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The announcement Tuesday that Harvard University President Lawrence Summers is resigning points to the difficulties of running a high-profile university, and the need to balance many constituencies: alumni, governing board, faculty and students.

In Southern Sudan, tens of thousands of refugees are returning home after a 21-year civil war. Some were abducted by Arab militiamen and taken north, where they were often subjected to beatings, rape and other forms of torture.

Two lawsuits were filed Wednesday challenging the Bush administration's authorization of secret eavesdropping by the National Security Agency. Renee Montagne talks to Larry Diamond, one of the plaintiffs in the case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Diamond is a specialist with Stanford's Hoover Institution who does research in the Middle East.

The captors of American journalist Jill Carroll, who was kidnapped in Iraq almost two weeks ago, say they will kill her Friday unless all Iraqi women prisoners are freed. Simultaneous suicide and roadside bombings on the same Baghdad street Thursday have killed at least 22 Iraqis.

Tennessee is the first state to have a registry of those convicted of meth-related crimes, similar to registries states keep on convicted sex offenders. It allows people to learn if a meth lab or user is in their neighborhood.

The Winter Olympics in Italy are just three weeks away. Usually these major international sports events unleash a wave of national euphoria. But in sports-crazy Italy, the winter games are being largely ignored.

Steve Inskeep talks to Stephen Cohen, senior fellow of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, about the political impact of the massive earthquake that shook Pakistan over the weekend.

Nobody won a big race across the desert in Nevada. To be more precise, a robot won that race. A Volkswagen controlled by computer, with nobody behind the wheel, finished first in a course across the desert. The Pentagon sponsored the 132-mile race to encourage new technology. The winning robot is called Stanley. And the Pentagon pays a $2 million prize to the people who created him -- or rather "it."

A group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has grabbed four oil workers and also attacked pipelines and platforms of Royal Dutch Shell. Shell is the biggest producer in the swamplands of the Niger River Delta. Financial Times reporter Dino Mahtani discusses developments with Steve Inskeep.

Director Harold Ramis brings his brand of dark -- and often silly -- humor to holiday audiences with The Ice Harvest. The irreverent film stars John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Randy Quaid.