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In downtown St. Louis, the opening of the new Busch Stadium is the latest effort to beautify and improve an area that once was called an eyesore and a tragedy. More than 50 businesses have opened in the area, where residential lofts are booming and major projects are building excitement in St. Louis.

Iraqi forces loyal to the Shiite-led government were responsible for the recent abduction of about 50 employees from a security company; almost 20 of those abducted have been killed. Sunni political leaders have repeatedly accused the Shiite-led Ministry of the Interior of kidnapping and killing Sunni Arabs.

There will be demonstrations both for and against the war in Iraq this weekend in cities across America, which marks the third anniversary of the invasion. But Washington, D.C., will not be targeted this time. Opponents of the war have a new strategy.

For the past two decades, Kurds have traditionally gathered in Halabja, Iraq, in mid-March to mark a grim chapter in their history: the day when Saddam Hussein's government unleashed a poison-gas attack that killed more than 5,000 people. Thursday, that normally peaceful commemoration turned turbulent.

Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne read listeners' letters, including praise for stories on China and gardening in London.

Belarus will hold presidential elections Sunday, and the current president, Alexander Lukashenko, is widely expected to win. The European Union and the United States accuse Lukashenko of crushing human rights, and warn of new punitive measures if the election is declared unfair.

Renee Montagne talks with Rhea Paul, professor of communication disorders at Southern Connecticut State University and a researcher at Yale's Child Study Center, about Asperger's Syndrome. Paul explains the disability in the context of this week's StoryCorps installment that features a conversation between a child with Asperger's and his mother.

President Bush's choice head the CIA, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, begins his confirmation hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) and senators from both parties are expected to grill Hayden on issues of privacy and national security, particularly the role of the NSA in collecting the phone records of ordinary Americans.

In the third in a series of conversations on the U.S. end game in Iraq, professor Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland says the war in Iraq cannot be viewed in isolation from other conflicts and tensions in the region.

Marine Gen. Michael Hagee is on his way to Iraq to talk to his troops about using lethal force "only when justified." The trip comes amid allegations that Marines killed unarmed Iraqi civilians in two separate incidents. The military has opened investigations into the deaths.