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Democrat Mary Landrieu defeats Republican Suzanne Terrell in the Louisiana Senate race. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with politics writer Jason Berry about the race and about the state's colorful political history.

As inspectors continue looking for weapons in Iraq, the U.N. and the United States begin to examine the country's official response to charges it has ongoing weapons programs. Iraq says it has no weapons of mass destruction. The Bush Administration says Iraq is lying. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels and Vicky O'Hara.

The Global Relief Foundation continues to mount a strong defense against Justice Department charges the Islamic charity is corrupt. It was one of three charities whose assets were frozen last year in an effort to choke the funding of terrorists. NPR's John Burnett reports.

President Bush criticizes remarks by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) that seemed to endorse the nation's segregated past. Lott praised retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's segregationist campaign for president in 1948. Bush termed the comments "offensive" and "wrong." Hear from NPR's David Welna and David Hampton of the Jackson, Miss. Clarion-Ledger.

Robert Siegel and Michele Norris read from some of this week's letters.

Michele Norris talks with David Hampton, editorial director for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., about how the Trent Lott controversy is playing out in his home state. Hampton says the Clarion-Ledger has been deluged with mail, both condemning and supporting Lott.

A sea squirt's chief claim to fame is that of a pest. It grows on boat hulls and pilings, pumping water in one hole and out the other. But an international team of scientists has recently seized on the squirt as a way to study the evolutionary history of humans and other vertebrates. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

Cardinal Law resigns as Archbishop of Boston as controversy persists over his handling of sex-abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic clergy. The move comes after 58 priests called for Law to step down. The Archdiocese's financial problems remain. Hear from NPR's Bob Edwards, John Allen of The National Catholic Reporter and NPR's Duncan Moon.

President Bush signs executive orders to help religious groups get federal money for charitable activities. The move advances the president's so-called "faith-based initiatives" while bypassing Congress. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

North Korean officials say they will reopen a nuclear power plant closed under a 1994 agreement with Washington. The move raises new concerns about North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Hear NPR's Rob Gifford and Johns Hopkins professor Donald Oberdorfer.

NPR's Jack Speer reports President Bush is naming former Goldman Sachs investment banker Stephen Friedman as his top economics adviser. Friedman is being appointed to the White House job despite an aggressive campaign to torpedo his candidacy by some conservative Republicans.

NPR's David Welna reports on the latest developments about Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott. Today, President Bush weighed in on the matter for the first time, saying that Lott's comments -- which seemingly endorsed the views held by Strom Thurmond when Thurmond ran for president on a segregationist platform in 1948 -- were "offensive" and "wrong." Mr. Bush made his comments before an enthusiastic Philadelphia audience made up of many minorities. But the President refused to ask for Lott's resignation as leader.

Boston's Cardinal Law will comply with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating the church-abuse scandal. The move comes on the heels of a legal settlement with New Hampshire church officials who admit they violated criminal laws. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.

President Bush is set to announce a plan to vaccinate all Americans against smallpox. The general population won't be offered the inoculation until 2004. Meanwhile, soldiers and "first-response" personnel prepare for early inoculations. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.

NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports the United States and Chile have reached an agreement on terms of free trade between the two countries. Both the U.S. Congress and the Chilean parliament must approve the plan. The agreement would lift tariffs on most goods.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez fires four dissident executives at the state oil monopoly as he tries to break an 11-day strike paralyzing the economy. Venezuelans opposed to Chavez clamor for new elections, while oil and gas supplies run thin. NPR's Gerry Hadden reports.

Adding to a tense standoff centered on its nuclear ambitions, North Korea tells the United Nations it wants surveillance cameras removed from a nuclear plant it intends to reopen. China may be asked to play a diplomatic role in the evolving crisis. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

A salmonella outbreak has affected more than 30 states. Federal health officials link it to onions grown in Chihuahua, Mexico, and distributed by ProSource Inc.

A lawyer for two Illinois National Guard pilots who accidentally bombed Canadian forces in Afghanistan last spring says his clients were on drugs. He says military officials pushed the men to take amphetamines. Hear more from NPR's Lynn Neary and Christian Science Monitor correspondent Brad Knickerbocker, a former Navy pilot.

NPR's John McChesney reports on the one-dollar-per-head fee cattle producers must pay when they sell cattle. The money goes in large part to finance commercials that promote beef consumption. But some ranchers say forcing them to pay for the campaign violates their constitutional rights.