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A massive heat wave continues to broil many parts of the United States, with temperatures topping 100 degrees for the third consecutive day in many places. And with high humidity and other factors, the heat index shows that the temperatures often feel even hotter.

Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian official in Iraq, denies media reports that the Bush administration is postponing the creation of an transitional Iraqi authority. In the northern city of Mosul, Bremer meets with the city council billed as postwar Iraq's first elected body. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

Host Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Guy Raz about Thursday's re-opening of Iraq's criminal courts. An American adviser says Saddam Hussein and top associates in the Baath Party could be put on trial in Iraq. There have been protests in Baghdad -- most recently Wednesday by a group of Iraqi doctors -- against the rehiring of Baath Party members for government posts.

Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi talks about Sunday's elections. He has spent the past week urging Iraqis to vote, while campaigning at the top of the Iraqi List slate. He discusses his legacy as interim leader and his determination to keep the polls open, regardless of security concerns.

The Bush administration has made Social Security reform a top priority in its second term. In arguing for partial privatization of the system, the president and his supporters warn of dire consequences unless something is done. Bush's critics say he is arguing for overly drastic measures. NPR Don Gonyea reports.

Producer Ben Shapiro brings us another installment in the New York Works series, about jobs that are slowly disappearing from the city of New York. Today we meet Charlie Zimmerman, who works for Rosenwach Wood Tanks. Rosewach is one of the few companies left that maintains water tanks on top of many New York buildings.

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.

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.

Top officials from the Bush and Clinton administrations tell the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that they had no specific intelligence before the attacks suggesting terrorists might hijack airliners and crash them into the World Trade Center. But last year, Congress published a report saying a number of warnings detailing the attacks were ignored. Hear NPR's Danny Zwerdling.

President Bush insists that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will stay in his cabinet despite revelations of Iraqi prisoner abuse at the hands of U.S. troops. Top Democrats are calling for Rumsfeld to resign. The defense secretary is to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee Friday. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea, NPR's Michele Norris and Sen. Jeff Sessions.