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As Valentine's Day approaches, one person who doesn't get mushy about it is food writer Nigella Lawson. Still, she jumps at the chance to make her own cupcakes. "I think that adults have some sort of yearning for childish things, childish foods," Lawson notes. "And I don't mean that disparagingly."

Congressional Democrats and three Republicans have struck a deal that hands President Obama an early political victory. They agreed on a compromise bill for the gigantic economic stimulus package that the president requested. Their measure will be put to a vote as early as Thursday in the House and Senate, and it's expected to pass in both chambers.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday offered details of the Obama administration's revised strategy for rescuing the nation's financial system. NPR's Scott Horsley and Linda Wertheimer discuss the announcement.

Baseball slugger Alex Rodriguez admitted Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003, while playing for the Texas Rangers. He blamed the pressures of being baseball's highest-paid player. Sports Illustrated reported last week that A-Rod tested positive for steroids in 2003.

The avant-garde improviser used to joke: "I do country music; it's just a matter of what country." Now on his first North American tour in more than two decades, he describes his atmospheric electronics and soft, subtle trumpet style.

The Labor Department reported grim economic news on Friday. Employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January — the most since 1974. Cost-cutting employers are in no mood to hire. The unemployment rates stands at 7.6 percent.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized on Thursday and treated for pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg, 75, has told friends she intends to be back on the bench when the court reconvenes Feb. 23. Nevertheless, there's speculation about whom President Obama would chose to replace her should she step down.

Just two weeks into President Obama's administration, Russia is moving to reassert its influence over former Soviet republics in Central Asia. Moscow is pushing military cooperation and offering financial aid in what some say is reminiscent of the Kremlin's client-state relationships during the Cold War.

President Obama announced stricter rules on executive compensation at banks receiving "exceptional" levels of aid from the federal government. Some executives will have their annual salary capped at $500,000. Anything above that would have to be paid in stock that won't vest until the firm has paid back its government loans.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has canceled scores of oil and gas leases sold by the Bush administration in Utah's red rock country. The sales would have brought $6 million to the government, in addition to royalties on any oil or gas production.