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Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country in central Asia that has one particular resource of value: gold. It has also been seen as an island of democracy. China is particularly interested in events there. Robert Siegel talks with Martha Brill Olcott, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Pentagon officials are expressing guarded optimism that they may begin withdrawing a significant number of American military personnel from Iraq next year. But no one in the military leadership is discussing a full withdrawal yet.

India and Pakistan restart bus service through the disputed Kashmir region after nearly six decades of turmoil. Service began despite an attack on riders in India by Islamic separatist militants. The nuclear rivals have sparred over the border region since partition in 1947.

The Senate will vote Monday on the Bush administration's request for $87 billion in funds for postwar security and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But a provision that would have converted some of the aid from grants to loans disappeared this week after political maneuvering on Capitol Hill. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports.

The Senate Intelligence Committee places demands on the Bush administration for documents relating to prewar intelligence on Iraq. The Republican chairman of the committee and the ranking Democrat have written to administration officials insisting on a Friday deadline for the information. NPR's David Welna reports.

A review of the murder of convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan in prison -- and his general treatment while incarcerated -- suggests that the problems that led to his death are widespread in Massachusetts prisons. Low-risk inmates are being placed in maximum-security lockups with violent inmates. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises hospitals and doctors' offices to have patients wear a mask if they arrive with a cough and a fever. The precaution is designed to help prevent health workers from getting sick and help prevent patients in hospitals from getting SARS. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

The Bush administration re-organizes its effort to rebuild Iraq, creating the "Iraq Stabilization Group," headed by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. The move gives the White House a greater role -- and the Pentagon a smaller one -- in postwar planning for Iraq. Critics say the change is welcome, but overdue. Hear NPR's Michele Kelemen.

Both the House and Senate are debating President Bush's request for $87 billion in additional money for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some lawmakers are trying to convert some of the aid money from outright grants into loans. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports.

Mardy Murie, a pioneering conservationist who played a pivotal role in the establishment of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, died Sunday at age 101. A vigorous lobbyist for wilderness protection, Murie helped create both the Wilderness Society and the federal Wilderness Act. Hear NPR's Howard Berkes.