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This Sunday, two of the world's top solo explorers will attempt to do what no one has ever done: travel 620 miles on an unsupported mission to the North Pole in the total darkness of Arctic winter.

A most unlikely CD has been close to the top of the Billboard charts recently. The Mars Volta, from Texas, somehow missed the news that progressive rock was nearly extinct. Their new CD, Frances the Mute, is a saga based on the diary of a child in search of a birth mother.

The cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast after the hurricane could top $200 billion -- roughly the same cost of the Iraq war. But President Bush says the money to pay for it should come from spending cuts, not new taxes.

After the wave of accounting scandals, business schools added ethics classes. Following repeated scandals involving print and electronic media, five top journalism schools say it's time to rethink the education they provide to aspiring journalists. We discuss how to build a better reporter.

Workers continue to clear rubble and pull bodies from the wreckage at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. At least 20 people, including the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, died in the Aug. 19 blast. U.S. civilian administrator Paul Bremer says the United States needs better intelligence and more cooperation from the Iraqi people to stabilize the situation in the country. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.

Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss improving security within Iraq. The meeting comes two days after an explosion at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad killed more than 20 people, including the top U.N. envoy in Iraq. Hear retired Gen. William Nash and Nancy Soderberg, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Evidence before the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reveals that, in the months before the attacks, intelligence reports suggesting a major terrorist threat against U.S. interests surged. Reports also suggest top intelligence officials questioned the Bush administration's response to what's being dubbed the "summer of threat." Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

A top Vatican official says Catholic politicians who favor abortion rights for women should be denied communion, the most sacred act of faith for Catholics. The proposed Vatican policy could affect Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, a Catholic who supports abortion rights. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and John Feuerherd of The National Catholic Reporter.

Karen Hughes, a top advisor to President Bush, says the Bush administration's decision to allow National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice testify before the Sept. 11 commission proves it wants to be open with the American public about its actions before and after the attacks. Hughes has written a new book about her life in politics, Ten Minutes from Normal. She speaks with NPR's Juan Williams.

In testimony before the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, top officials from both the Clinton and Bush administrations defend their policies on the terrorist threat. The commission finds efforts against al Qaeda were hampered by a lack of intelligence, failed diplomatic overtures toward the Taliban and competing demands. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.