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There are an estimated 6,000 western private security contractors in Iraq. Often times, the line between defense and offense can blur as contractors are drawn into heavy firefights with insurgents. There's no real authority structure to control these contractors, and some U.S. lawmakers worry that it's setting a dangerous precedent in a war zone. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

Under pressure from a panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the White House Saturday declassified the President's Daily Brief document from August 6, 2001. The briefing, titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," has been mentioned often in testimony before the panel. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen, NPR's Pam Fessler and New York Times correspondent David Sanger.

The White House released the President's Daily Brief from August 6, 2001 Saturday night. The document, titled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S.," contains information about possible airline hijackings and al Qaeda sleeper cells in the United States. The Sept. 11 commission members have been pressing the Bush administration for its release. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

It's been seven years since detective Jane Tennison last applied her world-weary determination to solving a case on Masterpiece Theatre's Prime Suspect. But on April 18, acclaimed British actress Helen Mirren revives Tennison's character, returning to PBS in Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness. Mirren speaks with NPR's Lynn Neary.

On Thursday, Microsoft announced a whooping $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, a merger that would give Google a run for the money. A deal that combines the second and third largest online search companies is likely to attract antitrust review. Greg Sidak, U.S. editor of the Journal of Competition Law and Economics offers some insight.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on today's budget surplus forecast by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is projecting a surplus of more than three-trillion dollars over the next decade -- or 5.6-trillion if you count the Social Security surplus. Republicans say that means there's plenty of room for a big tax cut. Democrats argue that the projections of a huge surplus may be overly optimistic in the long term. They are supporting smaller tax cuts.

Germany unveils a memorial in central Berlin to the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Politicians, Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors were on hand for the solemn ceremony to inaugurate the monument designed by American architect Peter Eisenman. The opening ends 17 years of debate over how Germany should mark the darkest chapter of its past.

Some 6,000 pages of documents released under the Freedom of Information Act provide new details about the mistreatment of detainees by U.S. soldiers and intelligence personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and NPR's Jackie Northam.

Melissa Block talks with John Reeves, self-described freeform industrial ice artist. Reeves is the artistic genius behind a 160-foot tall ice sculpture outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. Using strategically placed sprinklers, Reeves estimates that he flows about 6,000 gallons of water onto the sculpture every hour.

A Gallup poll shows 6 in 10 Americans say the U.S. should withdraw some or all troops from Iraq. In February, less than half of those surveyed by Gallup offered that opinion.