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The largest cemetery in the Arab world is located in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The cemetery surrounds the Shrine of Imam Ali. It is a sacred site for all Shiites, and many of them bring relatives to be buried there. Hundreds of thousands of tombstones stretch as far as the eye can see. Locals call the cemetery the "Valley of Peace," but it has been the scene of violence as well. When the Shia uprising of 1991 began to collapse, many of the rebels fled to the cemetery, where they were brutally killed by Saddam Hussein's forces. Thousands of other Shiites died as a result of Saddam's repression, and many of them also lie in the cemetery. And thousands of those who died in the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war are buried there as well. The cemetery grew to eight times its previous size during the rule of Saddam Hussein. Kate Seelye reports.

A floating retreat, the USS Sequoia was one of the places U.S. presidents found to escape the rigors of office. Richard Nixon took his family there the day he announced his resignation. Now, NPR's Susan Stamberg reports, there's an effort to preserve the former presidential yacht. See historic and current photos of the Sequoia.

NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the British-American coalition in Iraq is quickly becoming internationalized, with manpower and troop contributions from a growing list of other countries.

She is the author of the best-selling book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, about the horse who became a racetrack sensation in the 1930s. Her book is the basis of the new film starring Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper. The New York Times called the book, "a captivating story... with the detail of good history, the blistering pace of Seabiscuit himself, and the charm of grand legend." Hillenbrand has chronic fatigue syndrome and during the writing of Seabiscuit, she almost never left her home. She has been writing about thoroughbred racing for 15 years.

More than 170 non-governmental organizations are currently working to provide basic services in Iraq. Most NGOs look forward to shifting from emergency relief to long-term development efforts, but they must first deal with the challenges of working in a country with no functioning government and a growing security problem. Hear NPR's Kate Seelye.

With an unforgettable voice, good looks and the spirituality of gospel music roots, Sam Cooke soared to the top of the pop charts. On Morning Edition, NPR's Bob Edwards reports on how Cooke bridged the gap between rock and soul to become a music legend. Hear samples of newly reissued Cooke songs and the story of Cooke's triumphant return to New York's famed Copacabana nightclub.

Arab television stations air a new tape, allegedly from Saddam Hussein, in which the speaker mourns the killing last week of Saddam's two eldest sons. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, senators grill Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on the Bush administration's failure to provide clear guidance on the costs of the U.S. mission in Iraq. Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten.

As part of All Things Considered's summer series on street musicians, NPR's John Burnett travels to Jackson Square, in New Orleans, to listen as one busker makes beautiful music out of water and glass. Hear samples from The Glass Harper online.

Student Gita Jackson, 13, talks about the type of music she enjoys as part of the ongoing "What Are You Listening To?" series. She says that she and her musical tastes disprove the stereotype of "the Britney Spears-loving, Forever 21-wearing, valley girl-speaking, smiley prepubescent white girl."

Farmworkers, construction workers and firefighters are dying from excessive heat on the job. The federal government has no heat standard to protect them, and climate change is making things worse.