Search results for

The Justice Department asks a federal judge to throw out the terror convictions of a group of Detroit men who Attorney General John Ashcroft had portrayed as an al Qaeda sleeper cell. The department says its own prosecutors made enough mistakes to warrant a new trial, on charges of document fraud. NPR's Libby Lewis reports.

The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Portland, Ore., announces plans to file for bankruptcy. Archbishop John Vlazny said the church's action is a response to two sexual abuse lawsuits seeking more than $160 million. The archdiocese has already paid millions to settle other abuse claims. The bankruptcy is the first by a Catholic diocese in the United States. NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports.

The day the United States handed over sovereignty to Iraq's interim government, an Oregon National Guardsman witnessed Iraqi soldiers beating Iraqi prisoners. He and other guardsmen intervened, but were later ordered to return the prisoners to their Iraqi captors and walk away. NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks with Mike Francis, who reports on the incident in The Oregonian.

Sandy Berger, President Clinton's former national security advisor, faces an investigation for removing classified documents from the National Archives. Berger, who was reviewing the papers ahead of his testimony before the Sept. 11 commission, says he accidentally removed some notes but didn't violate any laws. Hear NPR's Larry Abramson.

Following a ceremony transferring sovereignty to Iraq two days ahead of schedule, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says the new Iraq will be a pluralist, federalist society. Allawi calls on Iraqis to fight insurgents and invites former Saddam Hussein loyalists to distance themselves from the insurgency and join the Iraqi army to fight terrorism. Hear NPR's Deborah Amos.

Animated and defiant, Saddam Hussein appears before an Iraqi court, declaring himself the "president of Iraq" in a show of unbroken will. The former dictator rejected the seven charges filed against him, which include the gassing of Kurds, the invasion of Kuwait and the murder of Shiite clerics. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Deborah Amos.

Outcry over the removal of classified documents from the National Archives leads Sandy Berger to step down from an advisory role in the Kerry campaign. Berger, the former national security adviser to President Clinton, has not been charged in the FBI investigation. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's David Welna.

On a campaign trip through the Midwest, President Bush defends his decision to invade Iraq, saying it was justified despite that no weapons of mass destruction have been found. Before a crowd of supporters in Marquette, Mich., the president emphasized that the U.N. Security Council and other U.S. leaders had found Iraq to be a threat. Hear NPR's Andrea Seabrook.

Illinois state senator Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention Monday night. A rising star in the Democratic Party, Obama is heavily favored to win a U.S. Senate seat this fall. At 42, he would become the third black American to serve in the Senate in the last 100 years. Hear NPR's Linda Wertheimer.

Tapes released by the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks give voice to the confusion that reigned that day in America's air-defense response. The panel says the Pentagon fumbled its chance to intercept at least one of the hijacked planes, and jetfighters did not receive orders to shoot down the airliners in time. Hear NPR's Larry Abramson.