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The unemployment rate falls to 5.7 percent in January, a drop of 0.3 percent. The improvement is tied to hiring in the retail sector, but the surge was a bit misleading. Restaurants and other retailers hired fewer people than usual in December, and that threw January's numbers off. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

The government puts the nation on heightened alert for the possibility of terrorism. The Bush administration raises the alert one notch to code orange, signaling a "high risk" of attack, based on communications chatter possibly linked to al Qaeda terrorists. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Wal-Mart, Target and some other online retailers start collecting sales tax on their online sales. The development might foretell big changes for Internet commerce and provide welcome revenue to states struggling to close budget shortfalls. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

Using Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham as a model, humorist Jay Klusky offers a child-friendly interpretation of the ongoing conflict between the Bush administration and Saddam (I am) Hussein.

Nearly 12 percent of all live births are premature and the newborns at risk for serious medical problems. But researchers find a hormone -- progesterone -- that significantly lowers rates of early births. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and Dr. Paul Meis, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wake Forest University.

The Bush administration raises the national terrorism alert status from yellow to orange, signaling a "high risk" of terrorist attack. A government official says Friday's move is based on an increase in information that suggests an attack may occur as Muslims mark the haj, a five-day ritual that begins Sunday.

He has made over 70 films, including Alfie, Sleuth, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Hannah and Her Sisters. Caine has worked with such directors as Brian DePalma, John Huston and Woody Allen. He's starring in the new film The Quiet American, based on the Graham Greene murder mystery centered on a love triangle set in the early 1950s, during the rebellion against French control of what is now Vietnam. This interview first aired November 17, 1992.

In the 1980s and 1990s, asthma rates in U.S. kids reached epidemic proportions. Though studies indicate the rates are leveling off, rates for African American and Hispanic children and inner-city populations aren't declining. New research suggests poverty, stress and poor mental health may be fueling the problem. Madge Kaplan of member station WGBH reports.

When international politics mixes with business, the course of commerce can get complicated. Americans negotiating a deal in England may find themselves defending their nation's foreign policy, or German companies may find it tougher dealing with U.S. firms because of their nation's stance against the Bush administration's plans for action in Iraq. NPR's Chris Arnold reports on how conducting foreign policy interacts with conducting business.

The Bush administration is raising the national terrorism alert from yellow to orange, signaling a "high risk" of terrorist attack. A government official says the move is based on an increase in intelligence that an attack may occur as Muslims mark the haj, a five-day ritual that begins Sunday. NPR News reports.