Noel King

We analyze the results of Alabama's most hotly contested primaries: from the races of Rep. Parker Griffith who switched parties to become a Republican in 2009, to Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, who was attempting to become the state's first African American nominee to governor, to two candidates who saw their fortunes rise with some particularly colorful campaign ads. Pat Duggins, News Director for Alabama Public Radio, fills us in on Alabama's primary results and their significance.

Alabama and New Mexico hold political primaries today.

In Alabama, a number of noteworthy races: Rep. Parker Griffith will appear on the ballot for the first time as a Republican, after switching from the Democratic party in 2009. But will Alabama Republicans accept him as one of their own? Also in Alabama, Democratic Congressman Artur Davis is attempting to become the state's first African American nominee for governor. He's running against Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks.

A day after Israeli naval commandoes lauched an attack on a flotilla of ships carrying aid to the Gaza strip, Israel is still facing widespread international condemnation. Israel defended the move Monday, saying activists aboard the ships attacked the Israeli soldiers first with guns, knives and axes.

Over the past week, we have been talking to current and former servicemen and women. We reached nearly two dozen, and we asked them all the same question: Who are you remembering this Memorial Day?

We expected that no two answers would be the same. But in fact, two of them were. 

No one said America’s mission to train Afghan troops was going to be easy. The question of just how difficult it would be drove filmmaker and professor Carol Dysinger, personally curious by America’s strategy to exit Afghanistan by building up a national army, to find out more.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 on Thursday evening to allow the Pentagon to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell - the law that forbids gay, lesbian and bisexual servicemen and women from serving openly.

North and South Korea continued to trade diplomatic blows on Tuesday, with South Korea re-designating the North their "principal enemy," a term that Seoul used to use for Pyonyang, but then retired in 2004. North Korea retaliated by cutting ties with the South, calling southern officials "puppet authorities." Brian Myers, professor of international studies at Dongseo University in South Korea, joins us from the ground with a look at the latest news.

We are taking a closer look at the life of radical American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. In a video released over the weekend by al-Qaida in Yemen, al-Awlaki urged Muslims to take American lives. The cleric has a published discography to rival some rock stars, with over 100 CDs of readings and lectures to his name, not all of them incendiary. al-Awlaki was once known as a popular (and moderate) interpreter of Islamic texts on CD; speculation abounds as to exactly when and why he took a more radical turn. 

Pakistan has temporarily blocked access to Facebook and YouTube due to "blasphemy."

Here's the context: It started with South Park. The intentionally incendiary cartoon comedy came under criticism for making an image depicting Mohammed (an act offensive to many Muslims). Comedy Central ran the episode in question, but heavily censored it; among the protests from Muslims was one from a group named "Revolution Muslim." The group posted a lengthy response to the episode, including language bordering on death threats. So another cartoonist came to the defense of free speech, and made a joking proposition that there should be an "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."

The family of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a seven-year-old Detroit girl killed by a police bullet during a raid early Sunday, filed a lawsuit in state and federal courts, alleging police misconduct in the incident. The family has retained high-profile attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who said at a news conference Tuesday that he has seen a tape of the incident that was shot by a crew from the A&E reality show, The First 48.

The ongoing back-and-forth between the U.S. and Iran over the latter's nuclear ambitions is often compared to a chess game. But there's a notable difference: a chessboard only has two sides. Yesterday's announcement that Iran would trade in some of its low-enriched uranium for fuel rods to power a reactor that makes medical isotopes - a swap engineered by Turkey and Brazil - had some observers asking what Iran is up to.

The case of the failed Times Square bombing and its accused perpetrator, Faisal Shahzad, is rapidly expanding in reach. Late Thursday the Pakistan government said it had arrested a man who claims to have acted as an accomplice to Shahzad. And here at home, federal agents raided homes in suburban Massachusetts and Long Island, New York. The details of the Massachusetts and New York raids are still developing.

The Obama administration says the planned drawdown of 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq is moving forward on schedule. There are currently around 94,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and a September 1 deadline is looming large for American officials. This comes despite post-election violence across the country and delays in the formation of the Iraqi government.

Two key political contests slated for next Tuesday in Pennsylvania may offer some insight into whether a growing anti-incumbent sentiment will be enough to shift the political landscape nationwide.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has carefully guarded her professional and personal lives, especially since being nominated for the Supreme Court earlier this week. To get a fuller picture of the woman who could become one of the nine justices, we talk with two people who knew her as a colleague, a teacher, and a baseball fan, during her time at the University of Chicago Law School from 1991 - 1995.

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak continues to gush into the Gulf Coast Ocean at a rate of around 210,000 gallons per day, leaving engineers and cleanup crews with two massive challenges: stopping the leak, and mopping up the oil that has already made its way into the water.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Washington today for a week of meetings with President Obama and other high-level U.S. officials. The tenor of this visit is vastly different from the last time the two leaders met when Obama flew to Kabul in late March to lecture Karzai on corruption in Afghanistan. 

The Pakistani Taliban are sending conflicting messages regarding their involvement with Times Square terror suspect Faisal Shahzad. A Taliban spokesman on Thursday denied the group's involvement with Shahzad, but said the Pakistani Taliban will expand their focus to include western targets, including the U.S.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has called for Americans charged with terror crimes to be stripped of their citizenship. However, there's no precedent for stripping an American of his or her citizenship and the law says that the U.S. cannot use the revocation of citizenship as punishment. The issue is murky and we turn to Peter Spiro, a professor of law at Temple University and Dr. Azima Khan, an immigrant from Pakistan who recently received her citizenship, join us to talk about the case.

In a dramatic scene that could have been pulled from TV’s "24," federal agents arrested 30-year-old Pakistani-born Faisal Shahzad on the tarmac of New York’s Kennedy Airport for an alleged connection with Saturday’s attempted Times Square car bombing.