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NPR's Jackie Northam in Baghdad reports on the emergence of new political parties in Iraq, each trying to fill the vacuum left by the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime. Political party offices are sprouting up all over the capital, representing Islamist groups as well as leftists, monarchists and former high-ranking military officers.

Living conditions remain grim in Baghdad, where many places still are without power, and there's a shortage of clean water. At many hospitals, staff are not showing up to care for the patients, and doctors and nurses want more security. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Roland Huguenin-Benjamin of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A 9-year-old boy wounded in a bombing attack in Iraq a few years ago is now in Southern California, ending a years-long struggle by a Hollywood screenwriter and other Americans to get the boy and his mother out of the country. Mostafa's odyssey began four years ago, when his neighborhood was hit by a U.S. cruise missile that strayed off course. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports -- see Mostafa's photo, and learn more about the Americans who helped him.

Host Liane Hansen speaks with John Malcolm Russell of the Masschusetts College of Art and with Neil Brodie of The Illicit Antiquities Research Centre in London about the black market in looted antiquities, the laws involved and the possibility of recovering lost items. Russell is the author of The Final Sack of Nineveh (Yale Univ Press; ISBN: 0300074182).

Although past experiences have taught the military to prepare for looting and lawlessness after the destruction of a government, the U.S. failed to prepare adequately in Iraq. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that not enough resources or troops were devoted to security.

NPR's Joe Palca has the first in a series of stories marking the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix, the three-dimensional chemical structure of DNA. A half-century ago this week, the British science journal, Nature, published a one-page report by James Watson and Francis Crick, which immediately explained how genetic instructions are passed from one generation to the next.

In a sprawling Baghdad neighborhood known as Saddam City, Muslim clerics have formed vigilante groups to stop looting and restore law and order. U.S. Marines in the mostly Shiite neighborhood have gratefully allowed the clerics to take on this responsibility to reduce the likelihood of clashes between American forces and the local population. So far, the arrangement seems to be working. NPR's John Burnett talks about what he's seen there.

President Bush underscores tax day by renewing his call for another round of tax cuts. Bush wanted $726 billion more in cuts, but the Republican-controlled Congress set the target lower. A poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government indicates Americans don't see a need for more tax relief. NPR's David Welna reports.

The World Health Organization cautions travelers to avoid China's Shanxi province, Beijing and Toronto, saying the regions are high-risk areas for the deadly respiratory disease called SARS. But Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman and other officials call the warning an overreaction. Hear NPR's Richard Knox.

A snappy new CD by the Charlie Hunter Quintet features harmonica, sax, trombone, drums, and guitar, underpinned by a funky bass line — but there's no bass player listed in the liner notes. That's because Hunter does double duty, playing bass and guitar lines with his custom-made eight-string guitar. NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Hunter about his unique playing style.