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Seeking to avert automatic spending cuts and tax increases that are set to take effect on Jan. 1, President Obama and the four senior leaders of Congress huddled at the White House today.

For the first time in a decade of war, more active-duty troops took their own lives this year than died fighting in Afghanistan. The national suicide hotline is one way the Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to help troops and vets.

Quentin Tarantino's new Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as a freed slave turned bounty hunter. The writer and director discusses the film's violence with Audie Cornish and explains why he feels American history can withstand an approach that has more in common with Reservoir Dogs than with Roots.

Sometimes "the one that got away" is a book that actually was easy to overlook. And sometimes it's something you ignore until you just can't anymore. NPR's Lynn Neary finally comes to terms with the publishing sensation that is Fifty Shades of Grey.

A threatened strike by the International Longshoremen's Association at 14 ports along the East and Gulf Coasts has been called off. Federal negotiators say the union has reached an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance and will extend contract talks.

President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children. U.S. adoptions from Russia had already been on the decline over the last several years — reflecting a broader downward trend in international adoptions. For more on adoption trends, host Audie Cornish talks with Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.

Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics predicts a last-minute deal on the "fiscal cliff" might be an early drag on next year's economy, but by year's end, the economy will be gaining momentum. If there's no deal? "I don't even want to think about it," he says.

This New Year's Eve, victims of Superstorm Sandy will likely be in Times Square to watch the ball drop. But they may not be there by choice. Their homes were ruined by the storm in October, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has placed thousands in hotels in the area.

"If it's not me, who's it going to be?" asks Colorado school cafeteria manager Kathy Del Tonto. After serving processed foods in her cafeterias for years, she realized that reducing childhood obesity can begin with her. She now has the lunch ladies making 95 percent of meals from scratch.

R&B singer Fontella Bass has died at a hospice in St. Louis. She was 72. Bass is best known for the soul classic "Rescue Me."