Tonight will find us in Orleans Parish, along the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. The backdrop for our live broadcast is a lot like the mantra here: Katrina might as well have been yesterday. There has been no attempt to clean up the wreckage, still fresh, that you will see behind us at our camera location.

In tonight's broadcast: the long-delayed U.S. opening to Iran... David Gregory will head up our reporting. Also today, the president commented for the first time about the killings at Haditha in Iraq. Martin Savidge will join me here for a status report heading into tomorrow's first day of hurricane season. I will speak with New Orleans native Walter Isaacson on the recovery effort and we'll report on Lance Armstrong's news today.

I saw Harry Shearer at today's event. Harry, a great and talented entertainer and writer is also a veteran blogger. He has had his issues with our coverage in the past (on one issue in particular involving the initial construction of the levees) and so we will interview him tomorrow and include his comments in our coverage of the status of the levee and pump repairs going on here.

Special thanks to the folks at Tulane University (the largest employer in this city) for hosting me today as part of a day-long seminar on the lessons learned and the future direction of civic planning and re-building in this city post-Katrina. I was deeply honored to be the latest recipient of the president's medal -- awarded by the entirely too generous President of Tulane, Scott Cowen. I apparently now hold one of only 10 such medals ever awarded -- and I tried to explain that those most deserving of this honor are those we will probably never meet: the Coast Guard chopper pilots, the women who kept the babies alive inside Charity Hospital, the volunteers and public servants of every stripe, who stayed on the job to lift this city out of a nightmare.  Having said that, it was a humbling day at Tulane.

Considering that this vehicle was always meant as a companion to the broadcast -- and a way to lift the veil on our moving parts and decisions (why and how we do what we do) -- it's fitting, I guess, that I'm posting by handheld device this morning to mark a year's worth of writing in this space. We are in New Orleans to cover preparedness as the start of hurricane season begins officially.
                                    
For the record, it was NBC executive and veteran producer Jeff Gralnick who convinced me to blog. From that day on, it has changed my daily life and schedule. It has brought me closer to our most dedicated viewers and has proven to be a (sometimes controversial) window into our lives. My thanks to all those who have made a point to read The Daily Nightly over this first year.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of this blog. More than 815 posts and 10,000+ comments later, we're very proud to have been the first network evening newscast to wade into the blogosphere. For those of you who joined the party late, here's a greatest hits of sorts from the last year, chosen by yours truly.

May 31, 2005: Brian's inaugural post
Aug. 29, 2005: Wet but safe inside the Superdome
Sept. 2, 2005: Massive human sadness in New Orleans
Oct. 31-Nov. 4, 2005: "After the Storm: The Long Road Back" -- Two teams blog during a week's journey through the Gulf Coast
Feb. 17, 2006: David Gregory on the vice president's hunting accident (our most commented-on post ever)
Feb. 22, 2006: Hey postman! Watch where you deliver!
May 19, 2006: What if Congress was an English-only zone?
May 22, 2006: A long day's journey into Africa

Needless to say, we couldn't have done it without an anchorman who is willing to share his unique thoughts and observations with viewers from the most far-flung locales. So thanks, Brian. And thanks to you, the readers, who truly make this a community. If you can recall a favorite post that I missed, submit a comment below and I'll try and dig up the URL.

Brian will be celebrating the occasion with a live broadcast from New Orleans tonight on the eve of hurricane season. I expect a BlackBerry-pecked dispatch either later this morning or early afternoon.

The United Nations General Assembly is sponsoring  a three-day "High Level Meeting" on AIDS aimed at assessing progress over the past five years. More than a dozen heads of state and some 100 ministers are scheduled to participate. First Lady Laura Bush is heading the U.S. delegation and is expected to attend sessions on Friday, when a political declaration is expected to be adopted. Also attending the  meeting are more than 1,000 representatives of civil society and the private sector. During the conference, a report on efforts by member states to combat the epidemic will be presented and governments will consider recommendations on how to scale-up HIV prevention, treatment and care in order to possibly attain universal access to treatment by 2010.

Darfur Assessment Mission
Despite confusing statements by some Sudanese officials, U.N. officials say a U.N. Peacekeeping Assessment Mission is expected to head to Khartoum late this week. U.N. troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi had meetings last week with the Sudanese president and others opening the way to cautious optimism about the prospects of a transition from an under-equipped African Union peacekeeping effort to a larger, better-equipped U.N.-led operation. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan told reporters Tuesday that he believed such a U.N. force could be ready in four months. Much, however, will depend on how quickly member states contribute troops to the proposed mission. However, it is still far from clear if Sudan will eventually give the green light to the U.N. operation.

