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NPR's Ted Clark reports that in his second official visit to Washington since being elected Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is being told by President Clinton and others that they expect more concrete and tangible steps by Israel to keep the Middle East process alive. Specifically, US officials are suggesting they would like to see an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank Palestinian town of Hebron, as had been negotiated --but never carried out -- prior to Netanyahu's election.

NPR's Paul Miller reports on what's being described as one of the government's largest computer errors. The Social Security Administration has shortchanged some 700,000 Americans out of more than $850 million in retirement benefits since 1972. The government already is making back payments worth about $1,500 per person due to its error in calculating post-retirement income, but no interest is being paid on the debt...and tens of thousands of those owed money already have died.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on today's federal indictment of three former executives of agribusiness giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and a Japanese businessman in connection with a scheme to fix prices for a common feed additive -- part of a scheme that cost customers millions, according to the Justice Department. A federal grand jury in Chicago indicted Michael D. Andreas, former executive vice president and Terrence S. Wilson, head of corn-processing for ADM, and Mark E. Whitacre, a fired ADM executive who was an FBI informant in the case. A Korean company also agreed to plead guilty to related charges and pay a $1.25 million fine for its role in the conspiracy.

A wilderness experience - just you and the mountains and trees, right? Not any more. Robin Marks of member station KUOW reports that people are increasingly putting cellular phones in their backpacks. Park rangers complain that people are using the phones too much - calling for expensive and unnecessary rescues.

NPR's John Burnett reports on how religion has fared under the Clinton Administration. The issue of religious liberty has received little attention during the presidential campaign. But it turns out that by signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, ordering guidelines for religious expression in public schools and easing certain rules limiting religious businesses, President Clinton has earned praise from conservative and liberal religious leaders alike. But on social issues such as abortion and homosexual rights, some conservative Christian groups still give the President a failing grade. For them, even Republican candidate Bob Dole has not spoken out strongly enough.

In New York City, a four-year old girl named Nadine Lockwood was found dead in a crib on Saturday - allegedly starved to death by her mother, who told police she "did not want or love" Nadine. Six other children in the squalid apartment were found, apparently unharmed. The case has focused attention once again on New York's child welfare system. The family had been investigated by a caseworker after a complaint, but the case was subsequently closed. NPR's Melissa Block reports.

NPR's Wendy Schmelzer reports on a study from the current Journal of Experimental Psychology that says age might not matter as much as we think when it comes to skills that require certain kinds of dexterity. Researchers say that as we age we lose mental and physical ability. By the time we reach sixty most of us have slowed our reaction times by as much as fifty percent. But now studies show that in cases where elders master a skill requiring a fast pace and then continue practicing it, age may not matter very much.

NPR's David Welna reports that the Guatemalan government and leftist rebels are in the final weeks of negotiations to end a 36-year civil war which has claimed more than a hundred thousand lives. The two sides say they will sign a peace agreement December 29th. There are various reasons why diplomacy is finally succeeding in ending Guatemala's vicious conflict: the country's president hopes peace will bring badly-needed foreign investment; and with the Cold War over, the rebels have come under pressure from their European and Mexican backers to reach a political settlement.

Daniel speaks with Savi Chaudry, a reporter with Australian Broadcasting Corp., who has been covering the Miss World Pageant in Bangelore, India. The pageant has provoked strong protest from many Indian groups - from the far left who believe it's a sign of consumerism and cultural imperialism, to the far right who believe it flies in the face of Hindu values. Today, Ms. Chaudry says, there were 10 thousand troops on hand to make sure the demonstrators didn't get out of line and that the pageant could go ahead tonight as planned, which it did, without anyone managing to immolate themselves, as some women had threatened.

For years, large supermarkets have been shut out of New York city due to zoning laws designed to keep manufacturing jobs from leaving the city. Now, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani wants to change that, saying New Yorkers should have the choice and cheaper prices offered by larger food stores. But as Gene Bryan Johnson of member station WNYC reports, many New Yorkers fear large supermarkets bring too much traffic into close-knit neighborhoods, and that they will kill off small local businesses.