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A major U.S. air offensive begins in Baghdad, with hundreds of missiles raining down on Iraq's capital city. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says the Iraqi leadership is starting to lose its hold on the country. NPR's Ron Elving and Larry Abramson report.

British troops are due to leave their base in central Basra and move to an airbase 10 miles outside the city; their full withdrawal from Iraq is expected by the end of the year. Military analysts say the United States — already stretched thin in Iraq — most likely will have to send its troops to Basra.

California researchers have discovered that moray eels have a second set of jaws in the back of their throats with razor-sharp teeth that help them catch their prey. The findings are published in the latest issue of the science journal, Nature.

Until two weeks ago, Norman Hsu was a prodigious fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. Since then, he has run from the law and forced the campaign to return all the money he raised. As he built a reputation as a political money man, his background lay hidden.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says prices of food commodities like grains and vegetable oils soared in March following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Thirty years ago, two spacecraft blasted from Earth loaded down with special tunes for aliens. Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, carried 27 pieces of music inscribed on a golden record. The spacecraft are still moving out to space mapping the cosmos.

Forecasters warned this week about the possibility of seiches on Lake Michigan. Seiches — oscillations that shift the water level, usually minutely — are common occurrences on the Great Lakes. But in extreme cases, they can cause a huge water level drop-off.

Construction of the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, expected to be the biggest embassy in the world, has been riddled with shoddy work and cost overruns. Congress has been holding hearings about the project and is awaiting a response from the State Department.

In an address to the U.N. General Assembly, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asks for international support to stabilize Iraq and bring peace to the region, warning of "disastrous consequences" for the world if the violence continues.

Charles Donohoe, the leader of a North Carolina Proud Boys chapter, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with the federal investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The Bush administration is reluctant to put a price on a war in Iraq, but estimates have soared -- some put the cost at $100 billion. Meanwhile, military buildup in the Persian Gulf already adds to the nation's defense expense. Hear reports from NPR's Jennifer Ludden and NPR's Scott Horsley.

Europe's Muslim population has doubled in the last decade, and an estimated 500,000 new immigrants -- most of them from Muslim nations -- arrive every year. In the second of a five-part series of reports, NPR Senior European Correspondent Sylvia Poggioli examines a volatile situation in Great Britain.

NPR's Susan Stone reports on a new Scottish film based on the hit novel Movern Caller. It uses music, specifically a cassette left for the title character by her dead boyfriend, to drive the story.

NPR's Joanne Silberner reports on a two-day meeting convened by the National Cancer Institute to talk about early events in pregnancy and the risk of breast cancer. Much of the meeting is closed to the public, and there's considerable discussion about abortion and the risk of breast cancer. The N.C.I. altered its scientific summary of the risks, changing its position that the risk is all-but-non-existent to a stance that science supports a risk. Critics charge that politics are influencing science on this topic, but opponents of abortion say the institute is finally interpreting the science correctly.

A group charged with rebuilding lower Manhattan today chose Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind's multi-structure design for the former World Trade Center site. Andrea Bernstein reports that the selection probably won't end the controversy of how to best honor the victims of Sept. 11. Also, NPR's Melissa Block talks with an architecture expert on the merits -- and downfalls -- of the design. See a photo of the winning plan.

Melissa Block talks to Rob Cockerham, who finds creative ways to quantify the contents of everyday containers. These include containers for toothpaste, Magic Shell, and shaving cream. He takes photos of his projects and posts them online.

The United Nations continues to debate war with Iraq over its weapons of mass destruction. These weapons seem all the more frightening because of worries they could fall into the hands of terrorists. For National Geographic's Radio Expeditions, NPR's Alex Chadwick visited Trinity, the remote New Mexico test site where the most terrifying weapon ever -- the atomic bomb -- was born.

NASA releases e-mails demonstrating that a day before space shuttle Columbia's demise, engineers privately worried about the impact of tile damage sustained at launch. The e-mails explored prophetic "what-if" scenarios that concluded the orbiter could lose its left wing and break up high in the atmosphere. Hear NPR's Richard Harris.

Melanie Peeples reports from Birmingham, Al., that an Internet site has become a way for so-called "military brats" to reconnect to childhood friends and sweethearts. The children of those serving in the military often spend their childhood moving from one base to another. Staying in touch through these countless relocations can be difficult. So far, about 60,000 of the millions of military brats have registered on the site searching for former friends and acquaintances.

The Bush administration thinks it might have a treasure trove of information about al Qaeda following the Saturday arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. He's allegedly the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and a man long sought by the United States. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, and NPR's Melissa Block talks with Tim McGirk who's following the story for Time Magazine.

It's estimated that hundreds of volunteer "human shields" are in Baghdad from the United States and elsewhere. They're placing themselves at installations in an effort to prevent U.S. bombing. NPR's Melissa Block talks to volunteer human shield Ken Nichols O'Keefe, and to Paul Eliopolous, an American who became an involuntary shield when arrested by Iraqis in Kuwait in 1990.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe faces tough questions on Capitol Hill during a hearing on the space agency's 2004 budget. Members of the House Science Committee also press O'Keefe for safety assurances following the loss earlier this month of the space shuttle Columbia. NPR's Eric Niiler reports.

Timineri's job is to help consumers understand what’s growing in Florida and how to incorporate it into our diets.

The speaker of Turkey's parliament promptly nullifies a vote that appeared to give narrow permission for U.S. troops to use Turkish bases as a staging area for a potential military strike against Iraq. Absences and abstentions prevented lawmakers who favored the proposal from achieving an absolute majority. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

Iraq says it is studying a U.N. order to dismantle its Al Samoud 2 missile program, but withholds making a decision on the order. Meanwhile, as the possibility of war with Iraq increases, the Bush administration's new new office of postwar planning scrambles to organize a strategy. Hear journalist Paul Eedle and NPR's Jackie Northam.