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Katrina, which first struck Florida last week as a tropical storm, is now a powerful Category 5 hurricane churning in the Gulf of Mexico, pointed at New Orleans. Eric Blake of the National Weather Service updates Liane Hansen on the storm's progress.

Flood waters are rising in New Orleans, which remains without power after being hit by Hurricane Katrina Monday. Phone service is also largely down, and looting is taking place in several areas. Fallout from the storm has prompted President Bush to return to the White House two days ahead of schedule.

Israel says it will finish a separation barrier around Jerusalem, which critics say will make a viable Palestinian state impossible. The Israeli government says the wall could eventually be torn down.

Bruce Gordon, a retired telecommunications executive, is the new president and CEO of the NAACP. Gordon, 59, was the only candidate presented to the 64-person board of directors of the nation's largest civil rights organization. He has relatively little civil rights experience.

Jurors report they are split 6-6 in the murder trial of former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen. The 80-year-old defendant is accused of organizing the killing of three voting rights volunteers in Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964. It was one of the civil rights era's most notorious crimes.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for the first time in four months. The two leaders will discuss, among other things, the Israeli pullout from Gaza in August.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin makes an emotional apology on the Senate floor for remarks he made regarding mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The two-term Democrat caused an uproar last week when he said information in an FBI report about interrogation methods at Guantanamo reminded him of Nazis, Soviets and other infamous regimes.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal authorities may prosecute people who use marijuana on doctor's orders. In a 6-to-3 decision, the court found that federal laws prohibiting marijuana use trump state laws that legalize the drug's medical use.

Citigroup says computer tapes containing the Social Security numbers and other private data of almost 4 million customers are missing. UPS was transporting the tapes to a credit bureau in Texas when they disappeared. So far, there is no evidence that any of the data has been misused.

Google enters the already crowded field of instant messaging, with a new service, Google Talk. Integrated into Google's e-mail program, the tool allows users to type messages and speak to each other over their Internet connection. But it currently does not work with AOL, Yahoo or MSN instant message services.