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Israel has lifted some of the security measures it placed on Palestinian territories, following violent protests that began last fall. That move may have helped prompt high-level talks between Israel and the Palestinians this weekend, but the area remains a point of tension between the two sides. NPR's Sara Chayes reports from Gaza.

Security for next week's Presidential Inauguration is expected to be tighter than at any inauguration in history ... election protestors are promising to show up in droves. NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports.

Anti-abortion activists eagerly await George W. Bush's inauguration. First the first time in eight years, they feel they have an ally in the White House and they're expecting quick action. But as NPR's Julie Rovner reports, the abortion issue may not be as simple for the new President to navigate as some may think.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on the closing of the Brach's candy plant in Chicago.

In 1994, legendary singer Pops Staples, the partriarch of the gospel group The Staples Singers, spoke with NPR's Liane Hansen about his friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The two men last spoke in Memphis just a few weeks before Dr. King was assasinated there in 1968. In an excerpt from that interview, Pops Staples, who died this past December, remembers the great civil rights leader, and performs one of Dr. King's favorite songs, Why Am I Treated So Bad.

An episode of the popular TV series West Wing featured a storyline about the music of Iceland. Alex Van Oss uses that fictional depiction to tell the story of the real music of Iceland. An example is Icerap 2000, a new work by the country's leading composer, which has been performed in several American cities by the Iceland Sympony Orchestra.

Frank reads letters and e-mails from listeners.

The 1960's civil rights struggle was documented on Motown Records Black Forum label. Suzanne Smith, author of Dancing in the Street : Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit (Harvard University Press), tells Frank Stasio about these rare recordings, which include an early version of the I Have A Dream speech of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Detroit in 1963. (NOTE: These recordings are not currently in print. To obtain rare recordings, check used record shops, search internet auction sites such as e-bay, or post your wants in music or oldies newsgroups on the web.)

All the pomp and circumstance of Saturday's inauguration may seem like a simple observation of protocol, but what did the inaugural planner do in 1789 at George Washington's swearing in when there was no protocol? Host Lisa Simeone speaks with historian C.L. Arbelbide about how some of the rituals of the inauguration came to be.

Weekend Edition History Commentator Douglas Brinkley discusses the lasting impact of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address of January, 1961. Brinkley says Eisenhower saw a future government dominated by the collusion of military and industrial interests.