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On this May the 4th, now known as Star Wars Day, we listen back to an original NPR review of the now beloved classic. In 1977, Tom Shales reviewed the new film Star Wars for NPR.

With New York's Times Square set to mark its 100th anniversary this month, writer James Traub releases The Devil’s Playground, the story of how this mercurial district became one of the most famous and exciting places in the world. Hear NPR's Howard Berkes and Traub.

Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's chief national security adviser, will appear Thursday before the Sept. 11 commission. Rice will testify under oath for the first time. She met privately with panel members in February. This appearance follows questions raised by others who have testified before the commission. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi vows to maintain his country's participation in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, despite the execution of an Italian hostage by Iraqi militants. The militants are threatening to kill three other Italian hostages seized this week if Italian troops aren't withdrawn. Hear NPR's Sylvia Poggioli.

Some 2,500 U.S. troops remain deployed on the outskirts of the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, where radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is holed up. Iraqi and Iranian officials are meeting with Sadr in hopes of averting a full-scale assault on Najaf. NPR's Melissa Block talks with NPR's Philip Reeves.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry criticizes the stay-the-course strategy President George Bush reiterated in his White House news conference Tuesday night. Kerry, the presumed Democratic nominee for president, said at a news conference in New York that the president has been too inflexible in his plans and has alienated U.S. allies. NPR's David Welna reports.

A week ago, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected to a second term in a country emerging from more than a decade of civil strife. Many Algerians wonder how he intends to bridge the gap between the nation's Islamists, secular civil society and restless ethnic Berber minority. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

In the second of three stories on the mood of the country, NPR's John Ydstie visits a farm cooperative in Lincoln County, just outside St. Louis. The biggest issue is growth and development, as farm land turning into housing divisions and suburbs. On the national and international front, the war in Iraq is most important - and views are mixed. The economic outlook has brighten a lot in this region with corn and soybean prices up so overall, there's a pretty optimistic outlook.

Young female chimps learn how to use sticks to fish for termites faster than their male peers, according to a report in the journal Nature. Researcher Elizabeth Lonsdorf studied a test group of wild chimpanzees from the Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Similar sex-based differences have been seen in human children learning new skills. Hear NPR's Christopher Joyce and Lonsdorf.

NPR's Michele Norris talks with KPBS reporter Eric Niiler who is embedded with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force outside the Iraqi city of Fallujah where four civilian security contractors and five soldiers were killed in separate attacks earlier this week. The city is a flashpoint of anti-American violence.

NPR's Howard Berkes and New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen discuss the dilemma of William Gooch of South Holland, Illinois. He got lucky enough to win a lottery to purchase hard-to-get baseball tickets. He wonders whether it's right to sell a ticket to his friend for more than face value.

Surrounded by a mountain forest, a Buddhist monastery floats on a lake in the new movie Spring Summer Fall Winter... and Spring. Bob Mondello says that within the monastery's walls, director Kim Ki-Duk finds all of life's angers, sorrows and joys.

As gas prices hit a record high, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry attacks President Bush for failing to do enough to address the situation. Meanwhile, the Bush campaign launches ads accusing Kerry of supporting a hike in gas taxes. Hear NPR's Scott Horsley.

Fallujah, the site of gruesome attacks on four U.S. civilian contractors Wednesday, has a long and bloody history. Experts on the area say they are not surprised by the violence of this week's attacks. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University.

Twenty years ago the nation faced a new drug scourge: crack cocaine. With it came thousands of children born to addicted mothers and labeled "crack babies." When the drug first hit the streets of New York in the 1980s, the city had 17,000 children in foster care. A decade later, that number had soared to 50,000. Many of the children had been exposed to crack cocaine before birth. NPR's Cheryl Corley speaks with several people who were affected in some way by the crack epidemic.

Last week, Michelle Witmer was killed in Baghdad, becoming the first woman in the history of the Wisconsin National Guard to die in combat. Witmer's two sisters also serve in Iraq. After the funeral, they face a decision: return to Iraq or complete their tour of duty elsewhere. Wisconsin Public Radio's Brian Bull reports.

U.S. Marines in Fallujah have discovered weapons, documents and tapes that suggest non-Iraqi Arabs have played a substantive role in the anti-U.S. insurgency in Fallujah. Letters suggest many of the foreign fighters are Sunni Muslims who came to fight the Shiite majority. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and KPBS reporter Eric Niiler in Fallujah.

Negotiations continue to end the fighting between U.S. Marines and insurgents in Fallujah. U.S. forces have besieged the Sunni stronghold after the killing and mutilation of four U.S. security contractors there last month. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and Washington Post correspondent Karl Vick.

Security and insurance costs are driving up the price of rebuilding Iraq, according to contractors. An official with the Coalition Provisional Authority told Congress this week that security costs now represent at least 10 percent of the total contract amounts awarded. The official's report warns that more cash might be needed to finish the job. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

Mars' longer days make for a topsy-turvy schedule for the scientists here on Earth operating the two NASA rovers exploring the planet. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

Sen. John Kerry has all but secured the Democratic Party's nomination for president, but rival U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio continues campaigning. Kucinich says he's staying in the race to keep certain issues alive within the party: universal health care, trade reform and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Kucinich speaks with NPR's Bob Edwards.

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh tells the Sept. 11 panel that, given limited resources and legal authority, his agency did everything it could to fight terror prior to the 2001 attacks. The commission releases documents showing Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected an FBI request for more money on Sept. 10, 2001, and that fighting terror was not a Justice Department priority prior to Sept. 11. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

The herbal supplement ephedra is now officially banned in the United States, as a federal judge in New Jersey rejects an appeal to keep the weight-loss aid on the market. Ephedra is the first dietary supplement to be banned nationally. Government studies have linked the substance to heart ailments and deaths. NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports.

Witnesses in Iraq say a U.S. military convoy has been attacked near Fallujah. The U.S. military won't confirm the reports, but says it will have a measured and overwhelming response to attacks in and near the restive town Wednesday that killed nine Americans, including four civilian contractors. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

Marches for and against abortion rights swell after a leaked draft opinion shows a majority of the Supreme Court is ready to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling that established the right to abortion.