Security Council trip to Sudan
To help coax the Sudanese government into saying yes to the mission, Security Council diplomats are departing this Sunday for a week-long visit to Sudan. The mission will be headed by British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry and his French counterpart. The trip includes meetings with key officials in the capital city of Khartoum and visits to Darfur and Juba in the south, as well a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to meet with African-Union officials regarding the transition to a U.N. force.

Before they head to Sudan, Security Council members will take part in an annual two-day retreat with Annan to discuss their work.

Since it is on our minds today, it makes sense that the topic of Iraq will be at the top of our broadcast tonight as well. There is much to report: the new troops on the way in, the investigation into the Marines' action at Haditha, and of course yesterday's casualties. We'll also look at the dangerous business of journalism in this war.

Also in tonight's broadcast, we'll update the situation on Java following the earthquake there, and report on the president's choice to head Treasury. We'll also note the end of the search for Jimmy Hoffa's body in Michigan.

Back to the lead story from Iraq: I commend to your attention the posts of late from our team over there, led by Richard Engel. Richard's premise is that he felt the concussion -- and believe me, he feels every one, along with the other members of our team over there. I read a great distillation last night from our veteran colleague at CBS  News, Allen Pizzey -- who in a post about their fallen crew and injured correspondent -- I think perfectly summed up the life of a foreign correspondent. 

THE DRUMBEAT CONTINUES...
About the relentless bad news from Iraq of late, especially the blast that took the lives of the CBS crew: let's also remember that an American family received word yesterday that their son, a Marine, a volunteer for duty, was killed on Memorial Day.

Dan Rather has written a lovely, emotional and gripping essay on his three CBS News co-workers and what they mean to him and to our profession. So while I will not attempt to make a significant addition to the biographical record, a few words are in order.

I last saw Kimberly Dozier in Mosul, during my last trip to Iraq. We had a great talk over several hours (as the U.S. commanding general we were covering met behind closed doors with local religious leaders) and I caught up with the last several months in her life. She is an ace reporter. She has all of Iraq wired, and has friends throughout the U.S. military. She is serious but hardly humorless, brave but never foolhardy. She toiled for years in her own solid, quiet way... without the title or recognition she deserved. Only recently did her coverage of the Iraq War receive the widespread recognition that top-flight correspondents are accustomed to. Even the most casual radio news listener has no doubt heard hundreds of reports she has filed over the years... often in the worst conditions, always with special attention paid to the facts and storytelling. We are all thinking of her and following her progress and prognosis.

I was able to find two photos today of trips I have made with Paul Douglas. One appears to be on board a Chinook helicopter in Iraq. The other, if memory serves, is on board a C-17 cargo jet en route to Bosnia. Friendships in journalism are often measured by the assignment. You will often hear things like, "I did Iraq and Somalia with him". If life is what happens between assignments or overseas trips, our work relationships mostly bear the name of the nation where we last gathered.  Paul and his partner James were those kind of guys: part of the "standing army" of field crews that make up the backbone of what we do for a living. They were as well-traveled as any people on earth, as resourceful as any infantryman, the guys you are thrilled to see when you arrive at a story anxious to discover who you're going to be sharing an aircraft/filing center/hotel lobby/motorcade with. We are thinking of their families.

Last night at a cookout with friends, we made a point to discuss the meaning of Memorial Day and note the sacrifice of the military families across this country. I then found myself engrossed in competing documentaries on Iraq veterans and their combat wounds on both MSNBC and CNN. It was a day for that kind of immersion, because it started with such bad news regarding members of our own extended journalism family.

We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

As Baby Boomers begin to turn 60, we'll tell you tonight how they're breaking all the rules about retirement and changing perceptions of growing older. Our special series, "American Boomer," continues.

Our correspondents in Baghdad, Richard Engel and Jim Maceda, also weighed in with their reaction to the bombing that killed two CBS journalists and wounded correspondent Kimberly Dozier. You can read -- and comment on -- their posts in "Blogging Baghdad."

