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Syria's ruling Baath Party opened a congress Monday to discuss political and economic reforms. Syria, which has a centrally planned economy, suffers from a high unemployment rate. Economists and businessmen say they have seen positive changes in recent years, but warn that the government must do more to battle corruption and streamline the inefficient state bureaucracy.

Reacting to proposed job cuts at General Motors, United Autoworkers officials say the U.S. car giant can't shrink its way out of its financial problems. GM plans to eliminate 25,000 jobs and close some of its plants by 2008. The automaker lost more than $1 billion in the first quarter of 2005.

Commentator Frank Deford remembers George Mikan, the first great big man in professional basketball.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires low-income schools that haven't met performance targets for three years in a row to provide tutoring services to their students. The tutoring industry is benefiting from the influx of federal money, but critics worry about the quality of the services. In our second and final story on the rise of tutoring, Elaine Korry reports.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 6-to-3 ruling Monday reinforced the supremacy of federal laws prohibiting marijuana use over state laws allowing it. The decision could have a broader impact on other issues involving states' rights, such as Oregon's right-to-die law.

A New York state board rejects a proposed stadium on Manhattan's West Side, which supporters believe severely weakens the city's chances of hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics. Andrea Bernstein of NPR station WNYC says the sports facility was to serve as the centerpiece of New York's Olympic bid.

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.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal authorities may prosecute people who use marijuana on doctor's orders. In a 6-to-3 decision, the court found that federal laws prohibiting marijuana use trump state laws that legalize the drug's medical use.

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.

Steve Inskeep visits a convention of law-enforcement groups and reports on the growing business of high-tech gadgets.