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Al Jazeera airs a video, dated Jan. 21, of four Western peace activists who were kidnapped in Iraq in November. With the tape comes a threat to kill the four if all Iraqi prisoners are not freed.

Over the weekend, four Christian aid workers were taken captive in Iraq. They are part of Christian Peacemakers Teams, a pacifist religious organization that has had members operating outside the Green Zone since 2002.

President Bush reacts cautiously to the success of the militant Hamas party in Palestinian elections. The United States lists Hamas as a terrorist organization, but the president suggests he could work with the new Hamas-led government if it would agree to recognize Israel's right to exist.

New York has always served as a muse for rock icon Lou Reed, and his photography is inspired by his sense of the city. The photo exhibit Lou Reed New York opened recently at the Hermes and Steven Kasher galleries. Reed tells Scott Simon about his work.

The beginning of January marks the deadline for most college admissions applications. The Unversity of Virginia's freshmen may not be anxious to revisit this period, but they can anyway: A play called Voices of the Class, 2009 offers adaptations of their application essays.

The trial of Saddam Hussein resumes Monday in Baghdad, along with controversy surrounding the trial. Saddam and seven co-defendants are standing trial for the killing of nearly 150 Shi'ite men after a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been talking tough in his bid to take control of the city's large, troubled school district. Such a takeover could put Villaraigosa at odds with the teachers' union, a group he once served as a labor organizer.

Early Friday morning, Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1,000th person to be executed in the United States since 1977. He died by lethal injection at a prison in Raleigh, N.C. Boyd was convicted of murdering his estranged wife and father-in-law.

John Taylor writes about the formative days of the National Basketball Associaton in The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball.

Residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward were allowed to return to their homes Thursday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit. Residents were permitted to stay for the day and had to leave by sundown.