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Host Steve Inskeep speaks with NPR's Richard Harris and NPR's Ira Flatow about information NASA presented today in a news conference from Houston on developments in the investigation of the space shuttle Columbia disaster.

In the final part of our series on debt, we'll have a report from NPR's Chris Arnold about the growing number of businesses checking job applicants' credit reports. NPR's Lynn Neary with talk with Professor Robert Manning, author of Credit Card Nation, about the future of debt in America. And we'll hear from commentator Gerry Willis. She has a few optimistic thoughts about debt.

NPR's Richard Harris reports that the NASA investigation into Saturday's disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia is concentrating more closely on the landing gear compartment in the aircraft's left wing. There's increasing evidence that the problem started there. Before the spacecraft came apart, the left side of the shuttle, adjoining the wing, heated up by an alarming 60 degrees over a few minutes. The wheel well where the landing gear is stored during flight is especially vulnerable to heat.

In the second part of our series on debt in America we'll hear about the boom in cash-out mortgage financing and about the history of debt in our society. The book mentioned is Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit, published by Basic Books; Dec., 2001.

The growing U.S. military force assembling in Kuwait is busy honing its war-fighting skills. Elements of the army's 3rd Infantry Division are also practicing what some military planners say they most fear if war comes: urban, house-to-house fighting in Iraq's cities. NPR's Eric Westervelt followed along as soliders attacked a mock city in the desert. See some of his photos of the action.

A pair of towns along the Polish-German border, separated after World War II, will be reunited next year when Poland enters the European Union. But residents of Görlitz and Zgorzelec have mixed feelings -- some because of history, others because of the merger's economic impact. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

Remains have been found from all seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart upon re-entry Saturday, NASA officials say. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and Richard Harris

More space shuttle Columbia fragments and human remains are discovered Monday, yet little new information is learned about the cause of Saturday's disaster. Meanwhile, critics express concern over whether NASA's budget cuts and use of contractors may have compromised safety. Hear reports from NPR's Richard Harris, NPR's Howard Berkes and NPR's Chris Joyce.

NPR's Michael Sullivan has the second of a five-part series on terrorism in Southeast Asia. Al Qaeda's Southeast Asian operations may have begun in the Philippines, but neighboring Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world and it has provided the most fertile ground for militant Islam. Several alleged terrorist groups have been active in Indonesia for years. One of them is the group called Jemaah Islamiyah. Jemaah Islamiyah is believed responsible for dozens of attacks in Indonesia in the past several years including the bombings on the resort island of Bali in October. And investigators say it's clear the group has close ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Space shuttle Columbia breaks into pieces over Texas, killing all seven crew members aboard. President Bush tells the nation the work of the space program will go on. NASA engineers begin the grim task of determining what went wrong. NPR News reports.