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A panel of former NASA engineers and military officials prepares to take over the Columbia investigation. More than a week after the space shuttle broke apart upon re-entry, NASA says it has no clear answers. NPR's Eric Niiler reports.

A panel of former NASA engineers and military officials prepares to take over the Columbia investigation. More than a week after the space shuttle broke apart upon re-entry, NASA says it has no clear answers. NPR's Eric Niiler reports.

At the Security Council today, Iraq's U.N. ambassador dismissed the evidence presented by Colin Powell. Mohammed Aldouri said the Secretary of State could have "spared the council the time." Programs to develop weapons of mass destruction are "huge" Aldouri said, and not "easily hidden." He accused the United States of fabricating evidence. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, Gen. Amir al-Saadi told a news conference, "What we heard today was for the general public and mainly the uninformed in order to influence their opinion and to commit aggression on Iraq." NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

The remains of Columbia astronauts are flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, while investigators continue to recover and study shuttle fragments. Meanwhile, two in Texas are charged with theft of government property for looting shuttle debris. Hear NPR's Richard Harris and NPR's Larry Abramson.

Stand-up comic David Cross co-created the 1995 HBO cult hit Mr. Show (an amalgam of live sketch video pieces and occasional animation). He also wrote for the short-lived Ben Stiller Show. One reviewer writes of his act, "foul mouthed and razor sharp, doesn't shy away from vicious social criticism and outright political dissent."

NASA's investigation into the Columbia disaster is now wide open. The space agency says there's just not enough evidence to back the theory that damage to the shuttle's protective heat tiles caused the crash. At today's memorial service for the Columbia astronauts at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., NASA chief Sean O'Keefe pledged the agency would find the cause of the accident and continue with space exploration. NPR's Richard Harris reports on the progress of the investigation.

The Bush administration raises the national terrorism alert status from yellow to orange, signaling a "high risk" of terrorist attack. A government official says Friday's move is based on an increase in information that suggests an attack may occur as Muslims mark the haj, a five-day ritual that begins Sunday.

NATO votes to block planning efforts for a potential war in Iraq. Members say all diplomatic means should be exhausted first. Elsewhere in Europe, anti-war sentiments grow. Hear NPR's Guy Raz, NPR's Michele Norris, Dominique Moisi of the French Institute of International Relations, and Constance Stelzenmueller, foreign policy editor of Die Ziet.

As NASA officials study data and debris from space shuttle Columbia, the initial focus is on an accident at liftoff that may have caused a chain of problems that led to catastrophe. But experts say little could have been done to rescue the ship, even if launch problems had been considered a threat to the mission. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

In the third part of a Morning Edition series on terrorism in Southeast Asia, NPR's Michael Sullivan reports Malaysian authorities now fear attacks could happen in their country, despite a crackdown on terrorist operatives. The primarily Muslim nation of 20 million people sandwiched between Thailand and Singapore has not yet been a terrorist target. But Malaysian authorities are worried that another Bali style bombing could happen in their country.