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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.

Iran has charged a detained Iranian-American academic with seeking to topple the ruling Islamic establishment. Haleh Esfandiari, 67, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, has been held since early May.

The Federal Reserve has cut a key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, seeking to stem the flow of bad news surrounding the U.S. economy. The action pushes the federal funds rate down to 2 percent — the lowest level since late 2004.

The damaged U.S.S. Cole is heading from Yemen, as the investigation of the suspected terrorist attack on the naval vessel continues. An explosion in the Yemeni port of Aden blew a hole in the destroyer and killed 17 U.S. sailors. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports U.S. officials say the investigation has slowed in recent days and that they are seeking greater cooperation from Yemeni authorities. The situation brings to mind the aftermath of the Khobar Towers bombing four years ago, when U.S. officials complained that Saudi authorities were impeding their efforts to investigate.

NPR's Joanne Silberner reports on the latest about a common ingredient found in cold and diet medications. The Food and Drug Administration said it would seek to remove PPA from all products now on the market, due to an elevated risk of stroke among young women who take the drugs. The products affected include various cold remedies marketed under the brand names Contac, Dimetapp, Alka-Seltzer and others. The diet pill Dexatrim is also affected. The industry group representing over-the-counter drugs declined immediate comment. (2:30)View a list of the drugs with PPA.

The average American got quite a leg up yesterday -- at least according to politicians of both major political parties. When Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) declared his intention to seek the Democratic presidential nomination, he said he'd fight for regular people. And President Bush said he is thinking about all Americans in working on his economic stimulus package. Commentator Jake Tapper says that both politicians are good at seeming like regular guys - but he's not sure that a regular guy is really what voters want.

Violent conflicts that have continued through the holiday season have left many seeking solace. Rabbi and author Harold Kushner says one source that could help people of different faiths is Psalm 23, the famous "the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" psalm. Hear Kushner and NPR's Jacki Lyden.

American soldiers fire on former Iraqi soldiers protesting outside the U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad, killing two and wounding two others, the U.S. military reports. U.S. forces are seeking to suppress opposition in a central Iraqi region where Sunni Muslims -- once loyal to Saddam Hussein -- are blamed for coordinating a series of attacks on American troops. In the first of a three-part series on Iraq's diverse ethnic and religious groups, NPR's Deborah Amos reports the main flashpoint of these attacks is an area in central Iraq known as the Sunni triangle.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson seeks to distance himself from his remarks at a business meeting about withholding contracts from applicants who don't agree with President Bush's policies. On April 28, Jackson spoke of denying a contract because a contractor didn't like President Bush.

Newly announced Poet Laureate Donald Hall says he will work to improve poetry's standing the United States, seeking to provide new inspiration to the medium. Hall reads from three of his poems: "Old Roses," "Man in the Dead Machine," and "Weeds and Peonies," which is about his late wife, the poet Jane Kenyon.