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Secularist Shiite politican Ahmad Chalabi was for years part of an opposition group dedicated to overthrowing former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. He's also the subject of the new book The Man Who Pushed America to War.

Republican political departures are keeping Washington in the spotlight during what is often a quiet time for politics. Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is expected to resign Saturday in the wake of a sex scandal and Virginia Sen. John Warner announced Friday he will not run for a sixth term.

Jesse Kornbluth has fashioned a role as cultural concierge, offering visitors to the Web site HeadButler.com advice on books, films and music. Kornbluth gives Debbie Elliott a sampling of cultural picks.

Convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is cross-examined by his former partner and mentor John Allen Muhammad, who is on trial in Maryland on six murder charges. Malvo discussed his role in the sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area four years ago. Muhammad is acting as his own attorney.

Al Franken's victory in the long-running battle for Minnesota's U.S. Senate seat gives Democrats the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster. But it may not be that easy. There are a dozen Democrats who may not toe the party line.

When pop stars collaborated with African musicians in the 1980s and '90s, they embraced sounds once heard as foreign and exotic. Now a new generation of American musicians is creating homegrown rock music with a West African twist.

Homer's epic poem "The Iliad" dates back thousands of years, but author Caroline Alexander says its themes, especially about war, ring true today. Guy Raz talks to Alexander about her new book, The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War.

American mothers as a whole do not breast-feed their babies as much as medical professionals would like. Health experts say African-American moms are less likely to nurse than whites and Hispanics. The federal government, some hospitals and nonprofits are trying different strategies to close the breast-feeding gap among black women.

With the delegate race tightening between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Virginia voters will be in the spotlight as they head to the primaries Tuesday. But no matter who wins, Democrats say the enthusiasm generated by the primary should help their party in this November's election.

The unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low in August as businesses added a quarter-of-a-million new jobs to their payrolls. The Labor Department released its monthly survey for August this morning. It showed the unemployment rate had fallen to 5.1%. Stock and bond markets were calm because the business payroll figures were almost exactly what analysts had been expecting. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.