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Israel's current mission in Gaza has two goals, says Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev: to win the release of an Israeli soldier held hostage in Southern Gaza, and to stop rocket attacks from northern Gaza. A prisoner exchange is not an option, the spokesman said -- but "creative solutions" are still possible. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Regev.

Michele Norris talks with Hamit Dardagan, co-founder and researcher of the Web site Iraq Body Count. The site, founded just before the 2003 invasion, tracks civilian deaths in Iraq due to the U.S.-led military presence. The count includes deaths caused by coalition as well as insurgent groups.

Thursday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff briefed the media about a suspected British terror plot, in which 21 suspects have been arrested in Great Britain.

Britain remains on its highest state of alert, a day after the arrest of 24 people suspected of plotting to blow up a number of airplanes heading to the United States. As part of the investigation into the alleged plot, the Bank of England froze the assets of 19 of the suspects.

Tourists to Lhasa, the ancient heart of Tibetan Buddhism, might find two very different cities — one unchanged by centuries and still clinging to tradition, the other modernizing rapidly along with neighboring China.

An international panel has unanimously recommended that Pluto retain its title as a planet, and it may be joined by other undersized objects that revolve around the sun.

Commentator Daniel Pinkwater has pretty much cut sugar out of his diet (and lost about 100 pounds). But there is one important exception. In Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a local bakery serves the Italian dessert "sfogiatelle." How non-artificially sweet it is!

Jay Waite, an associate director of the U.S. Census Bureau, talks about new methods used to measure demographic change. Surveys conducted once a decade are not sufficient for local planners. So data will now be available that is only a year old, covering everything from Internet access to language issues.

Making it the biggest safety recall in computer industry history, Dell is recalling more than four million laptop batteries. The company says that overheating can cause the Sony batteries it uses to catch fire.

As summer dwindles away and back-to-school time approaches, an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum looks at life around the schoolhouse in the 19th century.