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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.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, about Biden's State of the Union address and the impact of the war in Ukraine on the U.S. economy.

The Massachusetts commissioners of early, elementary and secondary and higher education, are looking at what the path is to student and school pandemic recovery.

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.

Ten albums released this year that you absolutely, positively won't want to miss — from marquee artists like Cecilia Bartoli and Michael Tilson Thomas to fresh discoveries, including American composer Michael Harrison, Denmark's Vagn Holmboe and a forgotten Baroque man of mystery.

Wellington Jighere of Nigeria was crowned world champ last year. He's one of many Nigerians who excel at the game. What's their secret?

In the liner notes to his 2012 trio album Accelerando, the pianist and composer Vijay Iyer wrote: "[T]his album is in the lineage of American creative music based on dance rhythms." Dancing in rhythm and exemplifying creativity, here are 10 records which belong to that great lineage.

Nancy Pelosi's decision marks the end of an era for Democrats, and triggers a search for a new generation of leadership for her caucus.

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.

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.