Brian Williams is off this Memorial Day. So in his absence... I will honestly tell you it is a difficult day in our newsroom as our hearts go out to our colleagues at CBS. Word came this morning from friends at CBS that two of their own had been killed and another colleague critically injured in Iraq.  Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan died, and Correspondent Kimberly Dozier was seriously injured when a car bomb exploded in their convoy. They were on patrol with the 4th Infantry Division in Baghdad. One soldier was also killed in the attack... and six soldiers were wounded. We will have the details on what happened tonight... and also report on what was an especially deadly day in Iraq.

But on this Memorial Day... we just want to say our thoughts and prayers are with the family of that soldier and all the military families who have lost loved ones in Iraq... and on this sad day... with the friends and families of our CBS colleagues.

Just a note to let you know that Campbell Brown will anchor the broadcast this evening and be along a little later this afternoon to share a preview.  Until then, have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

As we prepare for tonight's broadcast, we continue to watch new pictures from Indonesia of the damage caused by the earthquake there Saturday. The death toll is still rising as authorities search for survivors.  They are still concerned about aftershocks... that's why so many refuse to go back inside homes and buildings.  NBC's James Hattori is on the scene and will join us live tonight with the very latest.

Also... immigration remains a hot topic as both sides in this debate try to come up with legislation before the fall election.  But there are no signs that the two sides have found much common ground.  NBC's Kevin Corke has that story.
            NBC's George Lewis has an interesting story from the U.S. Mexico border in California.  Illegal immigrants are finding new ways to enter the U.S.
We will have coverage of the Pope's visit to Auschwitz.
And NBC's Jim Maceda reports on a U.S. soldier who has already done 2 tours of duty in Iraq.  He has received 3 Purple Hearts for his heroism. And he's decided to stay in Iraq until the mission is complete.  Jim will have the story.
It's all coming up tonight.  We hope you'll join us.

On this Memorial Day weekend, we are following several important stories.
From Indonesia, the massive earthquake that has killed thousands and injured thousands of others.  NBC's Fred Francis is following that story.

Also... we are learning more tonight about the behind the scenes debate over the Justice Department investigation into corruption in Congress.  Today, the latest revelation that the nation's top 2 law enforcement officials were willing to quit rather than turn over evidence from a raid on a Congressman's office. NBC's Pete Williams is covering the story. 

President Bush addressed a new graduating class at West Point today. We'll hear what he had to say.

We'll find out how Americans are coping with the high gasoline prices this holiday weekend.
And the story behind some remarkable pictures of a volcano erupting underwater.
We'll have all those stories tonight.  We hope you'll join us.

Tonight on Nightly News, correspondent Kevin Tibbles updates you on the story of Johnny Hameed. Kevin first met Johnny 18 months ago when he arrived in the U.S. from his home country of Iraq. (Click to watch the video report from Oct. 19, 2004.) Alone since the age of eight, Johnny survived eight more years on the streets of Baghdad until he found trust, friendship, then refuge, with the U.S. Army. His new friends made sure Johnny would live in a safe environment from that time forward. His new home was Girls and Boys Town. 

You may remember Boys Town, the 1938 Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney movie which depicts life at Father Flanagan's Boys' Home in Nebraska. Decades later, the home is now called Girls and Boys Town, and it remains a beacon of hope for abused, abandoned and neglected boys and girls.

We recently visited Girls and Boys Town on graduation day. After a year-and-a-half and a steep, often difficult, learning curve, Johnny is a proud graduate of the class of 2006. The grads we met seemed filled with a greater joy, a bigger pride and an unmistakable sense of achievement. They marked the day not only with a diploma, but with the knowledge that they have overcome obstacles once thought insurmountable.

In the news field, we often cover tragic events, and in doing so our own lives are put in perspective. Less often, however, do we witness positive events that not only put life in proper perspective, but at the same time inspire and uplift. Seeing the joy on the faces of Johnny Hameed and the other students at Girls and Boys Town did just that.

What a surreal afternoon of cable news viewing. After a report of "gunshots" in or near the garage of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, the entire, massive post-9/11 emergency response apparatus swung into action and the RHOB was locked down for hours. A press conference was held by police (always, always a GREAT place to hear the word "ongoing", which I don't think gets used nearly enough in everyday conversation) and some otherwise responsible adults were left to give live interviews while locked into hearing rooms. The cameras worked, the audio was by cell phone -- and so people like Dana Priest of the Washington Post were forced to talk about "conditions inside" the room. It was reminiscent of the holding tank that astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were forced to live in after returning from the moon. (Remember their conversation with Nixon through the glass?)

July 24, 1969: President Richard Nixon talks with Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin, Jr., as they are confined to the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) aboard the U.S.S. Hornet, prime recovery ship for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. Photo courtesy of NASA.

In other news, the positively awful story, accelerated by a quote from a senior official at the Pentagon today, of the killing of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha. The implication is that it might have been murder. Frequent viewers will know we've been reporting this story closely and carefully. Tonight we will cover it, along with the context of the stresses of close-in combat in a place like Iraq.

We will also look at the surprise of the president's bilateral news conference last night, and we'll talk to Tim Russert about context as well.

As I write this, two separate cable channels are doing segments on the American Idol final round of two nights ago. When I tuned in Wednesday night, I saw David Hasselhoff weeping... which raised so many questions that I had to quickly change the channel and go back to watching the Yankees game.

It's been a long week. It started, for the members of our traveling broadcast team, when we landed in Nigeria in the pre-dawn hours Monday morning. It will end on a rainy Friday night of a holiday weekend here in New York. 

Since I was traveling when the news broke, I wanted to take a moment to publicly congratulate Charlie Gibson on his new position. Charlie is a friend and a terrific broadcaster, and I look forward to seeing him in the chair starting next week. Allow me as well to salute Elizabeth Vargas for a job well done... and we wish Elizabeth and her husband Marc the very best as they prepare for a new arrival in their home. Above all, Bob Woodruff remains in our daily thoughts as he continues what those close to him have described as a truly heroic recovery.

My thanks to Campbell Brown for filling in here last night while I attended a family event. I look forward to seeing the good folks of Elmira, N.Y., this weekend, as I head there to help celebrate a local landmark. I hope everyone has a safe and healthy Memorial Day weekend. Please try to find time to reflect on the meaning of the holiday... at least once between now and when the nation returns to work on Tuesday. We hope you can join us tonight.

BAGHDAD -- Thirteen-year-old Marwa never cried, even when I asked her to relive the night her parents were executed in their home. It surprised me. I wondered how she'd become so tough so quickly.

"Where were you when the gunmen came?" I asked Marwa as we sat together in a classroom in the orphanage where she now lives with her two younger sisters Alliya, 10, and Sora, 6. 

"I was asleep upstairs when I head the shots," Marwa said. "I ran downstairs and saw my mother. She was shot all over and was dead. My father was barely alive."

Her father died two days later of multiple gunshot wounds.

I swallowed hard and asked what happened after that.

"We lived with my uncle for about a year, and then came here."

"Why? Why did you have to come here?" I asked.  I hated asking the question, but it bothered me that her uncle would send the girls to live in an orphanage. I wanted to know how Marwa rationalized it. She was very matter of fact.   

"He couldn't afford to keep us, so he brought us here."

Editor's note: Read the rest of Richard's post in Blogging Baghdad and watch Nightly News tonight for more of the girls' story.

They said it couldn't be done, but she's proving them wrong. She's teaching them more than piano; she's teaching them about themselves. Find out how one woman is using music to reach children with autism, and in the process, "Making a Difference."

Hey everybody. Brian is away tonight, but will be back in the chair tomorrow.

The big story today: verdicts in the Enron trial. Ken Lay, the founder of Enron, was found guilty on all counts. He was facing six counts of conspiracy and fraud. Jeffrey Skilling, the former CEO, was convicted on 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors. We will have all the details on the trial, what will happen to the two men and the reaction of former Enron employees, many of whom lost everything when the company collapsed.

Also coming up... are we one step closer to real legislation on immigration reform? Tonight, the latest on the search for compromise.

President Bush is meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today... as rumors have been swirling in Washington that the two may make an announcement on troop withdrawals from Iraq tonight. Today the White House insisted there will be no announcement on that front. There will be a press conference this evening though. You can watch it live on MSNBC and here on MSNBC.com at 7:30 p.m. EDT, and we will be updating Nightly News tonight for our West Coast viewers.

Finally, we'll take a look at the increase in the rate of foreclosures in this country and why so many people are getting in over their heads. And the latest on the identify theft crisis that's affecting millions of veterans. It looks like even more information may have gotten out than was originally reported.

We'll see you tonight.

