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Negotiations to ease the crisis in Fallujah produce a ceasefire that provides amnesty for insurgents who disarm and refrain from future attacks, but U.S. forces remain poised to strike the Iraqi city if the pact fails. Officials from Fallujah, U.S. authorities and the Iraqi Governing Council met over the past three days in an effort to end the standoff. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

U.S. forces surrounding Fallujah loosen the perimeter they've established to allow injured residents to get hospital treatment without evacuating the besieged city. Meanwhile, U.S. military and administrative officials hold a second day of talks with representatives of the insurgents who control the city. Elsewhere in Iraq, two Japanese hostages are freed. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Emily Harris.

Senate hearings cast light on systemic problems within the U.S. military structure that may have contributed to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Testimony from top U.S. officials and military commanders suggests a lack of defined leadership, poor communication within the chain of command and confusion over rules for interrogating prisoners. Hear NPR's Jackie Northam.

After marathon talks in Bali, Indonesia, the U.N. climate conference agreed Saturday on a roadmap for negotiations for a new treaty to combat global warming. The conference nearly broke down, but in a last-minute compromise, the U.S. signed the pact.

Aquila al-Hashimi, a member of Iraq's interim governing council, dies in a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad of wounds sustained in an assassination attempt five days ago. Her death caps a day of violence, including a fatal explosion outside the hotel housing the staff of NBC News in Baghdad, and an ambush on a U.S. convoy in northern Iraq. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press finds that Americans have become more aware of the problems facing U.S. troops in Iraq, but continue to support the U.S. mission there. Only 23 percent of the 1,200 people polled said the operation in Iraq is going "very well," down from 61 percent in April. Hear Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center.

A U.S. soldier is shot and critically wounded in Baghdad, the latest in a wave of attacks by Iraqi gunmen opposed to the U.S.-British occupation. This week's attacks against British soldiers in southern Iraq raise fears that unrest may be spreading beyond Sunni Muslims -- who largely supported ousted leader Saddam Hussein -- to the country's Shia majority. Hear NPR's Kate Seelye.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld holds a news conference after a three-day fact-finding mission to Iraq. He emphasizes progress in restoring order there, but acknowledges ongoing difficulties. He says it's not advisable to send more U.S. troops, though he would support additional foreign troops to maintain control of the nation. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Emily Harris.

In his first-ever visit to Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell warns against speeding up the transfer of power to Iraqis, saying the result may be an Iraqi government that fails. Meanwhile, another U.S. soldier is killed and three wounded outside the Iraqi city of Fallujah, where eight Iraqi policemen were killed by U.S. forces on Friday. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

Insurgents in Iraq unleash one of the heaviest mortar and rocket barrages yet in Baghdad. Dozens were reported dead, including some who were reported killed when a U.S. helicopter fired on a disabled U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle as Iraqis celebrated around it. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and NPR's Peter Kenyon.