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A bomb explodes in a shopping center in Jounieh, a Christian town near Beirut, killing at least two people and wounding five. It's the second deadly attack against an anti-Syrian stronghold in five days. Rami Khouri, executive editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon, discusses how the attacks affect the country's security situation.

The Government Accountability Office says dozens of people whose names are on terrorism watch lists were able to buy guns in the U.S. legally last year. Gun control supporters say the report underscores the need to tighten requirements for gun purchases.

The pacifist constitution imposed on Japan after World War II restricted its military forces to self-defense so the nation could never again be an aggressor. The result has been a truncated role in geopolitics for the world's second largest economy. Many Japanese, especially younger people, want their country to assume a bigger role now. NPR's Rob Gifford reports.

Severe thunderstorms packing tornadoes and softball-sized hail left a path of destruction across six Midwestern states and Tennessee, killing at least 23 people. Nineteen of the deaths were reported in western Tennessee, including a family of four.

The U.S. Postal Service has given the go-ahead for the private venture PhotoStamps, which allows people to make personalized postage stamps. A brief experiment with the program last year was shelved after some embarrassment about what ended up on some of those stamps. Melissa Block talks with Ken McBride, CEO of Stamps.com.

Gunmen release 26 women and small children held hostage at a school in southern Russia, but hundreds more remain inside. The militants have killed about a dozen people, mostly police officers, and rebuffed proposals to end the standoff. Hear NPR's Lawrence Sheets.

An apparent suicide car bomber kills at least 47 people, wounding more than 100. The blast occurred near a police station where recruits were lined up outside. A group suspected of ties to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

A pair of car bombings in Iraq kills more than 45 people and wounds some 200. Among the dead were 35 children, killed during a ceremony for the inauguration of a new sewage facility. U.S. troops were handing out candy at the opening. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

IRS investigators are cracking down on wealthy people who put their money into elaborately designed tax shelters. U.S. officials say tax avoidance schemes marketed to wealthy corporations and individuals exploded in the 1990s. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

President Bush has strengthened his pre-election advantage over Sen. John Kerry, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The survey of registered voters shows the president leading Sen. Kerry 48 to 40. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and Andrew Kohut of the Pew Center.