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Moving into their third day of fighting, U.S. troops in Fallujah capture close to one-third of the city. In Baghdad, kidnappers seize three family members of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and demand an end to the Fallujah offensive. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

Iraq's national assembly gives approval to a partial list of Cabinet heads submitted by Prime Minister-elect Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds are included, with the majority of positions going to Shiites. But several key leadership posts remain vacant, including the defense and oil ministries.

India's political leadership is about to change. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned after major losses by his party in parliamentary elections. Now National Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi appears poised to claim the prime minister's chair. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Philip Reeves.

U.S. and Iraqi forces report more progress on the sixth day of their joint offensive in Fallujah. But insurgents have occupied large areas of Iraq's third-largest city, Mosul, the scene of more violence. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and NPR's Philip Reeves.

Iraq's National Assembly endorses Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari's partial list of Cabinet members. But several key positions, including the ministers of defense and oil, have still not been named amid continued squabbling among the main political factions.

Nearly three months since Iraq's national elections, the formation of a transitional government appears stalled by squabbles over ministerial jobs among the Kurds, Shiites, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and the Sunnis. U.S. officials say insurgents are exploiting the political paralysis with renewed violence.

A series of insurgent bomb attacks in Iraq kill at least one American soldier and six Iraqis. The latter were killed in twin bombings outside a police academy in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit that also injured nearly three-dozen others.

Poet Ouyang Yu imagines an Olympic event in which he lifts up just one extraordinary word. "The magic of the word is that, when well lifted, it has the power to transform," Yu says.

For more than a decade, Cathy Granholm has been tracking the Laysan albatross. They come down to Hawaii every winter from Alaska to nest and raise their chicks.

The vice president spoke about the administration's domestic agenda enacted in a sweeping bill last month that will shift resources from social safety programs to immigration enforcement and tax cuts.