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Fifty years ago Monday, history was made when Bill Haley and the Comets recorded "Rock Around the Clock" — considered by some critics to be the first-ever "rock 'n' roll" song to become a hit. Haley died in 1981, but the remaining Comets still tour the world. One of those original band members, bassist Marshall Lytle, talks about the significance of the anniversary.

Secretary of State Colin Powell tells a Senate hearing that the recent upsurge in violence in Iraq is "disquieting" but insists the United States won't be driven out. President Bush's supporters warn that the growing criticism of U.S. policy on Iraq undercuts efforts to establish a democracy in the country. Hear NPR's David Welna.

NPR's Melissa Block speaks with Jenefer Mansfield, executive/artistic director of the Roanoke Ballet Theatre, about a production of a NASCAR ballet. On the surface, it may not appear that NASCAR auto racing and ballet have a lot in common -- but Mansfield says both activities involve movement and accomplish the seemingly impossible.

NPR's Daniel Schorr, senior news analyst, says that Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the Sept. 11 commission was anticlimactic, and left many questions unanswered.

Residents of Fallujah brace for a response to the killing of four U.S. security contractor employees, whose bodies were then mutilated. The United States has said it will have a measured response to the attacks. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and NPR's Steve Inskeep.

U.S. Marines surround Fallujah and use loudspeakers to warn residents to stay inside until Tuesday. U.S. forces are preparing to move against the restive Iraqi city in response to grisly attacks last Wednesday, which killed four U.S. contractors. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep.

U.S. soldiers are involved in an operation to hunt down and destroy militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad's Sadr City. In Ramadi, 12 Marines die in intense battles. In Fallujah, U.S. rockets hit a mosque, reportedly killing dozens. Three days of clashes in the Sunni stronghold have killed as many as 30 U.S. soldiers and more than 150 Iraqis. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika wins a second term with more than 80 percent of the vote. Western observers call Thursday's vote the country's first genuinely pluralist presidential elections since independence in 1962. Bouteflika's former prime minister, who finished second, claims the vote was rigged. Hear NPR's Sylvia Poggioli.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader seeks to ease Democrats' concerns that he will distract voters from their efforts to unseat President George Bush. Political analysts are debating what effect Nader could have in swing states like Oregon and Florida. Hear NPR's Michele Norris, the University of South Florida's Susan MacManus and Robert Eisenger of Lewis and Clark College in Portland.

An NPR-Kaiser-Kennedy School Poll finds that white and non-white evangelical Christians agree on moral issues having to do with sex, but they often disagree on what kind of sex education is best. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports.