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Iran's presidential election Friday is the most tightly contested contest since the Islamic revolution of 1979, according to preliminary polls. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani is considered the frontrunner, but analysts say none of the seven candidates is likely to obtain 50 percent of the vote, with a run-off race possible. NPR's Ivan Watson reports from Tehran.

Overturning Roe v. Wade could threaten birth control and other care, experts say.

Jamaica's Asafa Powell lowers the world record in the men's 100 meters to 9.77 seconds. His time at a meet in Athens, Greece, trims one-hundredth of a second off the previous mark, set in 2002.

Robin Meloy Goldsby has spent decades making "pleasant and unobtrusive" background music as a cocktail lounge piano player. Now she steps front and center with a memoir called Piano Girl: Lessons in Life, Music, and the Perfect Blue Hawaiian.

In May, North Korean leaders hinted to a visiting U.S scholar that they're willing to resume negotiations with the United States on nuclear arms. But if those talks are revived, North Korea wants to focus on mutual steps toward a denuclearized Korean peninsula. The Bush administration has said repeatedly it doesn't want to depart from six-way nuclear talks.

The Florida Supreme Court hears arguments on the constitutionality of a statewide school voucher program. The program allows students in low-performing public schools to attend private schools at the expense of taxpayers. The case has implications for several other states trying school-voucher programs.

Syria's ruling Baath Party holds a congress where President Bashar al-Assad tells delegates that the priorities facing the country were the economy and fighting corruption. He also told members not to be influenced by international pressures for reform.

Scientists have developed vaccines that protect against the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses. They hope to test the vaccines -- successful in experiments with monkeys -- on humans in two to three years. The viruses are at the top of experts' list of bioterrorism threats.

A new study shows an experimental drug helps people with Type 2 diabetes lose weight, control their blood sugar, and improve their cholesterol readings. But some medical obesity specialists caution that potential risks -- including depression -- might not justify the benefits.

The head of character animation at DreamWorks, Rex Grignon, tells us what he's reading. Grignon worked on Shrek, DreamWorks' first film Antz, and on the new comedy Madagascar. His book choices are usually not job-related.