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Updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is one of Congress's top priorities in 2008. FISA, as the law is known, generally tells the president that he must have a court order to spy on Americans in the United States.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports George W. Bush says he's making education his top priority when he takes office. He has an advantage. Congress just approved the single largest increase in educational funds. Now, Bush's plan is to give states a block sum in the form of grants and each state can deem best how to use it.

- Daniel speaks with investigative reporter Scott Armstrong about the nature of FBI background checks. The FBI has over 3 million files on a wide range of people from top presidential aides to low level workers who have access to certain government offices. Armstrong argues that the creation of these files is a waste of money and time, particularly considering that very little relevant information is uncovered by background checks.

President Clinton urged what he called a "spirit of reconciliation" today in a speech at a prayer breakfast at the White House. As NPR's Mara Liasson reports, Mr. Clinton called on Americans to heal divisions caused by politics, race and other factors. The president said his top priorities for his second term are education, welfare, family values, the economy and foreign policy.

The annual meeting usually lets the leaders of the seven largest free market democracies discuss their economic policies, but the truck bombing in Saudi Arabia has pushed terrorism to the top of their agenda.

of Mexico's government for the way it handled the dismissal of its top drug enforcement official. The administration expressed disappointment that the Zedillo government did not inform Washington that it suspected General Jesus Gutierrez of taking bribes from Mexico's largest drug cartel.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports from Moscow that President Boris Yeltsin has ordered his entire cabinet to resign, except for the top two men. Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin and his deputy Anatoly Chubais will stay on to form a new government. Giving control to Chernomyrdin and Chubais is seen as an attempt by Yeltsin to gain control of the Russian economy and push for economic reforms begun in the early 90's.

Noah talks to NPR's Peter Overby about a recently released top ten list of zip codes-- pointing out where people live who have given the most to presidential campaigns. Four of those zip codes are on the upper east side of Manhattan and one of the zip codes is 90210. Peter Overby talks about who lives in these places, and why they give.

NPR's Mary Kay Magistad tells Linda that China's top leaders have returned to Beijing unexpectedly from trips to other parts of the country, possibly in response to UNconfirmed news about the health of 92-year-old Deng Xiaoping (duhng shee-yow PEENG). The patriarch of the Chinese leadership is 92 years old and has been in frail health for some years.

The White House announced today that two National Security Council aides were informed by the FBI last summer that China might try to make illegal campaIGN contributions to Congressional races. The aides also were told not to pass the information on to their superiors in the Clinton administration. President Clinton says top-level White House and National Security officials will investigate. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

Mechanical engineer Don Gilmore has the key to a persistent musical problem: how to keep a piano perpetually in tune. The top-selling line of Story-Clark grand pianos will soon be outfitted with Gilmore's self-tuning device. Hear from Gilmore and NPR's John Ydstie.

Later this year, a group of women from across North America will attempt to ski to the North Pole. If successful, they'll become the first women to reach the top of the world without the use of dog sleds or ships. Nicole Walton of member station WNMU talks with the members of the expedition as they prepare for their journey.

A top U.S. envoy today held out the prospect of energy and other forms of assistance for North Korea if Pyongyang abandons nuclear weapons development. The Bush Administration says it will not reward North Korea's threatening behavior. But analysts say Washington could help Pyongyang in indirect ways to resolve the current stand-off. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

The top two Democrats in Congress, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, unveil what they called a "pre-buttal" in advance of President Bush's State of the Union address, which will be given Wednesday evening.

As Robert Iger prepares to take over the top position at Walt Disney Co., he must step out of the shadow cast by current chief Michael Eisner. Eisner is scheduled to step down in the fall after a period of transition.

Hurricane Ivan moves inland along the Gulf Coast, spawning tornadoes, causing flooding and tearing beach houses from their foundations. Its top winds have dropped to 80 mph, but the storm remains dangerous. Hear NPR's Jon Hamilton.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle becomes the first Senate leader in half a century to lose a bid for re-election. Republicans had made the Democrat's defeat one of their top priorities and threw powerful support behind the challenger, John Thune. Hear NPR's David Welna.

Temple Grandin is one of the nation's top designers of livestock facilities. She is also autistic. Grandin's new book is Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior.

Teach for America is attracting a record number of applicants this year. The program recruits top college graduates to spend two years teaching in low-income public schools. At Dartmouth College alone, 11 percent of the entire senior class has applied.

U.S. administrators in Iraq say they will begin recruiting for a new Iraqi corps. Civilian administrator Paul Bremer says the top priority is to find employment for thousands of Iraqi soldiers who have had little or no income since the U.S. military dissolved the Iraqi Defense Ministry. Hear NPR's Deborah Amos.

A new study ranks 64 of America's largest cities by their commitment to literacy. Minneapolis, Seattle and Denver top the list, which was compiled based on the availability and number of booksellers, quality of libraries, educational level of the population, number of periodicals published and newspaper circulation. Hear the study's author, John Miller.

The owner of Windows on the World, which drew diners to the top of the World Trade Center, is set to open a new restaurant in Times Square. Many former Windows employees will work at Noche, but others are bitter that they weren't hired, NPR's Madeleine Brand reports.

Top Fannie Mae executives defend the company's accounting practices in Congress. CEO Franklin Raines denied allegations the company had manipulated its books, telling lawmakers the controversy at the mortgage giant stems from different ways to interpret complex accounting rules. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

The top U.S. arms inspector contradicts the Bush administration's pre-war claims that Iraq had WMDs. After a 16-month investigation, Charles Duelfer concluded Saddam Hussein did not have the weapons but aspired to build them.

Pakistani troops continue to battle with al Qaeda and tribal leaders along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistani officials say they believe a top deputy of Osama bin Laden, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri, is trapped there. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and New York Times reporter David Rohde.