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A committee composed of Iraqi and American officials re-appoints eight Iraqi supreme court justices dismissed from office by Saddam Hussein a decade ago. U.S. officials hailed the move as a sign that the rule of law and an independent judiciary are cornerstones of a free Iraq. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.

Some of the world's poorest countries in Africa and Latin America owe billions of dollars to the World Bank and IMF. For some nations, the debt is so large that paying it off seems impossible. Over the past few years, a movement has been growing calling for the large financial institutions to forgive debt to Third World countries. A new CD called Drop the Debt is one such effort. African and Latin American artists, many of whom are stars in their own countries, contributed songs about debt to the CD. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Jacqueline Winspear's debut novel, Maisie Dobbs.

NPR's Renee Montagne talks with author Susanna Moore about her new memoir, I Myself Have Seen It, about growing up in Hawaii.

Our summer reading series profiles Azar Nafisi, author of Lolita in Tehran. She is currently the director of the Dialogue Project at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. She has just finished Diane Ravitch's The Language Police, and lists Address Unknown by Kathrine Taylor as one of her favorite books. Nafisi also regularly revisits Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan responds to Vivian Gornick's comments.

Filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini are the team behind American Splendor, which is a hybrid of fiction and documentary. Their previous documentaries are Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's and The Young and the Dead.

Guest host Steve Inskeep interviews Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of the group Steely Dan. They discuss the group's tour in New York and their music.

The Rare Book School at the University of Virginia is the only one if its kind in the United States. NPR's Jacki Lyden took a tour of the school's collection, and talked with elite scholars attending week-long sessions to learn more about the preservation and art of rare books.

The first 400 recruits for the new Iraqi army begin basic training under U.S. supervision at a base east of Baghdad. The recruits are under heavy guard for fear that Iraqi resistance fighters might attack. U.S. officials say they hope to have a division of 12,000 troops within a year. NPR's Anne Garrels reports.