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What happens behind the scenes as a president gets ready to name a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court? NPR's Ari Shapiro gets some insight from C. Boyden Gray, who served as White House counsel during the administration of George H. W. Bush when Justices David Souter and Clarence Thomas were nominated.

Inflation in Venezuela — which has hit 54 percent this year — is among the world's highest. Basic goods like toilet paper and milk are out of reach for the average consumer. Presidential orders for business owners to empty their warehouses and slash prices are delighting shoppers, but dismaying shop owners.

Donald Trump continues to face lawsuits over his for-profit education company, Trump University. Trump accused federal judge Gonzalo Curiel of bias in one case, and said the judge, who is from Indiana, "happens to be, we believe, Mexican." NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Washington Post political reporter Tom Hamburger about the case.

NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reviews the dramatic changes that have occurred on her beat this year, including the election of Emmanuel Macron and France's resurgence in global politics.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won't be back for Thursday's inauguration. He's too sick after undergoing surgery for cancer in Cuba. If, in the end, he doesn't return, Chavez has said his successor should be Nicolas Maduro, who went from bus driver to union leader to vice president.

Host Scott Simon speaks with NPR's Juan Forero about Venezuela's mourning period for its late president, Hugo Chavez.

A dispute over an editorial in a Chinese newspaper has widened into calls for more freedom of expression. Hundreds of people protested Monday calling for an open news media.

This week we're looking back at the year in music with a peek at NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums of 2013. It's the annual list assembled by our in-house experts, including NPR music writer and editor Stephen Thompson. He tells Audie Cornish about his picks in the world of indie pop.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, about the tensions between Russia and the U.S after a tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats from their countries.

The International Crisis Group is calling on the United Nations to push the Syrian government to open pathways for humanitarian aid. Melissa Block talks to the group's Peter Harling, who regularly visits Damascus to access the situation there.