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A new poll indicates a growing number of Americans are concerned at a lack of international support for military action against Iraq. The poll found two-thirds of Americans would back use of force, but only under specific conditions. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Members of Iraq's American-appointed governing council are unhappy about the way the United States is awarding contracts for reconstruction. They say the process excludes potential Iraqi contractors, who would charge much less for the work, and favors huge American companies and their foreign sub-contractors. And council members say the process is riddled with bribery and kickbacks. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

U.S. troops clash with Shiite Muslim militia in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala, killing at least three American soldiers and at least eight Iraqis. In Baghdad, a roadside bomb kills a U.S. military policeman and wounds two other Americans. NPR's Deborah Amos reports.

An Islamist Web site posts video showing militants, led by Abu Musab Zarqawi, beheading a man identified as American contractor Eugene Armstrong. American Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley are still held by the group, which demands the release of Iraqi women prisoners. Peter Kenyon reports.

Increasingly, the American film industry is producing movies that target both English-speaking art house audiences and Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States. Among such films is Maria Full of Grace, shot in Spanish in the U.S. and Latin American with English subtitles. David D'Arcy reports.

NPR's Melissa Block reports on the controversy over Bruce Springsteen's new song that alludes to the police shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo. The song is called American Skin. New York City's police union leaders are irked over the song's lyrics — quote — "You can get killed just for living in your American skin."

One hundred years ago today, Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland applied for a U.S. patent on a substance he dubbed Bakelite, the first "true" synthetic plastic. Michele Norris talks with Dr. Jeffery Meikle, a historian of American plastic, about how Baekeland's invention affected the world's thinking.

The strikes were retaliation after a drone linked to Iran killed an American contractor and injured 5 American service members.

Long before World War II, the U.S. rounded up Native Americans and forced them onto reservations.

Friday marks the first day of Kwanzaa, an annual celebration of African American culture culminating in a communal feast called Karamu on Dec. 31.