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Melissa Block talks with Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, about plans for hearings on the intelligence presented by the Bush administration on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center shows that favorable opinions about the United States abroad are still much lower than they were a year ago, though positive feelings got a modest boost with the swift end of the war in Iraq. Hear Andy Kohut of the Pew Research Center.

Her new book, Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950's, is about her two-year affair with the writer Patricia Highsmith. They met at a Greenwich Village bar and were both writing lesbian pulp novels under pseudonyms. Meaker wrote Spring Fire (1952) under the pen name Vin Packer. It sold 1.5 million copies. She also wrote under the name Ann Aldrich. Meaker writes young adult novels under the name M.E. Kerr. Highsmith is known for her classic novels Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Fifty years ago -- and two years before the famed bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala. -- black citizens in Baton Rouge, La., staged what's believed to be the first-ever organized protest of Jim Crow laws in the South. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports on the anniversary of the Baton Rouge bus boycott.

As the 140th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg approaches, historian James McPherson tours hallowed ground with NPR's Liane Hansen.

Forensic experts conduct DNA tests on the remains of people killed last week in a U.S. airstrike on an Iraqi convoy. The New York Times and a British newspaper, citing military sources, say U.S. forces believe former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons may have been traveling with the convoy. Hear NPR's Deborah Amos.

As part of his continuing series of stories on the challenges of getting by on a low-wage job in America, NPR's Noah Adams profiles Marzs Mata, a Detroit woman who doesn't have a car, can't afford to live near her job, and spends about five hours a day getting to and from work. Listen to other worker profiles, and see photos of the people profiled.

The Bush administration drafts a plan to investigate mass murders allegedly committed by the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. The plan calls for an international effort to exhume mass graves and collect forensic evidence for possible prosecutions. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports.

With the release this weekend of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, our summer reading series features Eden Ross Lipson, the children's book editor at The New York Times. In lieu of the Harry Potter books, she recommends Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy: The Golden Compass (Del Rey; ISBN: 0345413350), The Subtle Knife (Del Rey; ISBN: 0345413369, and The Amber Spyglass (Del Rey; ISBN: 0345413377). She also likes Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord (Scholastic; ISBN: 0439404371).

In a series of closed hearings, House and Senate committees examine whether U.S. intelligence about possible illegal weapons in Iraq were exaggerated to justify war. Meanwhile, U.S. officials say they expect 20,000 to 30,000 troops from other countries, including the Netherlands, Slovakia, Denmark and the Ukraine, will be in Iraq by August. Hear Dana Priest of The Washington Post and NPR's Michele Kelemen.