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Students in the United States trail many of their peers in Europe and Asia in math and science scores, according to the newly released results of an international standardized test.

The main Shiite alliance captures 48 percent of Iraqi votes from the country's recent elections, with the Kurdish party following with 25 percent. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's slate was third, virtually guaranteeing a change in leadership. NPR's Anne Garrels reports.

Johnny Carson, who hosted The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, has died at the age of 79. While the Carson family released few details of his death, it reportedly resulted from complications stemming from emphysema.

Ward Connerly is leaving the University of California's Board of Regents after 12 years. He helped lead a successful effort to end race-based admissions quotas in the state university system a decade ago. He says he will continue to work to end affirmative action.

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Sudanese government sign a peace agreement, ending more than 20 years of north-south fighting. The act by Sudan's vice president and a rebel leader comes after more than eight years of negotiations. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and the BBC's Ishbel Matheson.

President Bush says Social Security is in "crisis," but polls show a majority of seniors think the system needs only minor fixes. Retirees in Arizona and Pennsylvania weigh in on the issue.

President Bush hails the large turnout for Iraq's national elections as a success. In an address Sunday afternoon, the president called the Iraqi vote "historic" after millions of Iraqi citizens turned out to elect a national assembly. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and NPR's Tom Gjelten.

Rev. Al Sharpton energizes the audience at the 2004 Democratic Convention with his response to questions asked of African-American voters by President Bush at last week's National Urban League convention.

A long-awaited Army report on prison abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan is released to accusations that it downplays problems in military detention facilities. The Army Inspector General's report states there are no systemic problems that led to prisoner abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some members of the Senate Armed Services Committee call the report a whitewash. NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

With her deep and smoky alto, singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz defies the boundaries of blues, jazz and folk. Her eclectic new album, Beautiful Yesterday, evokes feelings of nostalgia.