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Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has highlighted the dismal state of the California levee system. He's declared a state of emergency and is asking for millions of dollars to repair the system. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff will visit and inspect the levees on Friday as he weighs Schwarzenegger's request for more federal dollars. Tamara Keith of member station KPCC reports.

Since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Serbs feel they have no identity. There is no national anthem, and the passports still say Republic of Yugoslavia. After years of isolation, sanctions and international criticism, Serbs feel they are on the fringes of the world.

Dozens of people have been detained by the U.S. and Iraqi militaries as the press forward with an offensive near Samarra. More than 1,500 troops are deployed in what the military is calling an anti-insurgency sweep. Renee Montagne talks to BBC reporter Jim Muir.

After proving immensely popular on page and screen, The Lord of the Rings is about to take another leap. When J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy of fantasy novels makes its debut as a stage production in Toronto, audiences will hear Hobbits and elves sing. Just don't call it a musical, its producer says.

Joshua Littman was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, when he was 5. When he was 9, he joined MENSA. Recently, Joshua, 12, wrote a list of questions to ask his mother.

Japan can call itself the world champion of baseball. The Japanese team captured the inaugural World Baseball Classic by beating Cuba 10-6 in the championship game San Diego.

The opposition leader in Belarus is calling on supporters to stand their ground. The backers of Alexander Milinkevich are camped out in freezing weather to protest results of an election largely seen as a farce by international observers.

Two differing accounts have raised questions about an attack on a house in Balad, Iraq, last Wednesday. An Iraqi police report says U.S. forces executed 11 family members. The U.S. military says that is highly unlikely. Matthew Schofield, of Knight Ridder's European Bureau, talks with Melissa Block about the report.

More than a million students and union members march to fight a law easing hiring and firing of workers. The goverment says it will help cut youth unemployment. Opponents say it erodes job security and other benefits.

"Happy as a clam" is a shortened form of an old idiom, "happy as a clam at high tide." Just as you might suspect, early Americans decided that clams are happiest when they're undisturbed. It's one of many idioms that have left behind their full phrasing.