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A group charged with rebuilding lower Manhattan today chose Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind's multi-structure design for the former World Trade Center site. Andrea Bernstein reports that the selection probably won't end the controversy of how to best honor the victims of Sept. 11. Also, NPR's Melissa Block talks with an architecture expert on the merits -- and downfalls -- of the design. See a photo of the winning plan.

The United Nations continues to debate war with Iraq over its weapons of mass destruction. These weapons seem all the more frightening because of worries they could fall into the hands of terrorists. For National Geographic's Radio Expeditions, NPR's Alex Chadwick visited Trinity, the remote New Mexico test site where the most terrifying weapon ever -- the atomic bomb -- was born.

The costumes onstage in Washington, D.C. might look a bit brighter this opera season. All Things Considered senior host Robert Siegel talks with Alberto Spiazzi, costume designer for Washington Opera's production of Aida, about luminex, a self-illuminating fabric. View the fabric in action.

NASA releases e-mails demonstrating that a day before space shuttle Columbia's demise, engineers privately worried about the impact of tile damage sustained at launch. The e-mails explored prophetic "what-if" scenarios that concluded the orbiter could lose its left wing and break up high in the atmosphere. Hear NPR's Richard Harris.

NASA chief Sean O'Keefe tells Congress that while the shuttle fleet is grounded, the agency plans to keep the International Space Station running with the help of Russian spacecraft. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

Melanie Peeples reports from Birmingham, Al., that an Internet site has become a way for so-called "military brats" to reconnect to childhood friends and sweethearts. The children of those serving in the military often spend their childhood moving from one base to another. Staying in touch through these countless relocations can be difficult. So far, about 60,000 of the millions of military brats have registered on the site searching for former friends and acquaintances.

It's estimated that hundreds of volunteer "human shields" are in Baghdad from the United States and elsewhere. They're placing themselves at installations in an effort to prevent U.S. bombing. NPR's Melissa Block talks to volunteer human shield Ken Nichols O'Keefe, and to Paul Eliopolous, an American who became an involuntary shield when arrested by Iraqis in Kuwait in 1990.

Hip-hop culture, with its street rhythms and explicit lyrics, is more relevant in advancing civil rights today than the peaceful messages of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., author Todd Boyd says. In an interview with NPR's Scott Simon, Boyd says hip hop artists use language as a political weapon that provokes and "makes people think." (Note: Contains language that some may consider offensive.)

The average rent in Orlando jumped by 21% from 2020 to 2021. Two theme parks are now devoting around 100 acres in hopes of easing the housing crisis.

The speaker of Turkey's parliament promptly nullifies a vote that appeared to give narrow permission for U.S. troops to use Turkish bases as a staging area for a potential military strike against Iraq. Absences and abstentions prevented lawmakers who favored the proposal from achieving an absolute majority. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.