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A senior curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has been indicted in Italy on criminal charges related to the acquisition of several items in the museum's collection. Marion True, curator for antiquities, denies the charges. Michele Norris talks to Suzanne Muchnic of the Los Angeles Times about the case.

Just after World War II, the Vatican instructed French Catholic authorities not to hand baptized Jewish children back to their parents, according to a recently revealed document. The discovery has re-rekindled disputes over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died Thursday in a French hospital at age 75. Arafat helped found the Palestine Liberation Organization and dedicated much of his life to fighting for an independent Palestinian homeland. Arafat's funeral will be held Friday in Egypt. He'll be buried Saturday in Ramallah. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden.

The nation's gross domestic product, or value of goods and services, grew at a 4.2 percent annual rate during the first three months of the year, an improvement over the end of 2003 but not as strong as many analysts were expecting. The Commerce Department's prime price index, omitting food and energy, rose 2.3 percent, compared with 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

As U.S.-led forces in Iraq confront a growing insurgency, they face an ominous new developmtent: hostage-taking. American Marines continue to battle for control of the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. In southern Iraq, Shiite fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr are said to be in full control of two towns and parts of another. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Philip Reeves.

Baghdad's new police force begins work Monday with new uniforms and new leadership. Zuhar Abdul Razaq, a former police officer chosen by the U.S. Army to temporarily lead the force, says he will focus on reassembling the police force and on controlling the looting and lawlessness that has pervaded the city since U.S. forces invaded more than three weeks ago. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

After spending 20 years in a mental institution, Spider has just been released back into his old neighborhood in the East End of London. He's sent to a halfway house run by the brusque Mrs. Wilkenson (Lynn Redgrave). There he meets Terrence (John Neville), a talkative resident who explains that in a loud world, the halfway house is like an island ruled by a queen. Terrence tries to befriend Spider who keeps very much to himself. But Spider still manages to irritate Mrs. Wilkenson by initially refusing to bathe and insisting on wearing all his clothes at once. As Terrence notes, "Clothes maketh the man. The less the man, the more the need for clothes."

Ralph Fiennes delivers brilliant performance

The basic storyline can be summed up as a revenge tale in which a woman is raped, and her lover and friend attempt to find the rapist to punish him. But those are just plot details. As with Memento, Irreversible chooses to tell its tale in reverse. So the film begins with the end credits which run backwards and are done in a bold all-caps font with many letters reversed for a further disorienting effect. Then theres a kind of prologue with a character known to Noe fans as the Butcher (played by Philippe Nahon in each of Noes films). The Butcher lays out the essential precepts of the film: man is an animal and time destroys all things. The camera eventually moves out the window of the Butchers room to reveal chaos below. A badly beaten man on a stretcher is being taken out of a gay club and hes followed by another man whos being escorted by the police. All the while the gay patrons are hurling vulgar and vile taunts, threats and insults at the pair who were obviously involved in some sort of fight inside the club.

U.N. officials on Thursday will talk about Iraq's weapons declaration, but U.S. officials aren't waiting. The Bush administration insists there are "serious omissions" in the 12,000-page document. Britain agrees, and announces plans to ship military hardware to the Arabian Gulf. Hear NPR's Vicky O'Hara and NPR's Guy Raz.