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National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice briefs House and Senate Republicans on the situation in Iraq. The closed-door briefing comes near the end of a series of Congressional hearings examining troop deployment extensions, military costs and the planned June 30 transfer of power to an Iraqi government. Rice also met with some Senate Democrats in a meeting that was arranged at the last minute. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports.

Proper tutoring for a child who's struggling to read can change the way the brain works, a Yale University study finds. Published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, the study examined tutoring that focuses on the sounds of letters and words. After one school year, brain scans showed lasting changes in the children. NPR's Rachel Jones reports.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi recommends dissolving the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and replacing it with an interim government on June 30. Brahimi suggests establishing an interim government of non-partisan Iraqis to handle the day-to-day affairs until elections next year. The envoy says Iraqis should select the interim leaders with the help of the U.N. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

Foreign aid workers, contractors and journalists are increasingly becoming targets of kidnappings across Iraq. The Al-Jazeera news network broadcast a video of a captured American soldier who identifies himself as 20-year-old Pfc. Keith Maupin. An American and a Danish citizen were seized Friday in separate incidents, and dozens have been kidnapped over the past two weeks. Many have been released fairly quickly -- but one, an Italian, was murdered by his captors. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

Spanish voters oust Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's Popular Party in favor of the Socialist Party. Observers say the result can be attributed at least in part to anger over Thursday's train-bombing disaster, which many blame on the government's support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Spanish authorities continue their efforts to track down those responsible. Hear NPR's John Ydstie and reporter Jerome Socolovsky.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry says middle-class families are worse off today than they were four years ago. This week, Kerry released what he calls a "misery index" of economic indicators, showing how families have fared under the Bush administration. President Bush is pointing to his own statistics to show that the economy is improving. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

The Spanish judge investigating the March 11 train bombings in Madrid issues five more arrest warrants. Seventeen people -- most of whom are Moroccan -- are already in jail. European officials are closely monitoring the probe into what is seen as the first major Islamic terrorist attack against a Western European target. The blasts killed 191 people and injured more than 2,000. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

U.S. officials in Baghdad announce that military policeman Spc. Jeremy Sivits will be the first to face a court-martial over prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison. The May 19 proceeding will determine whether Sivits merits a "bad conduct discharge." Observers say the speed with which the charges are being brought reflects the military's desire to put the abuse scandal to rest. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Friday took his presidential campaign to Westminster College in the Missouri town of Fulton. The college was the site of the famous "Iron Curtain" speech by Winston Churchill in 1946 and, earlier this week, of an anti-Kerry speech by Vice President Dick Cheney. Kerry said America faces a "moment of truth" in Iraq, and he used the occasion to call on President Bush to broaden the international coalition in Iraq. NPR's David Welna reports

U.S. and allied forces clash with supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The worst violence was near the southern city of Najaf, where 20 Iraqis were killed when al-Sadr's supporters opened fire on a Spanish garrison near the city. There was a similar demonstration in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad. The violence flared after U.S. forces detained an associate of Sadr. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.