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Hoping to end a tense stalemate in Iraq's Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah, U.S. Marines and a representative of the U.S. occupation authority hold direct talks with a delegation of insurgents. Marines maintain their one-sided cease-fire, and continue to surround the city. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and embedded KPBS reporter Eric Niiler.

The American intelligence community was sharply criticized at recent hearings of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. CIA Director George Tenet conceded his agency failed to translate knowledge of the dangers posed by al Qaeda to an effective defense of the nation. He also said it will take five years to develop a clandestine service capable of fully dealing with terrorist threats. NPR's Brian Naylor speaks with Daniel Benjamin, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the 1950's and 1960's, South Africa's National Party developed apartheid into an increasingly repressive political philosophy. The African National Congress was forced underground. Part Two of Joe Richman and Sue Johnson's series "Mandela: An Audio History" recalls the political history of the period, culminating with the arrest, trial and conviction of Nelson Mandela.

Shadid is Islamic affairs correspondent for The Washington Post. For more than a year now he has reported from Baghdad and has just returned to the United States. He just received the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. Before working for the Post, Shadid was a correspondent at The Boston Globe's Washington bureau. He spent nine years with The Associated Press, five of them in Cairo. He is the author of Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats, and the New Politics of Islam. In the spring of 2002, he was shot by Israeli troops in Ramallah while covering a story for the Globe.

Many consider the 26-mile men's marathon to be the Summer Olympics' most grueling event. Olympic race walker Curt Clausen -- an athlete who must push through 50 kilometers in about four hours, without breaking into a run -- would disagree. NPR's Tom Goldman profiles Clausen.

Former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev once loomed large over America, a symbol of the Cold War menace. Former CBS-TV anchorman Walter Cronkite recalls the rise and fall of the once-fearsome Kremlin leader. See photos from Khrushchev's historic 1959 visit to the United States.

Since World War II, about half the men in a small Mexican pueblo called Zoochila have moved to Los Angeles to find work. Those who stay home are grateful for the dollars sent back, but they don't see migration as a long-term solution to their poverty. Marianne McCune of member station WNYC has this report on Zoochila's attempt to use locally made mezcal to stop Zoochilans from going north.

The House of Representatives votes to double the reward offered for information leading to Osama bin Laden's capture. Lawmakers say they hope raising the bounty from $25 million to $50 million will renew interest in the reward. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

A soon-to-be released book by journalist Bob Woodward -- of Watergate fame -- says President Bush asked top military leaders to plan for war in Iraq even as U.S. soldiers were attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan. The allegations were largely confirmed by the White House press secretary. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Foreign aid workers, contractors and journalists are increasingly becoming targets of kidnappings across Iraq. The Al-Jazeera news network broadcast a video of a captured American soldier who identifies himself as 20-year-old Pfc. Keith Maupin. An American and a Danish citizen were seized Friday in separate incidents, and dozens have been kidnapped over the past two weeks. Many have been released fairly quickly -- but one, an Italian, was murdered by his captors. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.