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NPR's Alex Chadwick talks to Peter Hahn of The Los Angeles Times, reporting from Baghdad, about the reported beheading of a South Korean man captured and held hostage by Islamic militants in Iraq. The Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera reports contractor Kim Sun-il, 33, was killed even as negotiations were underway to free him. The hostage has been threatened with death unless South Korea reconsidered plans to send thousands of troops to bolster the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.

Israel's attorney general has decided not to prosecute Prime Minister Ariel had been accused of accepting bribes from a real estate developer, but the attorney general concluded there was not enough evidence to pursue the case. Hear NPR's Peter Kenyon.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has nominated a four-star general to take command of U.S. forces in Iraq. Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. would replace Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. Colleagues say Casey has demonstrated the ability to work closely with U.S. diplomats, a skill that will be needed in Iraq when the U.S. embassy goes into business in July. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

During a campaign stop in the battleground state of Missouri, President Bush faces criticisms over the new Medicare prescription-drug discount card. Critics say the program is too confusing and unlikely to attract those it could benefit the most -- low-income seniors. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

President Bush had hoped the No Child Left Behind Act would help him counter the view that Democrats care more about public education than Republicans. But growing criticism of the law makes it unclear if the president's record on education will give him an edge against John Kerry. Bush's stance on education has polarized residents in West Virginia, a state that's up for grabs in the November presidential election despite its Democratic majority. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

When former President Bill Clinton met with George W. Bush before leaving office, he told his successor that Osama bin Laden, the Middle East and North Korea posed more of a threat to U.S. national security than Iraq, Clinton says. In the first part of a two-part interview, Clinton also tells NPR's Juan Williams that bin Laden dominated intelligence discussions at the White House.

A group of American human rights lawyers is suing two U.S. civilian contracting companies, saying the contractors conspired to torture detainees in U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. The lawyers say both the contractors and the government were involved in a "torture conspiracy" and should be prosecuted. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.

NPR's Alex Chadwick talks to NPR's Deborah Amos, reporting from Baghdad, about the reaction in Iraq to the United Nations resolution supporting the American and British plan for handing over power in Iraq. The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed the resolution on Tuesday.

Reading Recovery is one of the world's most widely used reading intervention programs for young children. A new study questions its long-term impact.

Iraqi Kurds send a letter to President Bush expressing concerns over the country's new leadership and threatening to withdraw from the interim government. The minority Kurds say they are not adequately represented in the body. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and Ambassador Peter Galbraith of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation.