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The U.S. is one of the world's largest economies, but it lags when it comes to happiness: the World Happiness Report ranks America number 19.

A man's father slipped on peacock droppings. The peacock was in a tree so he cut the tree down. The Guardian reports that the man faces a fine of up to $10,000 for taking it down without a permit.

This piece, from a new album of orchestral works by Richter, depicts the opening of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway by pairing pulsating rhythms with the composer's signature wistful melodies.

New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey resigns, acknowledging an extra-marital affair with a man. Speaking alongside his wife, McGreevey said he "engaged in adult consensual affairs with another man." Hear NPR's Michele Norris and Eugene Sonn of member station WBGO.

Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry barnstorms through Midwestern states. At some stops, he's made time to meet with small groups still trying to fill out a picture of the candidate from Massachusetts.

U.S. troops and Iraqi forces storm into the center of Najaf in what Marine commanders are calling a final push to crush a rebellion by supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The cleric and hundreds of his followers are believed to be inside the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Ivan Watson.

Speeches at the Republican Convention portray President Bush as a strong wartime leader. After Sen. John McCain made the case for war in Iraq, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani assailed Bush's opponent, Sen. John Kerry. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Robert Smith.

The Supreme Court decides to consider the constitutionality of federal sentencing guidelines. The court agreed to fast-track the case, since a related ruling this summer about state sentencing guidelines threw courts across the country into confusion. At issue is the power of judges to single-handedly adjust the length of criminals' sentences. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and Douglas Berman, professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University

Sen. John Kerry seeks to define his campaign by his combat experience in the Vietnam War -- a tour of duty that earned him three Purple Hearts and a Bronze and Silver star for valor. But Kerry's campaign has come under fire by a group of GOP-linked activists who question his wartime conduct in a television ad. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

An American soldier is killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack east of Baghdad Saturday. Despite violence directed at U.S. troops in Iraq, U.S. civilian administrator Paul Bremer says he doesn't see "any hatred among the Iraqi people" for America. And three months after major combat ended in Iraq, streets are crowded and markets are flourishing in Baghdad. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.