Search results for

Robert Rand reports from Tashkent that tennis has become the national pasttime in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. The authoritarian president is an avid player himself, but he sees the game as more than just wholesome fun for the country's youth. It's a weapon in the war against fundamentalist Islam.

Some members of Congress say Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been less than candid in explaining the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Nancy Baker, who teaches government at New Mexico State University, offers insight into the history of the office of attorney general.

A.Q. Khan is a hero at home for helping build the bomb, and a villain in the West for selling nuclear secrets to Iran and North Korea. Now he's forming a political movement with an eye on looming parliamentary elections.

2: Political satirist and impressionist JIM MORRIS. He's always done impressions. He began lampooning the Presidents at about the time Reagan was sworn in to office. Since then he's impersonated Bush, and Clinton, as well as presidental contenders, Michael Dukakis, Paul Tsongas, and Ross Perot. He's also impersonated some well known broadcasters. In 1989 he impersonated Bush at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, in front of the President himself. CBS's Mike Wallace described it as "Mean. Mean. Mean. Mean." Recently MORRIS was invited again to the White House, where he did his impersonations of Vice President Gore, and President Clinton in front of them. The New Yorker says of MORRIS, "Like an obsessive character actor, Mr. Morris doesn't just impersonate his subjects; he becomes them."

Republicans assess gains, damage after Congress approves debt and spending bill, ending crisis that shut down government and pushed nation toward default.

Ukraine's Parliament passes a no-confidence motion rebuking the prime minister's government. Meanwhile, European mediators renew efforts to resolve the crisis triggered by last month's disputed presidential election. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Lawrence Sheets.

The latest polls in Wisconsin show Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts with a commanding lead heading into Tuesday's primary. But many voters say their votes are still up for grabs, and the airwaves are full of commercials for Kerry, Howard Dean and John Edwards. NPR's John McChesney reports.

Nearly three months after the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq, insurgents continue to disrupt the interim government's efforts to achieve control. Hear NPR's Scott Simon, Bathsheba Crocker of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Gen. William Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations.

France is reeling after nine nights of violence in poor immigrant communities. In one of the Paris suburbs hit by rioting, citizens marched for peace Saturday. The street violence has sparked a political crisis, with calls for the interior minister to resign.

Sen. Sam Brownback, a social conservative who played a key role in recent Supreme Court nomination battles, doesn't deny being interested in running for president. But the Kansas Republican says it's too early to talk about 2008 yet.