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The hostage-taking drama at an Algerian gas and oil plant in the Sahara desert is in its fourth day. The Algerian army has reportedly laid siege to the facility and is fighting a remaining group of entrenched jihadists who have hostages. Host Scott Simon gets the latest from NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

Algerian special forces stormed a gas installation where militants were holding several hostages on Saturday, according to Algeria's state media. The reports claim 11 militants and seven hostages were killed during a final assault to end the four-day crisis.

You will be given the first names of two famous people, past or present. The first person's last name, when you drop the initial letter, becomes the second person's last name. For example, given "Harold" and "Kingsley," the answer would be "Harold Ramis" and "Kingsley Amis."

In Words From the White House, linguist Paul Dickson looks at the ways presidents have used the office to create and shape American language. Presidents, Dickson says, must be eloquent and spontaneous, but they also need to communicate in a way that gives listeners something to latch onto.

Host Rachel Martin speaks with NPR correspondents Ari Shapiro, Scott Horsley and Michele Kelemen about President Obama's likely second-term agenda, from handling debt and the deficit to gun control and next steps in the country's relationship with Iran.

Among the sentiments of love of country and national unity, presidential inaugurations also have a religious element. Host Rachel Martin talks with Stephen Prothero, professor of American religion at Boston University, about how the role of faith in inauguration ceremonies has changed over the years.

Barack Obama was always going to have a place in history as the first African-American president. That's no small feat given the nation's peculiar past. But achieving what other Democratic presidents couldn't fueled deep divisions within the country and set the table for a second term with daunting challenges.

Generations of family members have worked at the Remington Arms factory in Ilion, but new state gun legislation has many worried they'll lose their livelihood. "Everybody around this area, if it wasn't for Remington Arms, would be in trouble," a local restaurant owner says.

Host Rachel Martin talks with Aaron David Miller, Middle East analyst with the Woodrow Wilson Center, about the current state of relations between Israel and the United States, in the context of the upcoming election.

How many presidents have chosen to affirm (rather than swear) to "faithfully execute the office ... "? Try your hand at inaugural trivia.