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The first federal trial over the painkiller Vioxx begins Tuesday in Houston. Pharmaceutical company Merck has defended its handling of the drug in two previous state cases, losing one of them. Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market last year after a study showed that the drug posed heart risks.

Drugmaker Merck faces more than 7,000 lawsuits related to its painkiller Vioxx. The first of four federal Vioxx trials is slated to begin Tuesday in Houston. The case involves a 53-year-old Florida man who had a fatal heart attack in 2001 after a month on Vioxx.

It will be very difficult for Sunnis to support the constitution as it is, according to Ghassan Attiyah, director of the Baghdad think tank the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy. But Attiyah also predicts Sunnis may not be able to muster the votes to defeat it in the coming referendum.

Major U.S. newspapers continue to cut staff to offset disappointing revenue. But recent layoffs and buyouts at two newspapers owned by the Tribune Company prompted editorial cartoonists to protest. The cartoonists fear the cost-cutting measures may signal the end of an era for their profession.

In California, federal authorities announce indictments against the head of an Islamic prison gang and three Los Angeles men suspected to be involved in terrorist plot to attack synagogues, National Guard facilities and at LAX airport.

Thousands of Iraqis attend funeral services for more than 900 people who died Wednesday in a panicked crush on a Baghdad bridge. The rumor of a suicide bomber sparked a mad rush during a Shiite religious festival. Amid the funerals there are calls for an investigation into the cause and accusations of a fumbled response to the disaster.

Some economists warn that Hurricane Katrina will have economic impact far beyond the Gulf Coast region. David Wessel, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, says the inability to refine and distribute oil in hurricane-battered areas could negatively affect the economy nationally, including unemployment.

Emergency managers in New Orleans had been debating whether the levee system would work in a major hurricane before Katrina hit. Federal funding cuts left many projects undone and local engineers were not surprised when water surged into New Orleans.

As many as 6,000 people died in the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas. Patricia Bellis Bixel, who wrote about the storm and how the city was rebuilt, details the operation for Debbie Elliott.

Many school districts along the Gulf Coast have stopped functioning, at least temporarily. Getting the youngsters back in school -- wherever they are now -- is a huge challenge. Claudio Sanchez, sorts out some of the key questions about the task.