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Mickey Mouse is a famous cartoon character, perhaps the most famous. But there is also the phrase "mickey mouse," which may be traced back to the slang of World War II. But it's a bit of slang that falls into a gray area rarely visited by lexicographers.

Army Spc. Mark Wilkerson served for a year in Iraq, and was scheduled to return for another tour of duty. The Army denied his request for conscientious-objector status, so he disappeared for 18 months. On Thursday, Wilkerson returned to his base in Ford Hood, Texas, to turn himself in.

Mortgage rates are on their way back down again, just as the housing market seems to be cooling in many markets around the country. Figures out this week from Freddie Mac show the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan to be 6.4 percent, down from 6.8 percent a month ago.

The man who claimed responsibility for the bloody Beslan school siege is dead, according to the Russian government. Officials say Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev was killed as he was planning an attack to coincide with this week's G8 summit in St. Petersburg.

Director Richard Linklater's adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel A Scanner Darkly stars Keanu Reeves. It was produced by filming live actors, and rendering the images in a painting-like animation process. Bob Mondello reviews.

A new series in The Washington Post asks: What does it mean to be a black man in America? Post editors Kevin Merida and Steven Holmes talk about the reports.

As Saddam Hussein's trial resumes, commentator Melissa Waters describes what she calls "The Great Iraqi Walkout." She has seen it many times in her job training Iraqi judges and lawyers. Waters says the Great Iraqi Walkout looks like chaos to Americans -- but in fact, it's the way many Iraqis defuse tension.

Inspired by a ride at Disneyworld, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprise blockbuster in 2003, grossing close to half a billion dollars and winning an Oscar nomination for Johnny Depp -- a rare honor for a comic lead performance. Virtually the same cast and crew returns for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Meryl Streep steals the show in The Devil Wears Prada. Film critic Elvis Mitchell tells Scott Simon the actress seems to be doing an uncanny impression of a man she's worked with three times: director Mike Nichols.

Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in northern Gaza leave one Israeli soldier and more than 20 Palestinians dead. Israel invaded Gaza with the stated goal of freeing a captive soldier and protecting its territory from Palestinian rockets.