Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to defend his integrity Wednesday as Parliament debated the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World. The opposition wanted to know why Cameron had hired a former editor at the newspaper as his media adviser — a man who left the paper because of the scandal and who has since been arrested by police. Cameron defended his decision and refused to apologize amid rowdy scenes in the House of Commons.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, host: When the shuttle Atlantis makes its final orbits of the Earth tonight, it's carrying four astronauts, some trash from the space station, and a load of congressional politics.

As NPR's Peter Overby reports, Capitol Hill has always been deeply involved in NASA's activities, and sometimes seem to regard NASA as a jobs program, as well as a space program.

PETER OVERBY: Before Atlantis went up on this final flight, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the future of NASA. Among the witnesses...

Robert Siegel speaks with economist Jed Smith, who is managing director of quantitative research at the National Association of Realtors. They talk about why realtors are concerned about proposed changes to the home mortgage interest deduction.

The 14 people arrested Tuesday in a crackdown on the Anonymous hacking group are not suspected of having links to criminal gangs, terrorist networks or foreign governments. They are alleged only to have participated in attacks on PayPal's website, after that company cut off payments to WikiLeaks.

But the FBI was determined to go after them anyway.

The FBI has made public documents showing Pakistan's army and intelligence agency have spent millions in recent years trying to influence U.S. policy, in part by donating to political candidates.

A plan put forth by a group of senators known as the "Gang of Six" looks like it could be a solution to solving the nation's impending debt ceiling problem. Among the ideas in the plan is trimming the deficit by changing how the country calculates inflation through using something called a "chained consumer price index." Michele Norris speaks with Robert Greenstein, the president of the Center on Budget and Policy about how this change will work.

Robert Siegel talks with William Wheaton, a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, about the home mortgage interest deduction. It's one of the tax breaks being considered for reform under a budget plan proposed by a bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of Six."

President Obama is meeting with the eight top leaders of the two parties in Congress, making the White House the focus of negotiations one day after six senators made a stab at a bipartisan "grand bargain." Michele Norris talks to NPR's Mara Liasson.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé expressed a bit of a softer stance on a surrender and cease-fire deal with embattled Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

In an interview with French LCI TV, Juppé said Gadhafi could be allowed to stay in Libya if he gives up politics. CNN reports:

What will the cost of the Ark Encounter be for Grant County? To date, the project, which is estimated to bring more than 900 full and part-time jobs to the community, has cost a little bit of money, a 100-acre piece of property, some cooperation and a lot of time.