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A top official at Iraq's foreign ministry is killed in Baghdad during an ambush by unknown gunmen. Bassam Kubba, who had been a career diplomat, is the first member of Iraq's new interim government to lose his life amid continuing violence and security problems. Hear NPR's Linda Wertheimer and NPR's Emily Harris.

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.

The Justice Department says Jose Padilla, accused of plotting to detonate a bomb containing radioactive material, had conspired with top al Qaeda leaders in his plan. Padilla, a U.S. citizen, has been designated an enemy combatant and held without charge or access to counsel for two years. Officials say he planned to detonate explosives, possibly to destroy apartment buildings in U.S. cities. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

Top U.S. intelligence officials confirm that North Korea has an untested ballistic missile believed capable of reaching the western United States. At a Senate subcommittee hearing, CIA Director George Tenet and Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, also say it's likely North Korea has at least one nuclear weapon. NPR's David Welna reports.

The shootings at Virginia Tech have prompted the postponement of a much anticipated Senate hearing with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The nation's top law enforcement official is under pressure to explain his role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

The Olympic torch has reached the top of Mount Everest, the climax of a massive publicity campaign leading up the Olympic Games. China hopes the spectacle of the flame atop the world's highest mountain will erase the memory of ugly protests. But some activists say that by taking the flame up Everst, China is trying to show its dominance over Tibetans.

Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan won bronze, for both a first career Olympic medal. For Shiffrin, the world's top slalom skier, a 4th-place finish was her 7th consecutive Olympic race without a medal.

Landfills are among the nation's largest sources of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. But accurately measuring methane is a major challenge to reducing it.

TikTok employee Patrick Ryan has launched a legal challenge against the Trump administration to protect TikTok workers. The White House has given the popular app an ultimatum: Sell or be banned.

Everyone wants to take credit for wins, and fingers get pointed in every direction for losses. But what can be read into a special election more than a year out from congressional elections?