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At a school for autistic children in China, a volunteer falls ill with SARS. When parents ignore a quarantine and take their children home, school director Tian Huiping is faced with a difficult decision: should she report them to authorities? NPR's Richard Harris reports.

An Iraqi exile group that provided the Bush administration with what it said was intelligence of evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq today defended itself in the face of charges that no weapons had been found. A spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress said that the growing discoveries of mass graves justified the US-led assault on Iraq. NPR's Nick Spicer reports from Baghdad.

The Federal Communications Commission votes to relax restrictions on media ownership, allowing media conglomerates to buy more TV stations and own a newspaper and broadcast network in the same city. Critics say the move will lead to less diversity of content and viewpoints. Hear NPR's Rick Karr.

U.S. Army engineers begin excavating a rubble-filled crater in Baghdad that was the site of an April 7 bombing which officials believe may have killed Saddam Hussein. Residents of the area say the former Iraqi ruler's remains were not among those pulled from the devastated home. NPR's Nick Spicer reports.

Scientists in Idaho have produced the world's first cloned mule. Born May 4, Idaho Gem is the brother of a champion racing mule race, Taz, and some are betting cloning may provide a way to reproduce champion mules -- and horses. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

In the final report of a four-part NPR/National Geographic Radio Expedition to Mali, Chadwick descends into one of the biggest salt mines in the Sahara Desert, where West African miners still extract salt by hand, the way it's been done for centuries. Such mines have been the destination of camel caravans for at least a millennium.

Illustrator Marjane Satrapi is the author of the memoir, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. The book is in the form of an illustrated comic. Satrapi was born in 1969 in Iran, and grew up in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. One reviewer writes, "A triumph... Like Maus, Persepolis is one of those comic books capable of seducing even those most allergic to the genre."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair defends his Iraq policy under a firestorm of House of Commons criticism from both the opposition and members of his own party. The Blair government is accused of doctoring a dossier that was said to prove Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability. Members of Parliament are calling for an investigation.

NPR's Jim Zarroli visited a town in southwest Wisconsin where downtown merchants have found a way to compete with the local Wal-Mart. Many store owners say they can coexist because they offer an expertise not easily found in the larger retail chains.

Every few weeks, All Things Considered likes to quiz people around the country on the music that grabs them right now. This week's selections come from Nicole Jefferies, a 24-hour copy shop employee in Muncie, Ind.