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Conversion these days at the state's Spanish missions isn't only about religion; it's also about seismic retrofitting. That's because the missions — which date to the late 1700s, when Spain's king sent Franciscan missionaries to convert natives to Christianity — would not withstand a major earthquake.

A woman who survived a brutal gang-rape on a bus in India has died, according to reports. Earlier Friday, hospital officials in Singapore, where the 23-year-old student was being treated, had warned that her condition was worsening.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has been approved for another five years, as the Senate voted to renew the law that grants the government wide surveillance authority. President Obama has said he intends to sign the measure, which senators approved by a 73-23 margin Friday morning.

The shape-shifting musician often sounds like a completely different artist from one song to the next. On his new Song Reader, he leaves the sound in the listeners' hands.

The deadline for the so-called "fiscal cliff" is fast-approaching. The combination of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes go into effect in just three days. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with host Jacki Lyden about where congressional leaders are on a deal.

Two former reporters are now making a living digging up dirt on political candidates. They help their clients find obscured truths on their competition — and on themselves. While name-calling isn't new, there are more ways to spread a damaging message. But as this election showed, that message isn't always factually based.

Unable to sleep in the days after the Newtown, Conn., killings, Emily Leukhardt found herself writing about the sister who she says was "just fundamentally good."

When Rep.-elect Joseph Kennedy III is sworn in this week, he'll end a short gap in his family's service in the nation's capital. Last year had marked the first time in more than six decades that there was no Kennedy serving in elected office in Washington.

As a new class of million-dollar political donors rises, conservatives are fighting for continued secrecy around their contributions. Strategist Karl Rove is citing a 1950s Supreme Court case that protected NAACP members, arguing that conservative donors are also being subjected to intimidation.

After the 1917 Russian Revolution, there was a debate over what to do with the spectacular jewels that had symbolized the power and wealth of the czars. Most have remained in the Kremlin, but some can't be traced.