Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a measurement standards laboratory, and a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote innovation and industrial competitiveness.

NIST's activities are organized into laboratory programs that include Nanoscale Science and Technology, Engineering, Information Technology, Neutron Research, Material Measurement, and Physical Measurement.

The Articles of Confederation, ratified by the colonies in 1781, contained the clause, "The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective statesfixing the standards of weights and measures throughout the United States". Article 1, section 8, of the Constitution of the United States (1789), transferred this power to Congress; "The Congress shall have power...To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures".

In January 1790, President George Washington, in his first annual message to Congress stated that, "Uniformity in the currency, weights, and measures of the United States is an object of great importance, and will, I am persuaded, be duly attended to", and ordered Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson to prepare a plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States, afterwards referred to as the Jefferson report. On October 25, 1791, Washington appealed a third time to Congress, "A uniformity of the weights and measures of the country is among the important objects submitted to you by the Constitution and if it can be derived from a standard at once invariable and universal, must be no less honorable to the public council than conducive to the public convenience", but it was not until 1838, that a uniform set of standards was worked out.

1. What does NIST stand for?
2. What kind of lab is it?
3. What kind of agency?
4. What government organization does it belong to?
5. What is its goal?
6. What is one of the agency's programs?
7. And another?
8. Do they have any others?
9. How many are mentioned?
10. When were the Articles of Confederation passed?
11. When was their ability to regulate currency passed to Congress?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. The National Institute of Standards and Technology
2. measurement standards
3. non-regulatory
4. the United States Department of Commerce
5. promote innovation and industrial competitiveness
6. Nanoscale Science and Technology
7. Information Technology
8. yes, many
9. Six
10. 1781
11. 1789

Question: Washington (CNN) -- A late evening meeting between President Barack Obama and the leaders of the House and Senate failed to reach agreement Wednesday on a spending plan to avert a government shutdown, but all the participants said progress was made and talks would continue.

If there is no deal by midnight Friday, when the current spending authorization measure expires, parts of the government will close down.

Obama called the 90-minute talks with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, "constructive" and he said they narrowed and clarified the outstanding issues.

"I remain confident that if we're serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown," Obama said in brief remarks to reporters. "But it's going to require a sufficient sense of urgency from all parties involved" to prevent a shutdown that "could have real effects on everyday Americans."

Both Reid and Boehner told reporters in their own brief comments that the meeting made progress in narrowing their differences, and that their staffs would work through the night to try to reach further consensus.

"I have confidence we can get this done," said Reid, who criticized Boehner and Republicans earlier in the day for intransigence. "We're not there yet."

Boehner, standing next to Reid, said "we do have some honest differences," and he emphasized there was no agreement on either a specific figure for spending cuts for the rest of the current fiscal year or on policy issues that the Republicans want included in the measure, such as specifically prohibiting funding for abortions. 1. Was an agreement reached? Provide a numbered list of answers.
****
A numbered of answers: 1. failed to reach agreement

Q: Jakarta (CNN)An Indonesian court has rejected a bid by two Australian drug smugglers -- members of the "Bali Nine" -- to challenge their planned executions.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are awaiting death by firing squad on Indonesia's "execution island" for their role in a failed 2005 heroin smuggling plot.

A panel of three judges in the state administrative court in Jakarta on Monday confirmed an earlier ruling that it lacked the jurisdiction to hear challenges against President Joko Widodo's refusal to grant clemency.

Lawyers for the pair had argued that Widodo had failed to individually consider their cases.

One of the condemned men's lawyers, Leonard Aritonang, said he was disappointed with the rulings but would respect the court's decision.

He said his team would file a further review, asking the Constitutional Court to explain Widodo's obligations regarding granting clemency.

"I'm hoping the government still respects... any ongoing proceedings," he said.

Tony Spontana, a spokesman for the Indonesian attorney general's office, told CNN that the state administrative court's ruling was "a relief."

"We had predicted it will be rejected because clemency is a prerogative right of the President, as head of the government, not an object of a suit at the administrative court," he said in a message.

"With this decision, it's a step closer towards the scheduled execution."

Australia has repeatedly appealed for clemency for the pair and has unsuccessfully proposed a prisoner swap with Indonesia as a way of avoiding their deaths.

Indonesia has long taken a hard line on drug smugglers, and since assuming office in October, Widodo has made it clear he intends to be tough on those found guilty of such crimes.

1. Be tough on the guilty
2. President
3. Indonesia
4. One to grant clemency
5. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran
6. To be put to death
7. Execution
8. Firing squad
9. Execution island
10. No
11. Australia
12. Drug smugglers
13. Heroin
14. Yes
15. Bali Nine
16. Australia
17. Other prisoners

Numbered questions:
1. What does Widodo plan to do while in office?
2. What office does he hold?
3. Of what?
4. What request has he denied?
5. for who?
6. What is their sentence?
7. How will this be carried out?
8. by what method?
9. where?
10. Are they from Indonesia?
11. Where are they from?
12. What kind of criminals are they?
13. What drug were they dealing in?
14. Are they part of a group?
15. Which one?
16. Which country is trying to get them released?
17. What are they willing to trade for them?