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Now that Fred Thompson has declared that he's really running for president, the former Tennessee Republican senator and actor faces a more specific challenge. He needs to win over voters in the early primary states such as Iowa, where he made his first campaign stop.

President Bush makes a surprise stop in Iraq, visiting Anbar province, site of some of the worst violence of the war. It's also an area where U.S. commanders have described progress in recent months. The president is using the trip to make the case that his troop buildout is working.

President Bush has spoken and the war debate will now shift to Capitol Hill, where the president is expected to seek close to $200 billion in emergency funding. Democrats want a faster and bigger troop drawdown than Mr. Bush proposed.

President Bush will speak on nationwide television Thursday night to discuss his Iraq strategy. He is expected to endorse a recommendation by Gen. David Petraeus for the withdrawal of some 30,000 troops by the end of next summer.

Two Dutch museums returned nearly 500 cultural objects to Indonesia and Sri Lanka that were looted during the colonial era, including gold and silverware, statues, weapons and hundreds of artworks.

Ford says it will extend contract talks in Detroit beyond the midnight deadline. General Motors and Chrysler may do so as well. Each company says it needs major changes from the United Auto Workers if they are to survive.

A presidential transition is apparently underway in Cuba. Fidel Castro, who has already given up power temporarily because of illness, says he will do so permanently.

Cuba's President Fidel Castro has resigned, saying he will not seek re-election after 49 years in power. NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten discusses the 81-year-old's reign as the world's longest ruling head of state, and the significance of his resignation.

Serbian journalist Dejan Anastasijevic tells Steve Inskeep the crowd at the government-sponsored rally in Belgrade on Thursday was mostly peaceful, but small groups of holligans broke off and attacked the U.S. Embassy. He says police apparently were given orders not to confront them.

Islamist parties in the volatile Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan lost seats on Monday to secular parities. Tarek Fatimi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, talks to Steve Inskeep about the implications of the vote.