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President Clinton today used the Grand Canyon as a backdrop to his announcement that he was designating 1.7 million acres of Utah land as a national monument. The designation is intended to limit development of a coal mine in the area, and was expected to help the president solidify his support among pro-environmental voters. NPR's David Molpus reports.

In northern Pakistan, a deal is in the works to end the war in the Swat Valley, once a vacation destination now largely in the hands of the Taliban. The Taliban in the area unilaterally declared a ten-day ceasefire in the Swat Valley after the provincial government in northwest Pakistan and Islamist militants reached an agreement in which Islamic judicial practices will be enforced in part of the northwest.

At least 26 people die in a suicide bombing in the northern Iraqi town of Rabia, west of Mosul. Officials say the victims were members of the Iraqi security services. Officials said the attack occurred in the midst of recruits who were training in a security-controlled area, and that some of the guards may have knowingly allowed the attacker to enter.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Ivan Watson in northern Iraq about the exodus of Kurds from their homes and villages, in anticipation of an American assault on the forces of Saddam Hussein. Many Kurds are heading to the relative safety of the mountains, fearing that Saddam might respond to a U.S. assault with chemical or biological weapons attacks on Kurdish areas.

U.S. Army engineers begin excavating a rubble-filled crater in Baghdad that was the site of an April 7 bombing which officials believe may have killed Saddam Hussein. Residents of the area say the former Iraqi ruler's remains were not among those pulled from the devastated home. NPR's Nick Spicer reports.

NPR's Mara Liasson reports on this week's fundraising controversies involving Vice President Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of staff, Maggie Williams. What's clear is how raising money pushes limits. It's a craft that works in loopholes, gray areas and blurry lines, making it difficult to determine if the letter of the law was broken.

In Indonesia's Aceh province, efforts to rebuild after the Indian Ocean tsunami are underway. In many parts of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, the water and the electricity are back. In certain parts of Banda Aceh, you would not know the city had been struck by a tsunami. But in the worst affected areas, reconstruction programs have a long way to go.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr moves into Najaf in southern Iraq Tuesday, surrounded by supporters. In a statement, Sadr promised more violence unless U.S. troops pull out of populated areas and release all Iraqi prisoners. American officials have branded Sadr an outlaw. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

The humanitarian crisis continues amid violence in the western Darfur region of Sudan. Gun battles and ethnic cleansing have displaced villagers in the area, and many rapes have reportedly been committed by Arab militiamen on the fringes of refugee camps set up for black Africans. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and Washington Post correspondent Emily Wax.

The U.S. Forest Service cancels a Clinton administration policy that banned road building in nearly 60 million acres of national forests. The agency also sets out a new policy that will give governors a say in what happens in these areas. Critics say they will fight the change, which they say opens pristine wilderness to commercial interests.

Seattle and Tacoma's program to ease traffic flows is cited as the nation's most effective by the Texas Transportation Institute. The average rush-hour driver in the Seattle area spent 46 hours in congestion in 2002, compared to a 63-hour average in 1992, according to the group. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and King County, Wash., executive Ron Sims.

Facing no resistance from forces loyal to Saddam Hussein, Kurdish militia and U.S. Special Forces seize the key northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, one of the country's main oil-producing areas. Kurdish leaders also report advances elsewhere, including oil fields further north. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

A judge in Chesapeake, Va., sentences convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison without parole. Malvo was implicated in 10 killings that terrorized the Washington, D.C. area in 2002. Malvo's accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, was sentenced to death Tuesday for another shooting. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR's Brian Naylor.

U.S. forces and their allies are now battling armed insurgents in several areas of Iraq. As Marines try to subdue violence in the so-called Sunni triangle, Shiite militia forces, loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, continue to mount attacks in southern Iraq. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Philip Reeves.

Songwriter Chuck Humphries lives in a tree house at the base of one of the world's most active volcanos, Hawaii's Mount Kiluaea. Surrounded by miles of lava, he's one of the last inhabitants in the area and has no plans to leave. Journalist Jake Halpern talks to Humphries in the third of a five-part series based on Halpern's book Braving Home.

Ever wonder how charitable the people are who live in your area? It turns out that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people, according to a new study. And rich people are more generous when they live among those who aren't so rich.

The mood on campus and in Blacksburg, Va., is subdued as residents attempt to reconcile Monday's deadly attacks at Virginia Tech. We hear from an emergency room doctor who says that victims' multiple gunshot wounds led him to characterize a shooter who "aimed with intent to kill." We also hear from students and area clergy.

Across the country, homes are beginning to take longer to sell, a sign that the hot real-estate market of the last decades is starting to cool. In the Boston metropolitan area, which has seen a faster appreciation of home values than most of the country, homes prices are not rising as fast they used to. Fred Thys of member station WBUR reports.

One Portland, Ore.-area running store owner is exhibiting a runner's calm about news that barefoot running may put less stress on feet, saying Americans are not set up to run barefoot. But companies such as Nike are releasing minimal shoes that that are supposed to simulate barefoot running and other companies are taking advantage of the growing movement.

The Obama administration's strategy for combating the Islamic State relies on ground forces provided by Iraq and Syria because the White House says it will not send U.S. combat troops. In Iraq, that means trying to win back Sunnis in areas where the group controls territory. Something similar happened during the Iraq war: it was called the Sunni Awakening.