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Since February, she's been detained in Russia after being accused of transporting hashish oil through an airport.

NPR's Art Silverman gets reaction to photos of grinning reservists abusing Iraqi prisoners from residents of Cumberland, Md. Six soldiers from the 99th Regional Readiness Command 372nd Military Police Company (Combat Support), based in Cumberland, were charged in March with physical and sexual abuse of 20 prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Three of those charged are local residents -- and people who know the three say the charges are out of character.

Appearing on Capitol Hill Friday before both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took responsibility for what he called breakdowns in the military that resulted in abuse of prisoners in Iraq. He added he wished he had told members of Congress sooner about pictures of prisoner abuse -- but he said his department had initiated proper procedures to deal with those responsible. NPR's David Welna reports.

Kyle Smith is book and music review editor at People Magazine. He's making his debut as a novelist with the new book Love Monkey. It's about a 32-year-old New Yorker who dares to be "average" and whose credo is to "think and act like a 13-year-old boy at all times." Smith is also a Yale graduate and a Gulf War veteran.

President George Bush strongly supports Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to keep control of some settlements as Israel pulls out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank, setting a new tone in U.S. Mideast policy. Previous U.S.-brokered peace deals have required the removal of all settlements. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and Samuel Lewis, former ambassador to Israel.

Over 250 years after the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, some West Africans are still trying to come to terms with the involvement of African rulers and slave merchants. For National Geographic's Radio Expeditions, NPR's John Burnett reports from Benin.

President Bush holds his first formal news conference of the year Tuesday night, as the White House finds itself on the defensive. Bush faces intense questioning about the ongoing violence in Iraq and about the administration's handling of intelligence regarding terrorist threats prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR's Don Gonyea.

A group of leading Shiite clerics are holding talks to resolve the U.S. standoff with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose anti-American rhetoric touched off a wave of attacks on U.S.-led forces in several Iraqi cities. Al-Sadr's militiamen have withdrawn from police and government buildings they had occupied, but the security situation remains unstable. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says U.S. military commanders should have requested more troops for Iraq two months ago, "when conditions were far more ripe for democratization." But McCain says the U.S. should adhere to a June 30 deadline to transfer power to Iraqis, arguing a delay would worsen the security situation. McCain speaks with NPR's Juan Williams.