross-country trek on a young slacker's motorcycle. They're in search of fame, fortune and a whole lot more. NPR's Bob Edwards and Susan Stamberg have cameo roles.

Two decades of war and internal tension have made a powerful impact on Iraqi cultural life. A stage comedy mocking the miserable lives of many Iraqis is a hit in Baghdad. Some find secret solace in alcohol. Others turn to religion as never before. NPR's Anne Garrels reports.

Novelist Lee Smith says she has based her new work of fiction, The Last Girls, on a personal experience: a 1966 boating adventure along the mighty Mississippi River. Smith says it's a story about "aging, among other things." Smith talks with NPR's Bob Edwards.

It's holiday film season and that usually means big budgets and special effects. But the film Drumline puts the emphasis on storytelling. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

The European Union welcomes 10 new members at a summit in Copenhagen. The agenda is crowded, including debate about financing the expansion and whether Turkey, with its new Islamist government, will ever be allowed to join. NPR's Nick Spicer reports.

The state asked an administrative judge to toss the challenge by six school boards. The court is slated to hear the case Thursday morning.

A South Korean envoy meets with Chinese officials to gain support in resolving North Korea's nuclear issue. Experts say they're baffled about what the North hopes to gain through its nuclear brinkmanship. NPR's Eric Weiner reports.

NPR's John Nielsen reports on plants that make a stink. For example: the voodoo lily. When it blooms -- people wilt.

NPR's John McChesney reports on the one-dollar-per-head fee cattle producers must pay when they sell cattle. The money goes in large part to finance commercials that promote beef consumption. But some ranchers say forcing them to pay for the campaign violates their constitutional rights.

New research shows that plants and animals around the world are being affected by global warming. The change comes in response to a temperature increase of just one degree Fahrenheit in the past century. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

A lawyer for two Illinois National Guard pilots who accidentally bombed Canadian forces in Afghanistan last spring says his clients were on drugs. He says military officials pushed the men to take amphetamines. Hear more from NPR's Lynn Neary and Christian Science Monitor correspondent Brad Knickerbocker, a former Navy pilot.

Government lawyers on the Enron Task Force are stepping up prosecution following the holidays. The so-called "superseding indictment" could bring additional charges against Enron's Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow. It could also name new defendants. NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports.

Everyone who has ever pondered whether chicken wings serve a purpose beyond deep fat fryers and bleu cheese sauce will be bowled over by the apparent benefits of wing flapping in flightless birds. NPR's John Nielsen reports on a study in this week's Science magazine showing how true flight may have evolved from these beginnings.

Insects known as "walking sticks" have gained and lost wings several times over the last 10 million years. At least that's what a study in this week's issue of Nature magazine contends. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Michael F. Whiting, professor of evolutionary biology at Brigham Young University and lead author of Loss and Recovery of Wings in Stick Insects.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports the Bush administration is going to court in support of three white university students who say their school uses racial quotas. The White House is accusing the University of Michigan of using quotas in deciding who is admitted. The university says its policy is constitutional, and that race is one of many factors it considers in its selection process. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress say after the racial remarks made by Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), now is not the time for the administration to challenge the factor of race in admissions.

The California Supreme Court adopts tougher standards on what constitutes forcible rape, defining it as continued sexual intercourse by a man after his female partner withdraws initial consent. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

David D'Arcy reports on this year's Sundance Film Festival, widely regarded as the most prestigious showcase for independent films and documentaries, which opens tonight. One film features a handful of the 40,000 Cubans who left their island on rafts in the 1990s.

Quinn Klinefelter of WDET in Detroit reports the head of the National Highway Traffic Administration says automakers must improve the safety of sport utility vehicles or the government may force them to do so. But car companies counter that they are already offering improved safety devices on the popular vehicles.

In the new film About Schmidt, Kathy Bates plays Roberta Hertzel -- an aging hippie and free spirit. Jack Nicholson plays the repressed insurance salesman Warren Schmidt. In one scene Bates strips nude in front of Nicholson. It's the scene everyone is talking about. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Kathy Bates about the scene and about her career in film.

U.N. arms inspectors search two outbuildings of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's primary palace. Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency consults with Russian officials on Iraq. Hear NPR's Michele Norris, Rajiv Chandrasekaran of The Washington Post and NPR's Lawrence Sheets.