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In the last few days, political pundits, online supporters and even his now-departed campaign chairman have forecast that Howard Dean would exit the presidential race if he loses Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin. On Monday, Dean tried to stop the chatter, noting that he speaks for his campaign and insisting he's still in the race. Hear NPR's Robert Smith.

North Carolina Sen. John Edwards' failure to win either of the two Southern primaries up for grabs Tuesday has led some to question the future viability of his presidential campaign. Edwards says he plans to campaign in Wisconsin each day until the state's Feb. 17 primary, and has no intention of withdrawing from the race. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports.

Wesley Clark officially withdraws from the Democratic presidential race. The retired general, who got into the contest late, leaves having won only one primary, in Oklahoma on Feb. 3. He is the fourth major candidate to withdraw. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

South Korean and U.S. researchers say they have successfully cloned a human embryo and extracted embryonic stem cells from it. The experiment, reported in the journal Science, is the first instance of cloned human stem cells -- an important step toward therapeutic cloning, in which patients' own replacement tissue would be generated to treat them. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

Authorities confirm that the white powder found Monday in the offices of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is the deadly toxin ricin. Three Senate office buildings have been closed; Senate staffers and Capitol Hill police officers who were near the area where the ricin was discovered Monday have reportedly not been exposed to dangerous levels of the poison. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.

Malian guitarist Habib Koite issues a new live album, Foly!. The double-disc release is an attempt to capture the flavor of Koite's live performances, which bring out the many influences in his blend of Afro-pop, from jazz to classical and rock. Music critic Banning Eyre has a review.

OPEC oil ministers meeting in Algeria pledge to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day beginning in April. More immediately, OPEC seeks to end the so-called "cheating," or overproduction, in which member states currently surpass production quotas. Analysts estimate that practice adds as much as 1.5 million barrels a day to current limits. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

Vice President Dick Cheney has been under scrutiny for his ties to Halliburton, where he was once CEO. Halliburton won $7 billion in no-bid contracts in Iraq. Cheney has said he has not influenced those deals. In this week's The New Yorker magazine, writer Jane Mayer examines the confluence of Cheney's corporate and public careers. Hear Mayer and NPR's Bob Edwards.

The White House releases pay records and other information about President Bush's time in the National Guard. The White House said the new documents support the president's contention that he fulfilled his duty as a member of the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Democratic presidential candidates had begun to take up the question of Bush's military service. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Comcast, the nation's biggest cable provider, makes an offer worth $66 billion to purchase the entertainment giant Disney. Comcast officials say Disney chief Michael Eisner rejected a merger offer last week, prompting the public purchase bid. The price is based on around $54 million in stock and $11.9 billion in Disney debt. Hear NPR's Kim Masters.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu describes discovering a new sound called "Mesh Music" in New York. It's a combination of Balkan and Gypsy melodies, and he thinks it will be the big thing later this year.

The probe into the $180-billion financial collapse of Parmalat expands, as investigators focus on banks that may have helped hide the Italian food giant's troubles. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and others handled huge bond issues that kept Parmalat afloat -- and yielded handsome commissions for the banks and their managers. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry awaits results of the Wisconsin primary, with 72 delegates at stake. Kerry faces a strong challenge from rival Sen. John Edwards. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Scott Horsley.

The Federal Election Commission imposed new limits on non-party political groups that want to use large donations to influence this fall's elections. NPR's Peter Overby reports Republican leaders and campaign reformists say all money raised by groups independent of party candidates should be off limits.

China's growing political and economic might is a matter of great interest to the nations that surround it. India -- the other Asian giant -- went to war with China and had a tense relationship with it in the last half of the 20th century. But as NPR's Michael Sullivan reports, tensions seem to be subsiding -- at least for now -- as both countries focus on expanding their economies.

As China opens up its markets to foreign goods, it's starting to have increasingly more in common with South Korea than its supposed brother in the North. And as NPR's Rob Gifford reports, South Koreans are eager to trade with China. But some worry that South Korea's economic infatuation with its neighbor is blinding it to the possible dangers of an emergent China.

A U.N. envoy meets with Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, seeking to resolve the dispute over the cleric's call to elect a transitional assembly. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says he agrees with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's demand for elections but is unsure whether a vote could be held before a June 30 U.S. deadline for a power transfer. NPR's Deborah Amos reports.

NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports on campaigning in Delaware, one of seven states to hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday.

President Bush reportedly plans to endorse an investigation into intelligence failures regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The president previously declined to endorse calls by former chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay for an independent inquiry. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR's Don Gonyea.

Commentator S. Pearl Sharp wonders what would happen if she could choose her own candidates for president and other important offices.

NASA scientists report that both of its Mars rovers are now operational and able to explore the Red Planet's surface. The Spirit rover, out of commission for a week due to computer problems, has returned to work, joining the efforts of its sister craft, the Opportunity, in surveying the geological history of Mars. Hear Pat Duggins of member station WMFE.

Fewer Americans are sitting down to the traditional home-cooked dinner these days, and that has renowned cookbook author Marion Cunningham worried. With her latest book, Lost Recipes: Meals to Share with Friends and Family, Cunningham offers simple recipes in hopes of luring more of us back to the kitchen. Read recipes for garlic-crumb-stuffed artichokes and Bess Truman's Ozark pudding.

President Bush's decision to create another panel to investigate pre-war intelligence on Iraq angers many in the intelligence community. Intelligence experts say much of the information provided on Iraq was accurate, and accuse the Bush administration of spinning data to support the case for war. Hear NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.

In the worst attack in Iraq since August, 56 people died Sunday and more than 200 wounded in twin suicide bombings. The near simultaneous explosions took place in the northern city of Irbil, inside the separate headquarters of Iraq's two leading Kurdish political parties. The offices were crowded with guests invited to celebrate a Muslim holy day. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

The writer and Spanish Civil War veteran William Herrick died over the weekend. Our book commentator Alan Cheuse describes Herrick's life and work and the modern relevance of the writer's greatest subject: politics and terror.