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Najah Ali was celebrated as an example of Iraq's bright future when he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. But now the boxer has been denied a student visa to the United States to earn a degree in computer science.

Egyptian authorities report that at least three explosions struck the Red Sea resort city of Dahab on Monday night. The precise number of casualties remains unknown, but officials say at least 22 people have been killed, and 150 wounded.

Months after Hurricane Katrina hit, some along the Gulf Coast are still stranded in shelters. Mississippi residents who've been housed at the D'Iberville civic center are wondering why they've had to wait so long for help.

Commentator Joe Wright has finished three years of medical school. An anatomy class during his first year consisted mainly of dissecting a human cadaver. Last year, he spent much time of his time out of the classroom, working in hospitals and clinics. And in his third year, he returned to the anatomy lab.

Tech experts are meeting this week in Seattle for a supercomputing conference. Blue Gene, the world's most powerful computer, runs on surprisingly slow processors.

Justin Wolfers, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has analyzed 44,000 college basketball games and says he has found statistical evidence of point shaving among teams which are prohibitively favored by Las Vegas bookmakers.

Three years after the start of the war in Iraq, public support for the effort is at an all-time low, according to the latest poll from the Pew Research Center. Andrew Kohut, the center's director, discusses the results with Robert Siegel.

Workers are cleaning up more than 200,000 gallons of oil that leaked last week from a pipeline in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It's the largest oil spill ever on Alaska's North Slope, and it has added fuel to debates over the wisdom of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad talks with Robert Siegel about the deepening sectarian violence in the country and the prospect of a government of national unity there.

Rescue teams are trying to find two miners still missing at the Aracoma Mine in Melville, W. Va., about 60 miles southwest of Charleston. Nineteen others escaped Thursday evening when a conveyor belt deep in the mine caught fire. Anna Sale of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports.

In December, New York Times and Eric Lichtblau broke the news that the Bush administration had authorized a domestic eavesdropping program. Risen's new book is State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration.

Commentator Kelly Beatty says that when he was growing up, space exploration was all about one thing: the race to the moon. It was easy to measure progress leading up to a specific goal. Now that space exploration is all about the planets and the solar system, there is a dizzying array of spacecraft traveling all over the place.

Wilson Pickett, the soul pioneer best known for the fiery hits "Mustang Sally" and "In The Midnight Hour," died of a heart attack Thursday, according to his management company. He was 64, but had suffered from health problems for the past year.

Weeks after votes were cast in Iraq's most recent round of elections, a final tally is out. Shiite politicians will hold the most seats in parliament -- 128 -- followed by two Sunni parties with a total of 55 seats and 53 for the Kurdish block.

Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher has negotiated international treaties and the release of hostages. He believes diplomacy -- and life -- work best when people trust and depend on one another.

This past week, the Justice Department asked the Internet company Google to turn over its search records, which prosecutors say would help them defend a controversial child pornography law. Google refused.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice make an unannounced visit to Baghdad. The two will meet with newly elected Iraqi leaders to show support for the new government.

The power structure of Iraq's new parliament is taking shape, even though official results of December's elections have yet to be announced. Key Shiite, Kurd and Sunni political leaders have opened talks on the formation of a national unity government.

Four years after Ken Kesey's death, a restaurateur in Los Angeles has stepped forward in a serious bid to restore the author's famed bus "Further" -- the vehicle that carried the Merry Pranksters on their 1964 "acid test" trip across the country. Alex Chadwick talks to Kesey's son Zane about the legacy of the 1939 International Harvester and what it will take to restore it. It sat for years in a swampy area of Kesey's Oregon farm, rusting and covered with moss.

Ed Gordon looks back on the life of R&B legend Wilson Pickett. The Alabama native's career spanned four decades and he is best known for his 1960s hits "In the Midnight Hour" and "Mustang Sally." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee died after suffering a heart attack in Reston, Va.

Jurors in Alexandria, Va., spent another day deliberating the fate of Zacarias Moussaoui, deciding whether the al-Qaida conspirator would be put to death. Robert Siegel talks with Professor Janice Nadler of Northwestern University Law School about victim impact statements in a capital case.

Iran and the Bush administration remain locked in a dispute over Iran's nuclear program -- Iran insists it has a right to develop nuclear power, but the White House believes Iran intends on building nuclear weapons. Madeleine Brand talks with NPR senior diplomatic correspondent Mike Shuster about the international response to Iran's refusal to end its uranium enrichment program.

Federal prosecutors recently announced the indictments of 11 people in an "eco-terrorism" arson conspiracy dating to 1996. Prosecutors say the group was responsible for 17 arson attacks in the West. Hear NPR's Debbie Elliott and Bryan Denson of The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.

Newly released photos of the president meeting with GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff are leading some to question how close the two men have been in the past. The Bush administration has downplayed any connection in an attempt to distance the White House from the growing scandal. Madeleine Brand discusses the relationship with Slate chief political correspondent John Dickerson.

The results of a new large-scale study of the federal Head Start program suggest that in some areas, the childhood development program produces only minimal, short-term benefits. The findings are from the study's first phase. Program supporters say it's too early to draw conclusions.