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A U.S. civilian working for Halliburton in Iraq has escaped his captors after being held hostage for three weeks, say U.S. military commanders. Truck driver Thomas Hamill, from Macon, Miss., was taken captive during an April 9 ambush on a supply convoy and held in a house south of Tikrit, the U.S. military said. Hear NPR's Peter Kenyon.

Khalil Naimi, first secretary to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, is shot and killed in his car by unnamed assailants. The assassination comes as an Iranian delegation is in Iraq to mediate in the standoff between U.S. forces in Najaf and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

The nation's gross domestic product, or value of goods and services, grew at a 4.2 percent annual rate during the first three months of the year, an improvement over the end of 2003 but not as strong as many analysts were expecting. The Commerce Department's prime price index, omitting food and energy, rose 2.3 percent, compared with 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

The federal rental aid program expects to distribute the rest of its money by mid-summer. Some cities have already run out of funding, pushing eviction filings higher than before the pandemic.

Hoping to end a tense stalemate in Iraq's Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah, U.S. Marines and a representative of the U.S. occupation authority hold direct talks with a delegation of insurgents. Marines maintain their one-sided cease-fire, and continue to surround the city. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and embedded KPBS reporter Eric Niiler.

The American intelligence community was sharply criticized at recent hearings of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. CIA Director George Tenet conceded his agency failed to translate knowledge of the dangers posed by al Qaeda to an effective defense of the nation. He also said it will take five years to develop a clandestine service capable of fully dealing with terrorist threats. NPR's Brian Naylor speaks with Daniel Benjamin, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the 1950's and 1960's, South Africa's National Party developed apartheid into an increasingly repressive political philosophy. The African National Congress was forced underground. Part Two of Joe Richman and Sue Johnson's series "Mandela: An Audio History" recalls the political history of the period, culminating with the arrest, trial and conviction of Nelson Mandela.

The House of Representatives votes to double the reward offered for information leading to Osama bin Laden's capture. Lawmakers say they hope raising the bounty from $25 million to $50 million will renew interest in the reward. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

The Oklahoma Election Board ruled Monday that state Rep. Sean Roberts can still run for Oklahoma Labor Commissioner, but he can't refer to himself by that nickname on the ballot.

Scientists in Japan prove that it is possible to get a live, fertile mouse by activating an egg containing only DNA from female mice. The process of getting an unfertilized egg to start dividing is called parthenogenesis. Although many non-mammalian species reproduce this way, the Japanese mouse is the first known incidence in mammals. NPR's Joe Palca reports.