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Cuba's President Fidel Castro has resigned, saying he will not seek re-election after 49 years in power. NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten discusses the 81-year-old's reign as the world's longest ruling head of state, and the significance of his resignation.

It appears that Pakistan pulled off an election relatively free of violence and voting irregularities. Early results give opposition parties of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif a big victory. The results could further undermine the power and influence of President Pervez Musharraf.

A delegate from Scotland Yard releases a report of its investigation into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Friday. The findings echo those of the Pakistan government: that she was killed by the force of the suicide blast, not by a gunshot wound.

Pakistanis dealt a crushing blow to President Pervez Musharraf in parliamentary elections Monday, raising questions about the future of the U.S. ally in the war on terror. Early returns indicate that the opposition parties of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have won enough to command a majority.

The parliament of Kosovo, the autonomous region of Serbia, has declared its independence, spurred by the region's majority ethnic Albanians. The move comes nine years after the United States and NATO began airstrikes against Serbian military targets in the former Yugoslavia.

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to stand atop Mount Everest, died in Auckland, New Zealand. He was 88. Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide, were the first to conquer the world's highest mountain in 1953.

President Bush has hit an obstacle in his push to get Ukraine and Georgia on track for NATO membership. However, the president did score a victory in his quest to get more NATO members to send their troops to Afghanistan.

This week, NPR's Jennifer Ludden looked at what happens when a country — in particular, El Salvador — has to take back a large number of its own nationals deported by the United States. What are the effects of their migration and their return?

Finalists for the National Book Awards were announced Wednesday in Philadelphia. Some well-known authors, such as Christopher Hitchens and Edwidge Danticat, are nominated. But the list also includes several debut authors. Winners will be named in mid-November in New York City.

Two companies say the best way to slow global warming is to dump iron into the oceans. The iron would trigger blooms of tiny plants that suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and then keep it trapped deep in the ocean. But scientists are wary.