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Officials at the State and Defense departments accuse Pentagon leaders of ignoring a pre-war report that detailed many of the problems U.S. forces were likely to face in postwar Iraq. Critics say that because the warnings in the State Department study were not heeded, American troops were under-prepared for looting and other postwar challenges. Hear NPR's Ari Shapiro.

Retail giant Wal-Mart is facing criticism over an internal memo that proposes aggressive moves to trim employee benefit costs, such as discouraging unhealthy people from taking jobs at Wal-Mart. The company, whose stock price has dropped over the last year, is under pressure from investors to cut costs.

President Bush installs John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, making a recess appointment to circumvent the Senate, where Democrats blocked approval of the nominee. Bolton will be able to serve until a new Congress forms in 2007.

President Bush says he approved domestic spying on people with suspected terrorist links without court warrants because it was "a necessary part of my job to protect" Americans from attack. At a press briefing, he said he would continue the program as long as the country faced terrorist threats.

In Iraq, another deadline has come and gone without agreement on a draft constitution. Thursday, the speaker of Iraq's National Assembly, Hashim al Hassani, announced shortly before midnight that negotiators need more time.

Confrontations erupt as Israeli settlers protest their forced removal from the Gaza Strip. The clashes came as other settlers rushed to leave the area before the midnight withdrawal deadline. At least 50 arrests have been reported.

In an 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court upholds the $1,000 damage limit under the federal Truth in Lending Act. The case involved a man who was misled while arranging a car loan. The consumer maintained that changes in the law approved by Congress meant that he was entitled to more than the law's original damages cap. Hear NPR's Nina Totenberg.

Army Spc. Charles Graner is sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the abuse of inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Graner, one of several U.S. soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, has been portrayed as the catalyst of the abuses.NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

A survey by a group called The Catalogue for Philanthropy finds the poorest American states score the highest on their "generosity index" for 2004 -- an annual scorecard ranking states by how much their residents give to charities in proportion to how much they have. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and George McCully, a trustee of the Ellis L. Phillips Foundation and project coordinator for The Catalogue for Philanthropy.

The 9/11 Commission will soon release details on an inquiry into the military intelligence unit Able Danger. At issue is what the group knew about hijacker Mohammed Atta before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.