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NPR's David Schaper reports on Senate primaries in Illinois, in which seven millionaires are among the candidates seeking to replace retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald. Many observers see the seat as one that Democrats are likely to pick up in November, but first there are the primaries to deal with. The leading Democratic contender is state Sen. Barack Obama, who if he wins would become the first black male Democrat to win a seat in the Senate.

With wins in 12 out of the 14 states that have voted, Sen. John Kerry is poised to grasp the Democratic nomination for president and has begun to turn his attention toward a fall campaign against George Bush. Despite a liberal voting record and an often longwinded oratory style, Kerry says he ready for the fight, and those who remember his 1996 Senate re-election campaign agree Kerry can be a steely competitor. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

The mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota recently visited Laotian Hmong refugees who are living illegally on the grounds of a famous Buddhist temple in Thailand. His visit precedes the opening of a U.S. refugee resettlement program for the Hmong who are unable to return to Laos and unwelcome in Thailand. Doualy Xaykaothao reports.

During the Cold War, the world's biggest country and the world's most populous fought over ideology and borders. The two giants have put much of that hostility behind them to forge strong economic bonds. But as NPR's Lawrence Sheets reports, mistrust remains.

The leading Democratic presidential candidates rely on their personal experiences to market themselves in political ads meant to bolster their stadings in Tuesday's 10-state showdown. Sen. John Edwards uses his early days in a mill town to stress his commitment to economic issues. Sen. John Kerry relies on his record in Vietnam to show voters he can be trusted to help them on key issues such as health care and education. NPR's John McChesney reports.

George Tenet has presided over the two biggest U.S. intelligence failures since Pearl Harbor -- the Sept. 11 attacks and the flawed Iraq weapons assessments. Now, another scandal over intelligence is engulfing Washington -- the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad. But the CIA director has a talent for remaining above the fray -- and remaining one of the most popular men in Washington in the process. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the former U.S. commander of the Abu Ghraib prison, says the decision to abuse detainees was made much higher up the chain of command. Karpinsksi also tells the BBC that the current Iraq prisons chief, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, had suggested Karpinksi alter interrogation techniques at Abu Ghraib and once said prisoners should be treated "like dogs." Suzanne Chislett reports.

The Supreme Court dismisses on a technicality a lawsuit seeking to drop the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, sidestepping the issue of whether the phrase violates the separation of church and state. The ruling relieved both conservatives and civil liberties groups. Both sides of the debate feared that a win would have triggered a divisive fight to amend the Constitution. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

President Bush addresses the graduating class at the United States Air Force Academy, telling them the war on terror is the modern equivalent of World War II or the struggle against Communism. The speech in Colorado Springs, Colo., also made it clear that the president considers the fighting in Iraq to be the central front in the war on terror. NPR's White House Correspondent Don Gonyea reports.

During recent fighting, thousands of U.S.-trained Iraqi police, civil defense members and others walked off the job, refused orders or deserted. Now, once again, U.S. officials are hoping to improve vetting, training and leadership for Iraqi security forces. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.