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Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki demanded this week that the U.S. set a timetable for withdrawing military forces. Kenneth Katzman, a senior analyst on Iraq policy for the Congressional Research Service, talks with Linda Wertheimer about the possibility of such an agreement.

The Senate has passed a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. National security expert Suzanne Spaulding says the new bill adds to the old law and is a dramatic departure from the legal framework the old law set up.

The mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took another hit on Wall Street Thursday, after a former Fed official suggested the companies may need a government bailout. Others are weighing in, too.

Robert B. Parker doesn't romanticize the city that is home to his fictional private eye, Spenser. "If I lived in Cincinnati, Spenser would be working in Cincinnati," says the author.

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow died early Saturday at age 53. NPR's Juan Williams, who had appeared with Snow as a commentator on Fox News Channel, talks about his friend and former colleague.

Federal regulators seized IndyMac Bank Friday, one of the nation's largest lenders, because of questions about its viability. The bank is now being run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, about what that means for the financial sector, speaks with NPR's Liane Hansen.

Government-backed mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing troubles. Bill Seidman, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, says the agencies, which play a huge role in the marketplace, "are not insolvent but are certainly weakened."

NPR's Laura Sullivan talks to host Andrea Seabrook about her dramatic report on prison overcrowding last week and the two days she spent in San Quentin.

Critics of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say the mortgage giants are too big and far too willing to take risks. They also say the companies have too close a relationship with Washington lawmakers, and that the entities shielded themselves from tighter regulation.

Democratic leaders are giving the Treasury Department's plans to rescue the giant mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a favorable reception on Capitol Hill. The plan, which includes extending the companies' total line of credit to $300 billion, would be attached to the housing bill now making its way through Congress.