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In a speech Monday night, President Bush outlined a series of steps aimed at creating conditions for democratic self-rule in Iraq, including asking the United Nations for more international support. Bush also promised to destroy the Abu Ghraib prison with Iraqi consent. Critics say Bush's plan amounts to a rationale, not a strategy. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

NPR's Jacki Lyden talks to Constance Stelzenmueller of the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit and Hisham Melhem of the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir about public and press reaction in Europe and the Middle East to the bombing of U.N. offices in Baghdad this past week.

The best interest of children is at the center of the debate over gay marriage. Some scientific studies show no developmental differences between children raised by heterosexual and homosexual parents. But critics charge these studies are conducted to support the legitimacy of same-sex marriage. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.

All week long, the debate over Iraq has been heating up on Capitol Hill. During testimony by Gen. Richard Myers at the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday, the scene turned from questioning by committee members to arguing among the members. Democrats and Republicans fought over the number of hearings, and the attention the hearings are putting on the prison abuse scandal. On the Senate floor, Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) called for bringing U.S. troops home, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said calls for pulling out would hurt American efforts in Iraq. NPR's David Welna reports.

Ahmed Chalabi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, rejects allegations that an aide supplied Iran with sensitive information and responds to an Iraqi police raid on his home and offices in Baghdad. The Bush administration is terminating a monthly payment of $335,000 it had been making to Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. Chalabi speaks with NPR's Scott Simon.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney threatens to crack down on same-sex couples coming into the state to marry, citing a 91-year-old law against licensing couples who would not be allowed to marry in their own state. Romney has vowed to take action against clerks who issue licenses to out-of-town couples. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.

Melissa Block talks to Randee Berson, a Red Cross volunteer in Gurnee, Illinois.

The state of New York sues former New York Stock Exchange chair Richard Grasso and a former board member over the legality of Grasso's $187.5 million pay package. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who filed the suit, called the arrangement "inappropriate and illegal." Grasso stepped down last September after his compensation caused an outcry. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

Family, friends and U.S. and foreign dignitaries pay homage to President Ronald Reagan at a memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The 40th president will be buried Friday night at the Reagan presidential library in California. Former President George H.W. Bush spoke emotionally of his predecessor's warmth and humanity. President George W. Bush, who has used Reagan as a political model, lauded his economic and defense policies. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel.

In local elections in Great Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party suffers some significant losses in what analysts see as a "protest vote" against Blair's support for the war in Iraq. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and John Rentoul, chief political columnist for Britain's Sunday Independent newspaper.