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James Murray reports from Toronto that a local church is leading a campaign to perform marriages of gay couples that would be recognized under civil law. The church has begun the process of posting marriage banns for two homosexual couples before the congregation on three consecutive Sundays. Because of a loophole in provincial law in Ontario, the old Christian rite of posting marriage banns is the equivalent of obtaining a marriage license. Legal experts say this case and others like it eventually will force a ruling by Canada's Supreme Court.

With no remaining scenario for changing the razor-thin margin in Florida, Vice President Al Gore spent today preparing to end his long presidential campaign. Stymied by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended recounts he hoped would change the outcome in Florida, Gore and his advisors saw no further opportunity to gain a majority in the Electoral College -- now just five days away. So the moment to concede has come at last, five weeks after election day. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports from Capitol Hill, where President-elect George W. Bush met with congressional leaders of both parties. Bush's visit emphasized his desire to have a good working relationship with Democrats as well as Republicans, and everyone involved said the meeting was successful. But Bush has yet to convince many Republican lawmakers over the need for his $1.3 trillion tax cut. And there is still a lingering resentment among some Democrats who have questioned Bush's "legitimacy."

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on today's oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Bush versus Gore. The Bush side asked the Court to permanently block the Florida vote recount. The Gore side asked for the counting to resume. The justices asked whether they have a role in the case; are there federal legal questions? Or should they stay out of the matter, deferring to the state court's jurisdiction? They also explored whether there should be a standard for counting imperfectly punched ballot cards.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports on President Clinton's third and final visit as president to Ireland. He met in Dublin with the Prime Minister of the Irish Republic, Bertie Ahern. Ahern praised Clinton for his role in brokering the 1998 Good Friday peace accord for Northern Ireland. Before leaving for Belfast, President Clinton urged the parties there to overcome their differences and push the peace process forward. Catholics and Protestants in the British province are deadlocked over the issues of paramilitary disarmament and police reform. The disputes are threatening to scuttle the power-sharing government they established under the Good Friday accord.

Investors dumped stock in United Air Lines after a mechanics union rejected a contract deal with the nation's second-largest air carrier. The mechanics are the only union group not to agree to givebacks to the struggling airline, which is trying to avoid bankruptcy protection. NPR's Brian Naylor reports. (3:30)

The Supreme Court agrees to re-examine two of its own rulings. The high court says it will re-examine whether race can be a factor in university admissions. It also agrees to decide a case that asks whether it is unconstitutional for states to punish homosexual couples for having consensual sex. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

For Hawaiians, it's Election Day again. Islanders vote Saturday for a representative to fill out the term of late Democrat Patsy Mink, who died last September. Whoever wins will serve just one month -- and won't actually have to work, because Congress is adjourned until January. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports. (3:15)

Geraldine Coughlan reports from the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright testified today on behalf of Biljana Plavsic, a former president of the Bosnian Serb Republic. Plavsic has pleaded guilty to a charge of persecution, and the tribunal is now considering a sentence. Albright called Plavsic a "conflicted individual," a Serb nationalist who nevertheless helped enforce the Dayton Peace accords for Bosnia.

A federal judge rules that Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen accused of plotting with al Qaeda to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb," has the right to talk to his lawyers. The judge also ruled that the government has the authority to detain U.S. citizens accused of being enemies of the state. NPR's Margot Adler reports.