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NPR's Melissa Block talks with Seth Coleman, lead author of a study on the mating preferences of female bower birds to be published Thursday in the journal Nature. He says older female birds respond more to strong character traits in their male mates than the shiny objects or ruffled feathers that younger male birds may try to woo them with.

In a Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet The Press, Sen. John Kerry accuses President Bush of a "stunningly ineffective" foreign policy. The White House responds with a Sunday briefing of its own. NPR's Libby Lewis reports.

President Bush will briefly address the nation on the subject of Iraq Tuesday night before taking questions from White House reporters. The bulk of the questions are expected to deal with stiffening resistance to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and intelligence reports on terrorist activity prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea and NPR's Melissa Block.

In Khorea, a mixed Sunni-Shiite slum in Baghdad, residents struggle to cope with the recent upsurge in violence in Iraq. The U.S. siege of Fallujah, a Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad, is producing a powerful backlash, uniting Sunnis and Shiites against the American occupation. NPR's Anne Garrel's reports.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says about 20,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq three months longer than had been expected. The Pentagon says the soldiers -- a quarter of whom serve in National Guard and military reserve units -- are needed to cope with renewed fighting in Iraq. The troops had been told they would return home this month, part of a Pentagon promise that Iraq duty would be for 12 months only. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

Fighting in the cities of Iraq has been reduced to relatively low-tech urban warfare. Jeffrey Gettleman, who reports on the war for The New York Times -- and who recently came under fire -- speaks with NPR's Brian Naylor.

During a rare primetime news conference, President Bush pledges the United States will commit the time and forces needed to finish its work in Iraq. Bush reaffirmed plans to transfer governing power to Iraqis on June 30, saying a delay would foster suspicions of U.S. motives in the region. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea.

NPR's Bob Edwards talks with Walter Slocombe about reconstruction efforts and the state of security in Iraq. Slocombe is former Senior Advisor for Defense and Security Affairs Sector to the Coalition Provisional Authority for Iraq.

Cole is an authority on modern Islamic movements. He is professor of modern Middle East and South Asia history at the University of Michigan. His most recent book is Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi`ite Islam. The book collects some of his work on the history of the Shiite branch of Islam in modern Iraq, Iran and the Persian Gulf region.

The Environmental Protection Agency tells officials in 31 states that new air-pollution controls are needed to control smog in counties containing more than 150 million people. The EPA, acting under court order, said 474 counties have air that fails federal standards or contributes to pollution in a neighboring area. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.