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About 1,000 U.S. soldiers parachute into an airfield in an area controlled by Iraqi Kurds in the latest U.S. effort to threaten the Iraqi regime from the north. In the southern cities of Basra and Nasiriyah, U.S. and British forces continue to face combat. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Ivan Watson.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin says the United Nations should lead the reconstruction and administration of post-war Iraq. At a speech in London, Villepin says the appearance of a U.S. military occupation must be avoided to ease tensions in the volatile Middle East region. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

NPR's Melissa Block sits in on a class at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. The class is called The United States, the Middle East, and the War on Terrorism. The topic of the day was the war in Iraq. Some students think the war is going well, with casualties kept to a minimum. Others say the resistance to U.S. troops shows that the Bush administration misled the public into thinking this would be an easy victory.

NPR's Michele Norris speaks with NPR's Eric Westervelt, traveling with the 3rd Infantry Division and currently positioned near Najaf, Iraq. The troops he's with have maintained their location and have experienced sporadic attacks from Iraqis in non-military vehicles. The attackers wear traditional Iraqi clothing, making it hard to differentiate between soldiers and civilians.

NPR's Robert Smith looks at how preliminary reports of an uprising by Iraqi citizens in Basra yesterday quickly grew to a prominent position in the news coverage of the war despite a lack of details to back up those reports.

Iraqi militias continue to attack American and British forces along a 200-mile stretch of the Euphrates valley. Allied troops successfully repulse the attacks, but the unexpected resistance is changing the timetable for the U.S.-led advance on Baghdad. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.

NPR's Howard Berkes visits Tonopah, Nevada, the hometown of 2nd Lt. Fred Pokorney. Lt. Pokorney was killed along with eight other Marines on Sunday in Iraq. He leaves behind a wife and 2-year-old daughter, and friends and neighbors who remember him as an exemplary person and outstanding member of the Marine Corps.

Lynn McConaughey was a friend of Paul Moran, a cameraman for Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Moran died in a car bombing in Iraq last Saturday. McConaughey says Moran was able to find a good quality in everyone he met.

Two widows who lost their husbands Sept. 11 talk about the war in Iraq. One feels her husband's death requires retribution; the other spends sleepless nights worrying about the death of innocent Iraqis.

Some states and local law enforcement agencies have taken it upon themselves to develop their own firearm hand-in laws that they can effectively enforce. That’s happened in California, Washington state, Colorado and Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.