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GOP congressional leaders are not satisfied with the White House apology for the staff's 1993 handling of FBI background files on people including prominent Republicans. Chief of staff Leon Panetta says the White House obtained the files by mistake, and an apology is owed to those people. But House Majority Leader Dick Armey is calling for hearings on the incident. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that politicians and other officials in North Carolina are still trying to figure out the impact of yesterday's Supreme Court decision on redistricting. The court ruled that districts drawn primarily for racial reasons are unconstitutional, but it was unclear if the the districts would have to be withdrawn before the November elections. Changing the districts will not only affect black politicians, but those running in other districts as well.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on the joint Palestinian-American commission which will deal with issues of common concern. Palestinian Authority President Yassir Arafat gave few details, but some believe it signals a step toward official ties between the US and the Palestinian Authority. The 45 minute meeting with President Clinton is seen as a reward for Arafat after he engineered the revision of the PLO charter, which called for the destruction of Israel.

NPR's Margo Adler reports that Swiss banking authorities and officials from several Jewish organizations signed an agreement last week that may provide a full accounting of funds deposited in Swiss banks by European Jews in the years before the Holocaust. Holocaust survivors and families of holocaust victims have not been able to trace the funds until now due to the secrecy laws governing Swiss banks.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that Pacific Telesis, the west coast baby bell, will merge with SBC, which provides local phone service to a number of southern states in a deal worth nearly 17-Billion dollars. This is the first announcement of ever a merger between two of the seven companies that were all once part of a nationwide phone monopoly; earlier this year, Congress passed a major telecommunications reform law that permits such mergers.

NPR's Elaine Korry reports on a decision by New York state highest court that would allow divorced parents to move out of state even if the move interferes with custody arrangements. Many courts have ruled in so-called "move-away cases" that a spouse cannot move, even to pursue a better job or an education, if it would deny visitation to the non-custodial spouse.

NPR's Kathy Schalch reports the White House today unveiled a $3.9 billion five-year federal aid plan for Washington D.C. Officials said they want to end the $3.56 billion federal payment to the city it would have made over that period. Under the proposal the federal goverment would assume the city's pension liabilities for police, firefighters, judges and teachers.

John Biewen, of Minnesota Public Radio, reports that the rent-to-own industry is fighting two recent court decisions. Courts in Minnesota and Wisconsin have held that Rent-A-Center, the largest such operation, violated state usury laws. The company maintains that interest rate caps do not apply because they are not loaning money.

President Clinton urged what he called a "spirit of reconciliation" today in a speech at a prayer breakfast at the White House. As NPR's Mara Liasson reports, Mr. Clinton called on Americans to heal divisions caused by politics, race and other factors. The president said his top priorities for his second term are education, welfare, family values, the economy and foreign policy.

In an effort to keep out drugs and weapons, many U.S. schools now conduct random searches of students and their belongings. Twice this year, school security guards conducting these random searches happened to select sixteen-year-old Matt Smith for investigation, and he found the experience unsettling. Now, he is suing the Norfolk, Virginia school district on constitutional grounds. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports.