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U.S. troops stationed outside Karbala maintain a low profile as the Iraqi holy city shows signs of a return to normalcy. Electricity is restored, civilian volunteers police the streets and a religious pilgrimage -- banned for decades under Saddam Hussein's rule -- ends peacefully. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep.

On a Navy hospital ship in the Persian Gulf, the USNS Comfort, American doctors often need translation help to understand their injured Iraqi charges. Lt. Ramzey Azar, an environmental health officer on the Comfort, is of Lebanese origin and often assists in translating. This is Lt. Azar's NPR War Diary.

As the war in Iraq progressed, NPR's Anne Garrels was the only U.S. network reporter to continue broadcasting from the heart of Baghdad. Her reports, delivered on a smuggled satellite phone, took listeners through some terrible times. Now safely back home in Connecticut, Garrels recalls her time covering the war in an interview with NPR's Susan Stamberg. Hear an extended version of the interview.

The U.N. Security Council discusses President Bush's call to lift sanctions against Iraq. France meets the United States part way, suggesting an immediate suspension of sanctions targeting Iraqi civilians. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

The Bush administration says Iran is sending agents into Iraq to influence the development of a postwar government. Iran and Iraq are bound by religion but often in conflict over culture and politics. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and Owen Matthews of Newsweek.

Air Force Capt. Nicholas Bird, a flight surgeon serving in the Persian Gulf region, talks about the boredom that has set in since the early days of the Iraq war.

In the final of four stories marking the 50th anniversary of DNA's discovery, NPR's Jon Hamilton reports that genetic causes of mental illness have proved illusive to find. As scientists began to understand how genetic material controls the human body, they were confident that such research could help unlock the secrets of the brain, but that hasn't happened.

President Bush will soon declare an official end to the war in Iraq and outline his plans to rebuild that country, White House officials say. Meanwhile, U.S. military officials say water and electricity have been restored to large portions of the Baghdad. NPR News reports.

More than half of the cases of SARS reported so far have occurred in China, where officials say 115 people have died and more than 2,600 are infected. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Chen Min, a Beijing teacher, about life with SARS; and with Shannon McEwan about the situation in Wuhan, in Central China, where she teaches English at a private school.

An important Iraqi intelligence official is in U.S. custody. Farouk Hijazi was accused of planning a plot to assassinate the first President Bush in the early 1990s. A Pentagon official says Hijazi met with Osama bin Laden in 1996. Defense officials hope his capture will produce valuable new information. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

For many, the best analogy for the way DNA works is that it's like a computer program at the heart of every cell. Some of its programming tricks bear an uncanny resemblance to ones the human brain has dreamed up. But DNA also works in ways human programmers find entirely alien. David Kestenbaum takes the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first scientific description of DNA to speak with researchers trying to understand this odd and extraordinary piece of "software," which is the product of billions of years of evolution.

Chinese health officials report seven more deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, raising China's SARS-related deaths to 122. In Beijing, a second hospital is sealed off and 4,000 residents are under quarantine. Disease experts urge people to heed travel advisories. Hear NPR's Rob Gifford and NPR's Linda Wertheimer.

One of the few major encounters with the Iraqi Republican Guard the U.S. Marine's 1st Division encountered during its drive to Baghdad was at the small Tigris river town of Aziziyah. NPR's John Burnett was with the 1st Division as it moved on to Baghdad. He retraces his steps to see what the battle was all about. He discovers what appears to have been an accidental U.S. bombing of a village near Aziziyah in which 31 civilians were killed as they slept.

Shoba Narayan has written about her journey from southern India to the United States in her new book Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes, celebrating food, family ties and Indian culture. View a video of Narayan demonstrating the correct way to cook vegetable dosa, and get recipes for some of the other dishes featured in Lynn Neary's report.

Host Bob Edwards speaks with NPR's Guy Raz on the capture of Tariq Aziz, deputy prime minister in the former Baath Party government of Saddam Hussein. He is the highest-ranking Iraqi government official so far apprehended by the United States.

U.S. officials take custody of a former Iraqi spy chief. The arrest of Farouk Hijazi comes a day after Tariq Aziz, Iraq's highly visible former deputy prime minister, turned himself in to U.S. officials. Some believe Aziz may be able to disclose information on the status of Saddam Hussein. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR's Guy Raz.

At least nine people are killed and several others injured in Baghdad after a munitions dump near a heavily populated neighborhood catches fire. U.S. soldiers say unidentified assailants had fired flares into the depot, sparking explosions. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

President Bush says he is confident weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq, and suggests ordinary Iraqi citizens may provide key information. Meanwhile, about 1,000 weapons and intelligence experts, including former U.N. weapons inspectors, prepare to head to Iraq. Hear Terrence Taylor, a former U.N. weapons inspector.

The U.S. administrator for Iraq, Jay Garner, says he believes an interim governing council to replace the regime of Saddam Hussein will be in place by mid-May. Garner said the council will be comprised of returned exiles and local Iraqi leaders. In Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, U.S. forces stage raids against armed groups that still support the former Iraqi leader. Hear NPR's Scott Simon.

Once one of the most advanced mental institutions in the region, Baghdad's Al-Rashad Mental Hospital is now struggling to care for its rapidly deteriorating patients. Looters have left the facility without beds, food, anti-psychotic drugs and other critical supplies. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Damascus, Syria. He's expected to press Syrian leaders to drop support for for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups that the Bush administration views as terrorist organizations. NPR's Kate Seelye reports.

From the deck of a homebound aircraft carrier, President Bush terms the defeat of Saddam Hussein "one victory" in a continuing war on terrorism. Bush says major combat operations in Iraq have ended, but U.S. efforts to install a democracy require more time. Hear an NPR News report.

New Hampshire's famous landmark, the Old Man of the Mountain, collapses in a landslide. The series of granite ledges resembled a human face in profile. The image was used on state road signs and even the back of the New Hampshire quarter. Hear NPR's Lynn Neary and museum volunteer Cathy Nelson.

Egyptian Sayyid Qutb's writings were the foundation for al Qaeda and other radical Islamic movements. But the America he visited in 1949 -- the conservative town of Greeley, Colo. -- doesn't really seem like the soulless, materialistic place that would inspire such hatred of the West. NPR's Robert Siegel visits Greeley to talk about the town as it was and as it is today. Read excerpts from Qutb's book about Greeley, and view photos of the town.

The State Department confirms reports that Saddam Hussein and his family seized about $1 billion from the Iraqi central bank hours before the start of the U.S.-led invasion. U.S. officials say they are trying to trace the missing cash, which may have helped fund an escape by the Hussein family. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.