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A top Japanese diplomat says indirect negotiations to free a captive journalist from the militant Islamic State group have reached a "state of deadlock."

Before the next drawing, on Saturday night, experts say the lottery could top $1 billion.

Back in the 1960s, people were fed up with the top-down system for picking nominees. Reforms led to the first-in-the-nation caucus.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that the Justice Department is trumpeting its $100 million dollar settlement with the Archer Daniels Midland company as the largest penalty ever paid for an antitrust violation. ADM pled guilty to antitrust charges today and said the plea and fine put an end to the government's investigation of the company. Conspicuously absent from the company press release though, was any mention of two top ADM executives. A Justice Department official says the two executives "remain available for prosecution."

Dozens of members of Congress up for re-election are attending the Republican National Convention this week, and many of them are hoping that the top of the ticket will help out their own campaigns. Many have been fearful that presidential candidate Bob Dole, who has been doing poorly in the polls, might hurt their own re-election chances or the chances of Republicans to retain control of Congress. But the selection of Jack Kemp, a former member of Congress, to be Dole's running mate has given some of these Republicans a boost. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports Wall Street's top brokerage firms agreed to pay nearly $1.5 billion in fines to settle conflict-of-interest charges. Regulators accused the firms of continuing to recommend stocks they privately had turned against. Besides fines, the firms agree to spend several hundred million dollars in coming years buying research from independent firms that don't mix stock research with investment banking.

President Elect George W. Bush named two of his top campaign aides to new jobs today, completing the transfer of his "Texas Iron Triangle" from Austin to Washington. Senior strategist Karl Rove will become senior adviser to Bush in the White House, where he will handle public liaison and strategy as well as politics. Joe Allbaugh, who has been Bush's campaign manager, will become the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Don Gonyea reports from Austin.

NPR's Michelle Kelemen reports on new developments in U.S.-Yugoslavia relations. A top Yugoslav official, meeting with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday, said his country is interested in stronger economic ties with the U.S., and might be willing to allow an international war crimes tribunal to try former President Slobodan Milosevic. The U.S. has set aside 100 million dollars to help Yugoslavia...on the condition that war criminals be tried.

The top prizes in science this year recognize inventions that have changed our lives and that could shape the future. The physics award will be shared by people who developed the computer chip and figured out surprising new ways to get semiconductors to do other tricks, such as emitting light. The prize in chemistry goes to researchers who developed plastics that can conduct electricity. NPR's Richard Harris reports. (4:00) Note: The words god damn appear near the end of the third actuality of this piece.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that Japan's worst economic downturn since World War II has radically changed expectations of young college graduates. In years past, the country's corporate giants would go to the top schools and actively recruit new employees, who generally were given jobs for life. Now it is the students who are chasing employers. And many of them are not finding jobs. Some have given up on full-time employment and simply bounce from one part-time job to another while living with their parents.