What with all the "big" and "breaking" news happening today, here's one small item that likely won't get much notice. But it can be considered a victory for the American taxpayer. The Treasury Department is killing the "sin tax" that appears on our phone bills and was the the subject of a Fleecing of America with correspondent Fred Francis (produced by yours truly) back in 1998. The purpose of the tax -- to pay for the Spanish American War. That's right... the "Remember the Maine" and Teddy Roosevelt and the Roughriders war. But now the Treasury Department says it will no longer collect the telephone tax on long-distance calls and it's going to refund about $15 billion to consumers.

The tax dates back to 1898, when telephones were seen as a luxury and lawmakers needed a quick tax to help pay for the Spanish-American War. The war ended, we won, but the tax stuck around for another 108 years. According to current plans, individual taxpayers can claim three years worth of refunds on next year's tax return.

The standard line on the morning editorial call on days like this is that the network should alert its affiliates that Nightly News needs an hour tonight, not just 30 minutes.

We're watching all the big stories for you:  The Enron verdict expected at Noon EDT, the Amtrak service outage in the northeast corridor, a Capitol Hill hearing about all that stolen veterans' data, the upcoming Senate vote on the immigration bill, and President Bush's meeting today with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Campbell Brown sits in the anchor chair tonight. I'll ask her to blog later this afternoon. In the meantime, she and our team of correspondents are hard at work sorting out all the day's news.

...it must be New York. Somewhat worse for wear, I got back to New York from Ghana (via London) in time to attend the afternoon editorial meeting. We are hashing through a number of stories that may land at the top of the broadcast tonight, including our reporting on the bird flu story from Indonesia.  We'll also take a look at the new effort in Iraq, and foreshadow the president's meeting tomorrow with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Tom Brokaw will join me tonight with a preview of Al Gore's new film, more accurately, a film based on the environmental presentation Gore has been making across the country. We'll also have a piece on the news out of the housing market and what viewers should know about it.

And we'll end tonight on our traveling host of the past several days: Bono. As you'll see, his tour continued for one day without yours truly, though our NBC News cameras and producers chronicled it all so that I was able to pore over it upon arrival back home.

Special thanks to the people at "ONE"(one of the organizations Bono represents) for what I understand were "NBC Nightly News viewing parties" in all 50 U.S. states last night... designed to watch our coverage of Bono's African tour. And special thanks -- and we of course expressed this in person before departing -- to Bono and the good folks he's surrounded himself with.  Calling them an "entourage" gives the affair the whiff of a rock tour, and the truth, as we found out, couldn't be further from that. He has top-flight policy folks briefing him every day, several times a day. There wasn't a fact that came up that he did not know, and it is knowledge he finds essential during his meetings with aid workers and heads of State. It was a whirlwind tour, and I'm chiefly proud of our contribution of attention to the cause. 

We hope you'll join us tonight.

KUBU SEMBILANG, Indonesia - Driving into this hardscrabble mountain village past thick orange groves and tall corn close to harvest, Kubu Sembilang does not appear to be the place where a worldwide pandemic of bird flu will begin.

But that is a still a very real fear, because despite the best efforts by field epidemiologists from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control, and the Indonesian government, the source of avian flu in this hamlet has not been discovered. The cluster began with one extended family living side-by-side in three homes and so far has killed seven of the eight members who came down with the virus.

Editor's note: You can read the rest of Fred's reporting on MSNBC.com by clicking here. He'll have the very latest developments on tonight's broadcast.

Brian meets a young boy in a village outside Bamako, Mali., on Mon., May 22.

Brian will anchor the broadcast from NBC News headquarters tonight after his two-day, four-nation swing through Africa. Producer Subrata De sent the above photo before they jumped on the plane home from Ghana and I'm sure Brian will have more to say about the trip this afternoon. If you missed any of the coverage, we've gathered it all here.

Our promoted story tonight concerns the housing market. You don't need us to tell you it's cooling, but does that mean that buyers now have the upper hand? Is the bubble really about to burst?

ACCRA, Ghana -- One of the places we visited with Bono today was a local medical clinic that for years had been running in the red and cutting services. But because Bono was able to relieve Ghana of debt to richer nations, the clinic is out of debt now and offering more services.

The estimates are that 9,000 people a day are dying here in Africa. And between the HIV and the malaria that are causing such a high death toll, Bono and others say the sad fact here is: a few dollars can save a life.

Two pills -- $2, taken twice a day -- can bring someone with HIV back from illness to a fully productive life. Mosquito netting -- $7 worth -- can save a child's life by preventing malaria. The tragedy is that it's that simple.

