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Liane Hansen speaks with Antonia Fraser (FRAY-sir), author of Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot" (Doubleday). The story eals with an event still remembered in England today as Guy Fawkes Day. In 605, the British Government uncovered a secret plan by a group of English atholics to blow up the House of Parliament and reinstitute Catholicism as the tate religion. Lady Antonia Fraser is the author of many works on British istory, including "Mary, Queen of Scots" and "The Six Wives of Henry VIII."

Liane speaks with Sarah McClendon, dean of the White House ress corps, who has been on that beat since 1944. 11 presidents have faced her irect and feisty questions, and she talks about them in her new book "Mr. resident, Mr. President!" (General Publishing Group, Inc.). Liane discusses ast presidents with McClendon, including Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and ranklin Roosevelt, who she considers the country's best president.

A day after the Mideast summit organized by President Clinton, Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole criticized the administration for having a failed foreign policy. He said that after four years of Clinton in the White House, "our friends no longer respect us and our enemies no longer fear us." But Dole offered few insights into his own foreign policy proposals. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports.

Paul Wood reports that Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini visited Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic today, as a column of students marched on Milosevic's house. Dini said that Milosevic has promised him that there would be no crackdown on the demonstrators in Belgrade. Milosevic is said to be aware that his annulment of last month's elections, in which Opposition candidates were said to have won, is jeopardizing the standing of Serbia in the international community, but there is no sign that he has any intention of reinstating the results of that disputed election.

The Senate is expected to pass a bill today that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples, and allow states not to recognize marriages between gay couples. The bill has already passed the House, and President Clinton says he will sign it. The Senate will also vote on a Democratic bill that would outlaw job discrimination against gay men and lesbians. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Linda talks with Time magazine senior correspondent Eric Pooley who profiled Dick Morris in this week's magazine. Morris is Clinton's political consultant and regarded as the co-author of the campaign message and advertising. According to Pooley, Dick Morris wants to be known as brilliant -- and as a great strategist who has reformed Clinton's message. But in fact, Pooley says, Morris is a roguish character who the White House couldn' t necessarily trust.

The White House is holding Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) at a distance, pending a Jan. 6 vote that will decide Lott's fate as Senate Republican leader. Political analysts say the focus on Lott's racially insensitive remarks undermines President Bush's efforts to reach out to minorities. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

Basketball experts have annointed 17-year-old LeBron James of Akron, Ohio, as the next Michael Jordan. People are already profiting from his success. Meanwhile, James lives in public housing with his unemployed mother and awaits the NBA draft. Vincent Duffy of member station WKSU reports.

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and top White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey resign as a jump in unemployment figures and United Airlines' financial woes stir more concern about the U.S. economy. Hear more from NPR's Scott Simon and Joe Nocera of Fortune magazine.

A new toy on the market, Forward Command Post, is a bombed-out model of a house complete with realistic debris. Critics say the bullet-riddled shell might be anxiety-provoking for children. Others say it's no more violent than many other toys. Hear from NPR's Jacki Lyden and Yale child psychologist Dr. Dorothy Singer.