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Prickly relations between the U.S. and Islamabad are becoming even thornier because of one issue: the case of Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden in 2011. Afridi is seen as a hero by many Americans, but that didn't deter Pakistan from jailing him for alleged militant ties. The U.S. Congress is withholding $33 million in aid to Pakistan until the doctor is freed. But Afridi's lawyer fears this tactic will antagonize Islamabad. He urgently wants Afridi freed, warning that the doctor is at severe risk of being killed by fellow prisoners.

Out of Cairo on Monday came new indications that Egypt's military chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, will run for president in an election expected within the next three months. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's highest military body, disseminated a message praising Sisi and endorsing him for a presidential bid.

Attempts by Ukraine's president to quell anti-government protests — including an offer to install opposition leaders in a reshuffled cabinet — seem to have failed. The protests grew over the weekend and spread beyond the capital, Kiev. The protestors say they are determined to force the president's resignation and end what they call a corrupt and dictatorial regime.

The X Games have changed the lineup and atmosphere of the Winter Olympics with the introduction of snowboarding, half-pipe and now slopestyle. But when a youth-lifestyle, punk-rock sport makes it to the Olympics, some things inevitably change.

Three years after a $200 million program was started, 50 percent of recruits are illiterate. Teaching all 352,000 recruits to read and write at a first-grade level, said some officials, may be "unrealistic."

Last March, Sen. Carl Levin announced his final term. But his brother, Rep. Sandy Levin, will run for re-election next year. "It's difficult for me to imagine Carl's not being a partner and my closest friend," Sandy says. Tuesday's State of the Union speech will be the last where they sit, as they always have, side by side.

Tea Party conservatives and some liberals agree on key criticisms as the new education standards roll out in 45 states: that they're a one-size-fits-all approach, create a de facto national curriculum, put too much emphasis on standardized tests and undermine teacher autonomy.

The president will announce in his State of the Union address that he's signing an executive order to lift the pay in new federal contracts. A top adviser tells NPR that Obama has "warmed up to" the idea of using executive orders to move his agenda ahead.

The populist issue of income inequality will get a full airing in President Obama's fifth State of the Union speech. But immigration could run a close second in a speech designed to advance the president's second-term agenda.

Documents show that Food and Drug Administration scientists allowed 18 drugs to be sold to farmers despite a risk to human health.