On Friday’s NewsHour…

U.S.-RUSSIA ARMS TREATY: The U.S. and Russia have agreed to the most sweeping arms treaty in twenty years. Judy Woodruff reports on the mutual plans to slash nuclear arsenals.

ELECTIONS IN IRAQ: Nearly three weeks after the vote, Jeffrey Brown looks at the results of Iraq’s parliamentary elections. He’ll talk with Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Joost Hiltermann, deputy program director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group.

NARCOTIC CASH CROPS IN YEMEN: Margaret Warner wraps up her reporting series on the complex security picture in Yemen with a look at the drug Qat, the cash crop that is eating up the country’s water supply.

CHURCH ABUSE SCANDAL: Charges of misconduct mount in the alleged cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, reaching from the United States and Ireland to the Vatican’s inner circle. Judy Woodruff talks to David Gibson, religion writer for Politics Daily.

TEACHERS UNIONS FIGHT RACE TO THE TOP: John Merrow explores why some teachers’ unions are walking away from a share of some $4.35 billion in federal funds through the Obama administration’s new Race to the Top grant competition.

SHIELDS AND BROOKS POLITICAL WRAP: Jim Lehrer talks to columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks about the top political news of the week, including the passage of health care reform and how it will shape the political picture looking toward the midterm election.

Friday’s anchors will be Jim Lehrer and Judy Woodruff. Kwame Holman will have the other news of the day and a look at some of our Web features, including our interview with Wired Magazine’s Mark McCluskey on Sprint’s 4-G Network for NewsHour Plus, a blog post from Gwen Ifill on the rhetoric of the health care debate and a conversation about literature in translation, with Jeffrey Brown.

We hope you join us.