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The World Health Organization sends a team to a densely populated province in northern China to assess a sudden increase in the number of SARS cases. Doctors believe migrant workers may be spreading the disease. The visit is the first by a WHO team to a Chinese province outside of Guangdong, where SARS broke out in November. Hear NPR's Rob Gifford.

New U.S. administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer bans up to 30,000 members of the Baath party from working for government ministries. But despite Bremer's insistence that the country's security condition is improving, Iraqis express frustration with ongoing disorder -- and they blame U.S. postwar administrators. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says more peacekeeping forces may be needed to maintain order in Iraq. He says no decisions have been made, but suggests other nations may supply some of their own forces to provide security as Iraq moves to form a new government. Hear Dana Priest of The Washington Post.

U.S. military officials hold the first discussion about creating a new Iraqi government. Eighty representatives of Iraqi society participate -- half from within, half from opposition groups abroad. Meanwhile, in Kut, an anti-American tribal leader occupies city hall in defiance of U.S. Marines. Hear from NPR's Mike Shuster and NPR's Steve Inskeep.

As U.S. forces seek an interim administration to run Iraq until elections can be held, the Iraqi National Congress -- a group that opposed Saddam from exile -- is likely to have major influence. Shia Muslims also expect to play a part. Hear from NPR's Jackie Northam, NPR's Melissa Block and Christian Science Monitor reporter Peter Ford.

World Health Organization investigators say China under-reports cases of the deadly SARS virus in Beijing military hospitals and bars the release of details. WHO officials think China has 100 to 200 SARS cases, and that's three to five times more than China has reported. In Beijing, Anthony Kuhn reports.

China's highest court threatens harsh new penalties -- including life in prison -- for anyone caught violating quarantine orders or otherwise intentionally spreading SARS. The move comes as China steps up efforts to battle SARS in rural areas, where poor conditions at health care facilities may make it easier for the virus to spread. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

Prime Minister Tony Blair wins a plea to Britain's Parliament to support a British attack on Iraq without U.N. authorization. Blair didn't need Parliament's consent to send troops into battle, but it's the biggest political gamble of his career. Opposition is strong in his own party and across Britain. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

NASA releases e-mails demonstrating that a day before space shuttle Columbia's demise, engineers privately worried about the impact of tile damage sustained at launch. The e-mails explored prophetic "what-if" scenarios that concluded the orbiter could lose its left wing and break up high in the atmosphere. Hear NPR's Richard Harris.

It's estimated that hundreds of volunteer "human shields" are in Baghdad from the United States and elsewhere. They're placing themselves at installations in an effort to prevent U.S. bombing. NPR's Melissa Block talks to volunteer human shield Ken Nichols O'Keefe, and to Paul Eliopolous, an American who became an involuntary shield when arrested by Iraqis in Kuwait in 1990.