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NPR's Jim Zarroli reports Wall Street's top brokerage firms agreed to pay nearly $1.5 billion in fines to settle conflict-of-interest charges. Regulators accused the firms of continuing to recommend stocks they privately had turned against. Besides fines, the firms agree to spend several hundred million dollars in coming years buying research from independent firms that don't mix stock research with investment banking.

President Elect George W. Bush named two of his top campaign aides to new jobs today, completing the transfer of his "Texas Iron Triangle" from Austin to Washington. Senior strategist Karl Rove will become senior adviser to Bush in the White House, where he will handle public liaison and strategy as well as politics. Joe Allbaugh, who has been Bush's campaign manager, will become the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Don Gonyea reports from Austin.

NPR's Michelle Kelemen reports on new developments in U.S.-Yugoslavia relations. A top Yugoslav official, meeting with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday, said his country is interested in stronger economic ties with the U.S., and might be willing to allow an international war crimes tribunal to try former President Slobodan Milosevic. The U.S. has set aside 100 million dollars to help Yugoslavia...on the condition that war criminals be tried.

The top prizes in science this year recognize inventions that have changed our lives and that could shape the future. The physics award will be shared by people who developed the computer chip and figured out surprising new ways to get semiconductors to do other tricks, such as emitting light. The prize in chemistry goes to researchers who developed plastics that can conduct electricity. NPR's Richard Harris reports. (4:00) Note: The words god damn appear near the end of the third actuality of this piece.

National Hockey League management locks out players over a dispute on salaries. The confrontation may not end until players accept that hockey, as a professional sport, is not a top-tier sport like football and basketball. The league, after years of trying to promote itself as another "big time" sport, wants to reduce its ambitions and its economics. Hear Michele Norris and Wall Street Journal sportswriter Stefan Fatsis.

The $200 plate of french fries are made with champagne and truffles and topped with gold dust.

On his new album, Timeless Love, rhythm and blues legend Smokey Robinson sings hits from the American songbook, including "I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Baby)," "Night and Day" and "More Than You Know." Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson recorded dozens of top 40 hits for the Motown label as a solo artist and with The Miracles.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Charles Duelfer, who served as deputy executive chairman of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) from 1993 to 2000, about the additional $600 million the Bush administration is seeking for the continuing search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The money is part of the $87 billion request that Bush has already put before Congress, and comes on top of the $300 million already spent in the weapons search.

Junior Senior's single "Move Your Feet" has spent nine weeks on Britain's top 10 pop charts and sold more than 200,000 copies. Now the Danish musical duo hopes to take America by storm. Their CD, Don't Stop the Beat, makes its U.S. debut Tuesday. Charles de Ledesma reports.

Sen. Joe Biden has been in the spotlight lately because of his work on two panels: the Judiciary Committee, which questioned new Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and the Foreign Relations Committee, on which Biden is the top Democrat.

In Iraq, insurgents conducted attacks across the country Tuesday, killing more than 20 people, including several Iraqi policemen and a U.S. soldier. In Washington, top Pentagon officials encouraged Iraqis to finish work on a new constitution on schedule.

The new documentary Murderball looks at the rough-and-tumble world of quadriplegic rugby -- otherwise known as "murderball." Fresh Air talks to top-rated player Mark Zupan and Dana Adam Shapiro, the film's co-producer and co-director.

Greece's two top track athletes, both of whom won medals in past Olympics, face expulsion from the Games after missing a mandatory drug test. Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterina Thanou have been hospitalized after a motorcycle accident that occurred after the pair skipped out on the test. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Tom Goldman.

Bacharach's career spanned seven decades and was noted for his collaborations with Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones and many others. He penned more than 70 Top-40 hits.

The movie, which chronicles the ill-fated voyage of "the ship of dreams," premiered in 1997. Titanic spent 15 weeks on top of the box office and won 11 Oscars.

The store is taking advantage of new EU regulations to introduce the flavor. It's made with cricket flour, heavy cream, vanilla extract and honey — topped with whole crickets.

Michael Oher is at the top of his game as a player with the NFL franchise, the Baltimore Ravens. It's a far cry from his childhood experiences that included tough times and homelessness. His rags- to-riches life story was the subject of the award-winning, Hollywood blockbuster "The Blind Side", starring Sandra Bullock as his adoptive mother..

The Bush administration's top housing official announced his resignation Monday. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson says much has been accomplished during his tenure, but critics say they hope the change will bring about policies that will help solve the housing crisis.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) and his top aide have been arrested on corruption charges related to filling the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. Robert Grant, Chicago FBI chief, said in Tuesday's press conference, if Illinois "isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's certainly one hell of a competitor."

The top grossing films of 2008 were The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Hancock, and WALL-E. But the 2009 Oscar nominees for best picture are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire. So what do you think? Do Academy members have the best taste, or are they out of touch?