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Before his own rise up the music charts, Kanye West spent his time producing hits for other top rappers, including Jay-Z. Convinced of the need to display his own unique skills, he released the hugely successful disc College Dropout in 2004.

The cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast after the hurricane could top $200 billion -- roughly the same cost of the Iraq war. But President Bush says the money to pay for it should come from spending cuts, not new taxes.

Novelist Tim LaHaye is the co-author of the popular Left Behind series. The books are apocalyptic Christian thrillers. The tenth and latest book is The Remnant, which debuted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. LaHaye is also the former co-chairman of Jack Kemp's presidential campaign, was on the original board of directors of the Moral Majority and was an organizer of the Council for National Policy which has been called "the most powerful conservative organization in America you've never heard of."

Insurgents fire grenades at an Iraqi civil defense facility as Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, visits. Abizaid was not hurt in the attack, which caused no American casualties. The attackers escaped. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Eric Westervelt.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the United Nations will remain in Iraq, despite an attack on its headquarters in Baghdad that killed its top envoy and at least 20 others. Analysts say the bombing may signal a shift in tactics by groups opposed to the American occupation of Iraq, with attackers now targeting civilians. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson and NPR's Eric Westervelt.

Testifying before a judicial inquiry, top British intelligence official John Scarlett denies that his office was pressured by Prime Minister Tony Blair's staff to exaggerate evidence showing that Iraq posed an imminent threat to Britain. New polls suggest 67 percent of Britons believe Blair misled the public about the Iraqi threat. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

A soon-to-be released book by journalist Bob Woodward -- of Watergate fame -- says President Bush asked top military leaders to plan for war in Iraq even as U.S. soldiers were attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan. The allegations were largely confirmed by the White House press secretary. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

An artist in Cologne, Germany, is working to memorialize individual victims of the Nazis. He's embedding thousands of small concrete blocks, each topped by a brass plate, in sidewalks across the country. Each of these so-called "stumbling blocks" bears the name, and fate, of one person killed by Adolph Hitler's regime. Kyle James reports.

The Trilogy, the latest project from French actor-director Lucas Belvaux, consists of three films with distinct plots populated by the same cast of characters. The project has already won France's top critics prize. Each film -- a crime drama, a romantic farce and a forlorn love story -- will open sequentially in U.S. theaters over the course of three weeks. Pat Dowell reports.

Last night's Oscar ceremony drew surprisingly strong ratings, though the evening itself was free of upsets. In a movie season that began amorphously, with no blockbusters in contention and no clear front-runner, Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby took four awards in top categories, including best picture.