So many Americans have asked what they can do to help here. Bono's organization doing this work is called ONE. Their Web site can be found at www.one.org.

ACCRA, Ghana -- I am dictating this while again speeding across parts of Western Africa tonight. We spent yet another day with Bono and it was striking how he is welcomed here as a de facto visiting head of state... a point I will endeavor to make on tonight's broadcast. While some may find the coverage Bono receives something short of a deification... his work indeed makes it difficult to be too critical.

I saw, for myself, a health clinic today that is a direct result of his work. Throughout this continent, his efforts to forgive Africa's debt will only result in more good for more people. Tonight, at or near the top of the broadcast, we will take a good look at what has become his calling (or perhaps second calling after U2).

It has been an exhausting and whirlwind trip. I have learned he is close to his troops and he is surrounded by quality people.

Our Africa coverage is a small part of all that we have to bring you tonight, and we hope you'll join us.

Only hours before the president meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert -- today's House vote mandating an end of aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government goes too far, according to the administration. While the administration supports the idea of blocking aid from getting into the hands of Hamas, it says the legislation ties the president's hands in making foreign policy decisions -- giving him no leeway at all to  try to influence Hamas' posture toward Israel. Similar legislation is pending in the Senate. At today's State Department briefing, spokesman Sean McCormack said: "Certainly, the president as chief executive needs to retain certain authorities to be able to fully exercise his responsibilities as the person who implements our foreign policy." Translation: the administration is leaning toward the Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, and Joe Biden, D-Del., which gives the White House waivers to assert presidential authority.   

The White House has been pressed by Arab leaders and some European countries to moderate its stance against permitting aid to get to Hamas. The administration has been trying to find ways to channel "humanitarian aid" only -- to prevent what Palestinian leaders and some Israelis predict could be the complete collapse of the Palestinian government. There are negotiations with Europe as to what constitutes "humanitarian aid."

So... a crisis looms. After Hamas won the election, Israel cut off Palestinian tax receipts and now the U.S. and Europe have cut off aid. As a result, the Palestinian Authority has been unable to pay government salaries for three months. An estimated two-thirds of Palestinian adults are employees of the government. Teachers -- including one recently profiled by my colleague Ron Allen -- have been working without pay and are struggling to feed their own families.

Critics in the Arab world and Europe say that the administration's hard line -- which would be enshrined in law by the legislation approved by the House -- is empowering the more radical elements in Hamas. The administration says it cannot support Hamas as long as it refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist.

The Security Council is awaiting the outcome of several key meetings regarding Darfur and Iran that are taking place outside of U.N. headquarters this week before contemplating its next moves. 

Last Tuesday, the council unanimously approved a resolution giving Sudan one week to open its doors to a U.N. military assessment team wanting to plan a peacekeeping operation for Darfur. Khartoum had ignored an earlier U.N. request for access to the troubled region for several months and the hope was that a Security Council demand would force the government to say yes to the mission.  But, so far, that has not happened. To help press the case, recently-retired U.N. troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, is expected to hold talks in Khartoum on Wednesday and Thursday with Sudan's president and other top officials. Brahimi, who recently served as U.N. envoy for Afghanistan and Iraq, is accompanied by U.N. peacekeeping official, Hedi Annabi of Tunisia. They hope to convince Khartoum of the need to cooperate with the U.N. planning mission and to agree to such a U.N. force.  The African Union, of which Sudan is a member, gave its blessing last week to a transition from an African force in Darfur to a U.N. operation.

Permanent Security Council members and Germany are scheduled to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss a package of incentives aimed at persuading Iran to give up its nuclear enrichment efforts and come clean to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency about its controversial nuclear program. In separate meetings in Washington, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to talk with top U.S. officials Wednesday about Iran's nuclear ambitions. They include U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and Intelligence Chief John Negroponte.

Today, Brian and Bono travel another 620 miles from Bamako, Mali, to Accra -- the capital of the West African nation of Ghana -- home to beautiful beaches and a vibrant city center. But like many cities in West Africa, it struggles with extreme poverty. Consider this: New York state, home to 18 million people, has a budget of more than $100 billion. Ghana, where 20 million people live, has a budget of just $1.6 billion. But there is progress being made, which Brian will report tonight from Accra.

Here's a photo taken by producer Subrata De during their travels through Mali on Monday. For all the latest stories, blog posts and videos from the trip, click here.