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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez fires four dissident executives at the state oil monopoly as he tries to break an 11-day strike paralyzing the economy. Venezuelans opposed to Chavez clamor for new elections, while oil and gas supplies run thin. NPR's Gerry Hadden reports.

NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports the United States and Chile have reached an agreement on terms of free trade between the two countries. Both the U.S. Congress and the Chilean parliament must approve the plan. The agreement would lift tariffs on most goods.

Robert Siegel and Michele Norris read from some of this week's letters.

Colleges around the country seek ways to help students studying for final exams find ways to relieve tension. Play-Doh, anyone?

As the remaining days of the holiday shopping season slip away, technology guru Rich Dean joins NPR's Liane Hansen on Weekend Edition Sunday to offer gadget gift ideas.

A sea squirt's chief claim to fame is that of a pest. It grows on boat hulls and pilings, pumping water in one hole and out the other. But an international team of scientists has recently seized on the squirt as a way to study the evolutionary history of humans and other vertebrates. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

A new off-Broadway play is all about hats -- sort of. Based on a book of photos by photographer Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Marberry, Crowns tells the story of six African-American women through the hats they wear to church. On Weekend Edition Saturday, Jeff Lunden reports. Online, view a photo gallery of costume sketches for the play.

A melee breaks out in Caracas, Venezuela, after President Hugo Chavez fires four oil executives from the state oil monopoly. He's trying to break an 11-day strike paralyzing the economy. Venezuelans opposed to Chavez clamor for new elections, while oil and gas supplies run thin. Hear NPR's Gerry Hadden.

Boston's Cardinal Law will comply with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating the church-abuse scandal. The move comes on the heels of a legal settlement with New Hampshire church officials who admit they violated criminal laws. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.

NPR's David Welna reports on the latest developments about Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott. Today, President Bush weighed in on the matter for the first time, saying that Lott's comments -- which seemingly endorsed the views held by Strom Thurmond when Thurmond ran for president on a segregationist platform in 1948 -- were "offensive" and "wrong." Mr. Bush made his comments before an enthusiastic Philadelphia audience made up of many minorities. But the President refused to ask for Lott's resignation as leader.

President Bush is set to announce a plan to vaccinate all Americans against smallpox. The general population won't be offered the inoculation until 2004. Meanwhile, soldiers and "first-response" personnel prepare for early inoculations. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.

Michele Norris talks with David Hampton, editorial director for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., about how the Trent Lott controversy is playing out in his home state. Hampton says the Clarion-Ledger has been deluged with mail, both condemning and supporting Lott.