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The federal government is expected to pay $24 billion in farm subsidies this year. Critics, including quite a few farmers, say taxpayers shouldn't pay for corn or cotton surpluses. Instead, they say the funds should go toward things that benefit the public, such as cleaner water and a healthier environment.

British novelist Ian McEwan discusses how Londoners are reacting to this week's terrorist attacks. He says people in the city remained remarkably calm in the face of the attacks, and that the bombings actually brought out a sense of solidarity among the city's diverse population.

NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz quizzes one of our listeners, and has a challenge for everyone at home. This week's winner is Marge Civil from Colorado Springs, Colo. She listens to Weekend Edition on member station KRCC in Colorado Springs.

A dispute over who deserved money from an oil company ended with a government attack on the town of Odioma, Nigeria, that left the community in tatters. Some residents were killed and others made homeless.

Melissa Block talks with Dejan Anastasijevic, a senior journalist with Vreme Magazine. Anastasijevic talks about the broadcast of video showing Serbian soldiers executing civilians in Srebrenica.

Utah has led state opposition to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Now U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is applying pressure, saying Utah should worry more about educating minority students than concerns about the law. Jennifer Brundin of NPR station KUER reports.

Guitar legend Les Paul is about to turn 90 and still going strong. He plays weekly at New York's Iridium Jazz Club, and he has a string of new albums coming out. Tom Vitale visits with Paul in New York.

RetroBox, a fast-growing Ohio company, buys discarded computers that it recycles and rebuilds. The goal is to keep the machines out of landfills -- the U.S. government alone throws away 10,000 computers a week.

An appeals court says the Pentagon can resume criminal trials of some detainees at the Guantanamo prison camp. The military commissions were halted by a lower court, which ruled trials could not proceed until it was decided whether the detainees had the rights of prisoners of war.

The investigation of the leak that revealed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame raises complicated questions that can't be immediately answered. Was a crime committed? Were Bush administration ethical standards breached?