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Secretary of State Colin Powell says Iraq's new interim government will not have veto power over operations by U.S. forces following the June 30 transfer of sovereignty, but U.S. and Iraqi leaders will collaborate on "necessary arrangements" for troops. Powell's comments come as the U.N. Security Council hears from Iraq's new foreign minister on the issue of sovereignty for his country. Hear NPR's Deborah Amos.

Historian Mark Perry's new book, Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America, details a 15-month period in the mid-1880s when President Ulysses S. Grant and novelist Mark Twain were writing two American masterpieces. Perry believes Grant's Personal Memoirs and Twain's Huckleberry Finn reveal a fixation the two men shared: the legacy of the Civil War and slavery. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Perry.

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.

Genetic tests can spell out an individual's risk of certain diseases. But when there is no cure, making the decision to learn one's genetic heritage is complex. NPR's Joe Palca talks with a Columbia University scientist about the choice she made when faced with the genetic test for Huntington's disease.

People on the Atkins diet average the same weight loss after a year as those on other regimens, according to two new studies in the Annals of Internal Medicine. According to researchers' findings, concerns that the Atkins diet raises cholesterol appear to be unfounded -- people in the study had about the same cholesterol levels whether they pursued Atkins or the low-fat regimen. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

The New Yorker reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized a secret program that allowed interrogation practices that may have led to the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. The Pentagon calls the story "outlandish, conspiratorial, and filled with error and anonymous conjecture." Lawmakers say they will pursue the growing scandal as high as it goes. Hear NPR's Jackie Northam.

The brain's center of reasoning and problem-solving is among the last to mature, according to a new study. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging and time-lapse technology to study brain development, compressing 15 years of human brain maturation into seconds. Scientists say the sequence of maturation also roughly parallels the evolution of the mammalian brain. NPR's Michelle Trudeau reports.

Secretary of State Colin Powell criticizes Israel's plan to demolish buildings housing Palestinian refugees in Gaza, calling for a return to peace negotiations. Powell, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Jordan, also urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to promote violence against Israelis. Hear NPR's Craig Windham.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may have been directly responsible for ordering the interrogation tactics used at the Abu Ghraib prison, according to an article by Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker. The Pentagon has issued a statement denying the report, while lawmakers are calling for an investigation. Hear NPR's Libby Lewis, NPR's Linda Wertheimer and Sen. Bill Nelson.

With five months to go in the election season, a barrage of presidential campaign ads has begun -- on the World Wide Web. Political ad content isn't restricted by law when it's delivered online, and the assaults are markedly vicious.