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OPEC oil ministers meeting in Algeria pledge to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day beginning in April. More immediately, OPEC seeks to end the so-called "cheating," or overproduction, in which member states currently surpass production quotas. Analysts estimate that practice adds as much as 1.5 million barrels a day to current limits. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

Comcast, the nation's biggest cable provider, makes an offer worth $66 billion to purchase the entertainment giant Disney. Comcast officials say Disney chief Michael Eisner rejected a merger offer last week, prompting the public purchase bid. The price is based on around $54 million in stock and $11.9 billion in Disney debt. Hear NPR's Kim Masters.

China's growing political and economic might is a matter of great interest to the nations that surround it. India -- the other Asian giant -- went to war with China and had a tense relationship with it in the last half of the 20th century. But as NPR's Michael Sullivan reports, tensions seem to be subsiding -- at least for now -- as both countries focus on expanding their economies.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says he supports a prominent Shiite cleric's calls for direct elections for an interim authority in Iraq. The cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, wants elections before the transfer of power the U.S. wants to occur on July 1. U.N. officials say elections by that date are unlikely, though they could occur late this year or early next year. Hear NPR's Deborah Amos.

The probe into the $180-billion financial collapse of Parmalat expands, as investigators focus on banks that may have helped hide the Italian food giant's troubles. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and others handled huge bond issues that kept Parmalat afloat -- and yielded handsome commissions for the banks and their managers. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Amid continuing violence in Iraq, the struggle continues to establish democratic government. In Baquba, a city about an hour north of Baghdad, elections for district council attract only about two percent of potential voters. NPR'S Emily Harris reports.

The White House makes more than 300 pages of documents available to the news media in an effort to answer questions about whether President Bush fulfilled his National Guard service during the Vietnam War. It's presented as the complete record of the president's service, but there are few specifics to place Bush at an Alabama air base in 1972 and 1973. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Massachusetts lawmakers consider amending the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriages. Supporters of the proposed ban differ on how it should be enacted as opponents protest what they call an attack on civil rights. The debate has attracted thousands of demonstrators at Boston's old Statehouse. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and NPR's Tovia Smith.

Wesley Clark officially withdraws from the Democratic presidential race. The retired general, who got into the contest late, leaves having won only one primary, in Oklahoma on Feb. 3. He is the fourth major candidate to withdraw. Hear NPR's Korva Coleman and NPR's Greg Allen.

South Korean and U.S. researchers say they have successfully cloned a human embryo and extracted embryonic stem cells from it. The experiment, reported in the journal Science, is the first instance of cloned human stem cells -- an important step toward therapeutic cloning, in which patients' own replacement tissue would be generated to treat them. Hear NPR's Joe Palca.