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John Powers, Fresh Air critic at large, weighs in on the trends of 2007: political campaigns, Iraq movies failing at the box office, HBO's The Sopranos, stories about hitting the road, the TMZing of America, jocks gone wild, hip sentimentality, the nightly ideological news, atheist chic and the writers strike.

Robert Siegel sits down with a group of students from Tel Aviv University for a conversation about their expectations for the future. The students are politically divided, but they agree that their main concern, even more than security, is the Israeli economy.

The Communist Party chooses 59-year-old Hu Jintao as its new general secretary, in effect taking the helm of the world's most populous nation. Hu is not expected to stray far from the path of outgoing President Jiang Zemin, who has pushed economic but not political reform. Hear more from NPR's Rob Gifford.

West Virginia will soon hold its annual Liars Contest. Last year, college professor Adam Booth won. He's been a contender five times according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

In a huge comeback, Nathan Chen spun around four times in the air during six jumps on the second and final day of the men's singles figure skating competition.

After a record-setting Christmas, Hollywood wraps up the year with more than $9 billion in the till -- the second biggest box office total in its history. Film critic NPR's Bob Mondello says a large part of that money was well-earned: some of 2003's most popular movies were also among the year's best. He offers a list of his top movie picks for the year.

For the first time, the Church of England has named a woman as its top leader. Sarah Mullally is the new Archbishop of Canterbury, leading 85 million Anglicans around the world.

Starting in 2018, companies will have to disclose how CEO pay compares to median worker pay. A recent survey of the biggest CEO-to-worker pay ratios shows Discovery at the top at nearly 2,000-to-1.

The resignations came just days after a senior cleric with ties to the institution was arrested after being caught with about $26 million in cash he was trying to bring into Italy from Switzerland. Pope Francis recently set up a special commission of inquiry to resolve the bank's problems.

Yasin Bhatkal, a co-founder of the Indian Mujahideen, has been arrested in what authorities have described as a major blow to Islamic terrorism in the region.