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Leaders of Iraq's Shiite majority criticize U.S.-led forces for what it sees as inefficient security at its holy sites. In an effort to step up security, Shiite militias are expanding their role in policing, establishing checkpoints and patrols, but U.S. forces demand they disband by today. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

Violence mars the beginning of the World Trade Organization talks in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday when a Korean protester stabs himself in the heart, dying moments later. The otherwise peaceful protests have brought together an array of people lined up against the WTO, from farmers to anarchists to animal rights activists. Hear NPR's Gerry Hadden.

In Geneva, Switzerland, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council discuss a U.S.-backed resolution which would give the U.N. a larger role in post-war Iraq. NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Robert Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, about the resolution's prospects.

Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss improving security within Iraq. The meeting comes two days after an explosion at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad killed more than 20 people, including the top U.N. envoy in Iraq. Hear retired Gen. William Nash and Nancy Soderberg, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt receives a warm welcome from members of a Senate panel considering his nomination to head the EPA. But the hearing takes a partisan turn, as Democrats use the occasion to bash the Bush administration's environmental record. The panel is expected to confirm Leavitt next week. Hear NPR's David Welna.

A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. intelligence safe house in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil Tuesday, killing at least three people and wounding about 50 others, including several Americans. Until now, the Kurdish-controlled city had been largely peaceful. Hear NPR's Emily Harris.

An assassination attempt in Baghdad leaves one of three women on Iraq's Governing Council seriously wounded. Aquila al-Hashimi underwent surgery after being shot outside her home, authorities say. She was preparing to leave for New York with an Iraqi delegation that hoped to assume Iraq's United Nations seat. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Guy Raz.

The outer bands of Hurricane Isabel sweep along the coast of North Carolina and Virginia as the storm nears landfall. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated, and tens of thousands of homes are without power. Forecasters says the storm will bring heavy rain, damaging gusts and potential flooding to several mid-Atlantic states. Hear NPR's Adam Hochberg.

President Bush will address the United Nations Tuesday to ask for greater international support as the United States struggles to restore stability and self-government in Iraq. Bush's request will be complicated by tensions resulting from the U.S. decision to go to war in Iraq without the U.N. Security Council's approval. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea.

Hundreds of identical letters have been sent to newspapers from U.S. soldiers in Iraq, extolling the successes of American forces there. The U.S. military says the letters are part of a spontaneous grassroots campaign, but many soldiers say they didn't write the missives that bear their names. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports.