Search results for

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases testing affirmative action in higher education. Three white students who have challenged the University of Michigan's admissions programs allege the university uses a quota system that unfairly benefits minority applicants. Hear NPR's Nina Totenberg.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld denies reports that the Pentagon refused requests for more troops by the U.S. commander for the war in Iraq, Gen. Tommy Franks. Rumsfeld defends the war plan for Iraq as "excellent," and notes that Gen. Franks drafted the U.S. battle strategy. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

Monday, 115 cardinals of the Catholic Church will withdraw into a conclave in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope. The session, the first in 27 years, will be a blend of Old-World pageantry and state-of-the-art technology.

Two Shia clerics, one returning from exile and the other a Saddam loyalist, are hacked to death in the holiest mosque in Najaf. Observers fear the deaths could be the first round of bloodletting among rival Shia groups jockeying for power in post-Saddam Iraq. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Images of Kurdish militias in control of the streets of the Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk are making Turkey nervous. Fearing that Turkish Kurds might now rise up against the government, Turkey again threatens to send troops into northern Iraq. U.S. diplomats are working to keep that from happening. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

The U.N. Security Council discusses President Bush's call to lift sanctions against Iraq. France meets the United States part way, suggesting an immediate suspension of sanctions targeting Iraqi civilians. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

U.S. forces launch attacks on parts of Fallujah following the expiration of a deadline for insurgents to surrender their heavy weapons. The action comes a day after fighting near the holy city of Najaf that left more than 60 Iraqis dead. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

A huge explosion partially destroys a building in Baghdad, moments after U.S. soldiers entered it in an apparent search for chemical weapons. Officials say two soldiers died in the blast and five others were wounded. Elsewhere in Iraq, fighting broke out in Fallujah and Najaf. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

The Bush administration considers dropping special gasoline formulations aimed at reducing air pollution in an effort to rein in rising gas costs. Advocates in California and New York blame the higher prices on the addition of ethanol, which they say doesn't help prevent pollution. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.

During the past week's Sept. 11 hearings, there were a lot of complaints about the intelligence community. The FBI was specifically criticized as disorganized and dysfunctional. Director Robert Mueller does plans some changes. Hear NPR's Cheryl Corley and NPR's Larry Abramson.