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Iraq today brushed aside President Bush's planned ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to give up control of the country. The rejection came just hours before Mr. Bush's scheduled televised speech, and just hours after U.N. weapons inspectors were called out of Iraq. NPR's Melissa Block talks with NPR's Anne Garrels in Baghdad about the departure of U.N. weapons inspectors and the mood in the city.

President Bush says he is confident weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq, and suggests ordinary Iraqi citizens may provide key information. Meanwhile, about 1,000 weapons and intelligence experts, including former U.N. weapons inspectors, prepare to head to Iraq. Hear Terrence Taylor, a former U.N. weapons inspector.

U.N. inspectors in Iran discover equipment capable of producing enriched uranium, according to U.S. and U.N. officials. The components -- more advanced than Iran has previously acknowledged -- could reportedly be used as either nuclear fuel or in making an atomic bomb. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and Joe Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Project with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports on this week's Washington visit by new U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan (KOH-fee AN-nan). Washington's choice to replace former Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali will lobby the White House and Congress to pay the one-point-three BILLION dollars the United States' owes to the U-N. Washington previously has refused to pay on grounds that the United Nations is poorly managed, fiscally irresponsible and often does not act in U-S interests.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports that the new U-N Secretary General, Kofi Annan (KOH-fee AH'-nan), today met with President Clinton and the new leader of his foreign policy team, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Annan is also talking with a longtime critic of the United Nations, Republican Senator Jesse Helms, in an effort to restore U-S confidence in the U-N and convince Washington to pay its back dues to the organization.

NPR's Martha Raddatz reports on the US launch of 27 cruise missiles against Iraqi air defense targets. The attacks were ordered in retaliation for the Iraqi army incursion into the Kurdish city of Irbil in the UN-protected northern exclusion zone of Iraq. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein threatens to ignore UN established no-fly zones over its territory, and vows to shoot any US or Allied planes out of the skies.

NPR's Trevor Rowe reports from the United Nations that Iraq 's speaker of parliament today rejected a UN offer to allow Iraq to sell oil to finance the purchase of emergency humanitarian supplies. Ever since the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Iraq has been barred from selling its oil on the world market. The embargo was imposed by the United Nations, and once the Gulf War ended, it stayed in place...leverage to force Iraqi compliance with Security Council resolutions regarding weapons of mass destruction. The sanctions have hurt the Iraqi people, and yesterday, the U.N. Council told Iraq it could sell two billion dollars worth of oil to help finance purchases of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies. Today, Iraq rejected the U.N. move, and launched a new anti-American propaganda drive.

Kenny Malone hails from Meadville, PA where the zipper was invented, where Clark Gable’s mother is buried and where, in 2007, a wrecking ball broke free from a construction site, rolled down North Main Street and somehow wound up inside the trunk of a Ford Taurus sitting at a red light.

On Saturday, the UNGA celebrated its 80th birthday in London. Speakers including U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres addressed global uncertainty during the second term of President Trump.

Critics of Trump's decision to participate in the summit say it legitimizes the brutal and authoritarian North Korean regime of Kim Jong Un. Rachel Martin talks to Jean Lee of the Wilson Center.