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Retail analyst Howard Davidowitz says the economy has forced many retailers to again offer layaway. Most retailers had stopped because it was not economical for them. Davidowitz tells Ari Shapiro that layaway has some advantages for consumers — but they better make sure they will be able to make the final payment, or they will lose the money they already have paid into the item.

President Obama said Monday the government was doing everything in its power to keep the traveling public safe. Obama was making his first live public statement since a failed attempt to blow up a U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day.

NPR and the Kitchen Sisters are looking for stories from around the world of the hidden lives of girls — and the women they become. Stories of coming of age, rituals and rites of passage, secret identities — of women who crossed a line, blazed a trail or changed the tide. Share your stories with us.

Taliban militants stage another brazen attack, including a suicide bombing in the heart of Kabul on Friday, leaving at least 17 dead and many more wounded. The attackers targeted a hotel complex where many Indian doctors and aid workers stay. After the bombing, the militants battled government forces for several hours before order was restored.

Pressure to send more troops into Afghanistan presents military planners with a logistical challenge. Factor in training and recovery time — and a "surge" in Afghanistan isn't likely until the spring of 2009.

Democrats in the Senate decided Tuesday that Joe Lieberman may keep his committee chairmanship — even though he campaigned for Republican John McCain. Democrats secretly voted 42-13 to let him remain chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. His only sanction was being removed from the Environment Committee.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa offers his insight into President Barack Obama's remarks Tuesday. In his news conference, Obama said the economic recovery will take patience.

President Obama says the economy is still stressed out, but there are "glimmers of hope." After meeting with economic advisers, the president says those include low mortgage rates leading to refinancing, increases in small business loans and stimulus tax cuts making their way into paychecks.

A new intelligence report warns that without drastic new measures, the international community faces the real prospect of a nuclear or biological attack by 2013. The panel that issued the report has briefed vice president-elect Joe Biden on its contents.

O.J. Simpson is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in Las Vegas for his conviction on felony charges, including kidnapping, in a robbery committed last year. The former football and movie star — acquitted of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ron Goldman 13 years ago — could get up to life in prison.