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U.S. foreign policy and military commitments in the Middle East have long been tied to U.S. dependence on oil from the region. But imports from the Persian Gulf have actually declined sharply in recent years, which may lead to a realignment of policy priorities and an easing up of U.S. presence there.

U.S. foreign policy and military commitments in the Middle East have long been tied to U.S. dependence on oil from the region. But imports from the Persian Gulf have actually declined sharply in recent years, which may lead to a realignment of policy priorities and an easing up of U.S. presence there.

Jody Becker of Chicago Public Radio reports on a thorny environmental case being heard next month by the U.S. Supreme Court. It involves the right of some Chicago suburbs to build a landfill on land that's being used by migratory birds. Some environmental activists warn that the court could use the case to gut the landmark Clean Water Act.

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.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average has not declined at the same rapid clip as the battered Nasdaq during the recent stock downturn. But today the Dow fell very sharply and slipped below the 10,000 mark for the first time in five months, fresh evidence that pessimism about stocks is increasingly broad and deep.

Manmohan Singh, a 71-year-old economist, is slated to become India's new prime minister after Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi stunned supporters by declining the job. A former finance minister and member of India's Sikh minority, Singh oversaw the liberalizing reforms of India's economy in the early 1990s. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

Republicans digest a Friday apology from Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) over remarks that seemed to endorse America's segregated past. Lott has declined to step down from his post as Senate Republican leader. Republicans must decide if he can remain effective. Hear from NPR's Jacki Lyden and NPR's Juan Williams.

Bandleader, clarinetist and arranger Artie Shaw has died at home in Los Angeles. His health had declined since Thanksgiving. He was 94. Shaw's recording of "Begin the Beguine" became so popular in 1938 that it brought him to an even footing with the other so-called "King of Swing" -- Benny Goodman. NPR's Robert Siegel has a remembrance.

Vice President Dick Cheney already was facing declining popularity when he accidentally shot his hunting buddy. Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that Cheney would have fared better had he gone public immediately after the shooting rather than spending four days figuring out how to handle it.

There they are, up on the power line, side by side by side by side by side. Starlings, each one like the other — rubber-stamped birds, a mob (or murmuration) of indecipherably similar critters, always the same, sitting or flying. But wait! What if there's such a thing as an Exceptional Starling? I think I've found one (or maybe ... four!), hiding in a video.

NPR's Richard Knox looks at human diseases that are thought to originate in animals. SARS is one such disease. So is a bird flu now affecting Europe. Crucial to finding the original cause is finding the first few human cases of the disease. In southern China, investigators say the trail to the first SARS cases is growing cold because of initial government resistance to outside help.

Nearly 4,000 listeners submitted short stories during this round of the Three-Minute Fiction contest. Novelist Ann Patchett will pick the winner and read it on air. Until then, we're bringing you excerpts of stories that have caught our eye. This week, NPR's Susan Stamberg reads a passage from "Bird Man" by Jeanne Martin of Seattle.

Reporter Virginia Biggar joins union organizers as they try to recruit new members among the Latino community in Los Angeles. Labor union membership has been on the decline for years, but some unions now see the immigrant population as a source of new membership. Low-wage labor and qeustionable conditions in California's garment industry has also galvanized labor organizers.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that National Transportation Safety Board officials say they have obtained good data from the flight recorder from ValuJet 592 recovered yesterday in the Everglades. They declined to be more specific this afternoon, saying they were still analyzing the data that will hopefully shed some light on why the DC-9 crashed three days, killing 109 people.

Researchers at the Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina say sharing music files over the Internet has not adversely affected CD sales. The study compares downloads of music files with store sales of those same songs. Officials in the recording industry have long blamed file sharing for the decline in CD sales in recent years. NPR's Felix Contreras reports.

Melissa Block talks to Arizona Ostrich Rancher D.C. Cogburn about the day his ostriches stampeded several years ago, and the financial woes he's had ever since. He says a hot-air balloon so spooked the birds that they panicked; many were seriously injured. His loss to the balloonists in a civil lawsuit has led Cogburn to quit the business.

Commentator Leonard Rosen compares himself and his family's holiday visits to the seasonal migration of birds, whales and other animals, whose instints force them to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to get "back home." In observing the travel patterns of millions of people during the holiday season, Rosen notes that people also have that instinctual urge to "get up, move, go back."

Up until this summer, Los Angeles-based singer Alex Lilly had been known mostly for her role as backup singer for pop duo The Bird and the Bee. Recently, however, Lilly embarked upon a new project and took the spotlight for herself. With the help of 10 of her friends, she's created the band Obi Best and recorded the keyboard-driven pop debut, Capades.

The U.S. economy is slowing down from its red-hot growth of the past few years. As NPR's John Ydstie reports, most economists believe the economy is in fine shape, growing at a sustainable level without significant inflation. But some worry that there are enough trouble spots -- declining corporate profits, a cheerless stock market and uncertainty over the presidential election -- to throw the economy into recession.

Linda talks to Stanley Henshaw, deputy director of research at the Guttmacher Institute and co-author of the study "Abortion Patients in 1994-1995: Characteristics and Contraception Use." The study says that about half of all women in the U-S will have an abortion at some time in their lives, that 18% of women who had abortions were born-again Christians, and that the abortion rate among teenagers has declined.