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A car bomb explodes outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people. Secretary of State Colin Powell promises the Jordanian government that the U.S. will step up security around the compound. Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital, at least two U.S. soldiers are wounded in a gun battle. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.

"Country Bobby" Lowry is the guardian of Walter Pierce Community Park in Washington, D.C. He's been keeping an eye on the park for almost three decades and knows more about it than any city official. He knows the trees, the plants and the kids. In the first of four stories about the park, Katie Davis introduces us to this transplanted farm boy who never takes short cuts in his work.

Iraqis can't get their hands on fuel despite the nation's abundant oil supplies, and the situation continues to drive frustration and even recent rioting. U.S. and British officials say production facilities have been crippled by sabotage. They're also battling a smuggling operation that has sent oil to neighboring Kuwait. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.

NPR's Renee Montagne talks with author Susanna Moore about her new memoir, I Myself Have Seen It, about growing up in Hawaii.

In the second of a three-part series on human growth hormone, NPR's Vicky Que explores the medical issues of treating healthy kids with growth hormone, and talks with the mother of a boy who's been treated for being short.

Some of the world's poorest countries in Africa and Latin America owe billions of dollars to the World Bank and IMF. For some nations, the debt is so large that paying it off seems impossible. Over the past few years, a movement has been growing calling for the large financial institutions to forgive debt to Third World countries. A new CD called Drop the Debt is one such effort. African and Latin American artists, many of whom are stars in their own countries, contributed songs about debt to the CD. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.

More than a dozen rural communities have invested in co-operative groceries and department stores to fill gaps left by the absence of chain outfits. NPR's Howard Berkes examines examples like The Merc in Powell, Wyo., and the Wolf Den market in Arthur, Neb.

A committee composed of Iraqi and American officials re-appoints eight Iraqi supreme court justices dismissed from office by Saddam Hussein a decade ago. U.S. officials hailed the move as a sign that the rule of law and an independent judiciary are cornerstones of a free Iraq. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.

NPR's Michele Norris talks with Jamal Qureshi with the Market Intelligence Service for PFC Energy about an oil shortage in Iraq, the country with the world's second-largest reserves. Poor security in Iraq has wreaked havoc on Iraq's oil industry. Managing pipelines in Iraq not only involves keeping an eye on looters, but also involves navigating the heavy damage incurred from months of war.

Our summer reading series profiles Azar Nafisi, author of Lolita in Tehran. She is currently the director of the Dialogue Project at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. She has just finished Diane Ravitch's The Language Police, and lists Address Unknown by Kathrine Taylor as one of her favorite books. Nafisi also regularly revisits Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.