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A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds serious shortcomings in how the Iraq war is being handled, and estimates the costs at about $3 billion per week. The report adds fuel to a rancorous Capitol Hill debate over Iraq.

Following a Monday briefing on Hurricane Rita's effect on the oil and natural gas infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, President Bush says he is willing to use the nation's strategic petroleum reserves to make up for any shortages caused by hurricane damage.

After nearly a week of chaos and privation in New Orleans, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina appears to be making a dent in the city's anguish. Most of the known storm survivors are out of the flooded city. Rescue operations continue.

During the opening day of the Enron fraud and conspiracy trial, federal prosecutors present their case against former executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Defense lawyers also give their opening statements. The energy giant collapsed in 2001 -- the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at the time.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attends a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, called to discuss the alliance's involvement in Afghanistan. But Rice's trip has been dominated by criticism of America's global counter-terrorism operations.

The trial of former Enron executives Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay enters a critical phase Thursday, when Skilling is expected to testify. Accused of conspiring to deceive investors, analysts and the public about Enron's financial condition, Skilling faces decades in prison if convicted.

Louisiana is not the only state where levees are overdue for repairs. Kansas City, St. Louis and other major cities are now worried that New Orleans will siphon the Army Corps of Engineers' resources.

A commission on American prisons offers a report to the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. Among the group's findings: Violence is an enormous problem, and health care is a disaster. The panel recommends an end to institutional secrecy that has permitted prisons to evade oversight for decades.

The opposition leader in Belarus is calling on supporters to stand their ground. The backers of Alexander Milinkevich are camped out in freezing weather to protest results of an election largely seen as a farce by international observers.

Scores of Iraqis -- mostly Sunni Arabs -- have been killed since Wednesday's bombing of a major Shiite shrine north of Baghdad. Sunni political leaders have withdrawn from talks on a new government and say they will not return until attacks on Sunnis by mobs of Shiite men are halted.