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U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns Syria to stop shipping military gear, including night-vision equipment, to Iraqi forces. He says "such trafficking" amounts to "hostile acts," and says Syria will be held accountable. Hear NPR News.

U.S. accounting firms are increasingly outsourcing data-entry work related to tax returns overseas. This year, as many as 100,000 American taxpayers may have their returns prepared in India. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.

Consumer confidence tumbled in December, the third straight month it has fallen. The decline in the closely watched Conference Board index is another indication that the economy has cooled and that consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the nation's economic activity, is slowing. NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports.

With the release of his education reform package today, President Bush has come down solidly on the side of higher standards and more testing for students. As NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports, there is strong support for holding schools more accountable, but there are also concerns that the current emphasis on testing may be missing the point.

NPR's Robert Smith reports on how President Bush's education proposals are playing out in the states and local school districts that will be charged with implementing them. While many educators welcome his proposals for holding schools accountable, many worry about the demands for more testing and how much it will cost.

A federal jury finds former WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers guilty on all counts for his role in an $11 billion accounting scandal. Tess Vigeland of Marketplace reports.

Unharvested produce accounts for much of the food that goes to waste in the United States. The group Hidden Harvest visits the fields in Coachella Valley, Calif., retrieves the produce left behind, and gives the food to the hungry. Matt Holzman of member station KCRW reports.

Personal accounts and reflections of individuals affected by the Iraq war. Hear Abe Salmi, who was born in the United States to Palestinian parents. Salmi talks about the intensified hatred he and his family have faced in this country since the beginning of the war with Iraq.

Among them: Two incumbent Pennsylvania congressmen are on the defense amid questions about their ethics and personal relationships; and Maryland candidates for Senate are divided by race and gender.

Until recently, some muckraking journalists were able to investigate and even bring down allegedly corrupt officials. Government censorship and commercial pressures now make such reporting difficult.