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Following a Monday briefing on Hurricane Rita's effect on the oil and natural gas infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, President Bush says he is willing to use the nation's strategic petroleum reserves to make up for any shortages caused by hurricane damage.

During the opening day of the Enron fraud and conspiracy trial, federal prosecutors present their case against former executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Defense lawyers also give their opening statements. The energy giant collapsed in 2001 -- the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at the time.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attends a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, called to discuss the alliance's involvement in Afghanistan. But Rice's trip has been dominated by criticism of America's global counter-terrorism operations.

Lebanon is holding parliamentary elections against the backdrop of a severe economic crisis. Here's a look at what's at stake for those in power and the candidates trying to replace them.

Scott Peterson, Middle East correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, describes what it's like to be on patrol with U.S. Marines in the Fallujah area. Last month, he was embedded with the Marine company that controls most of northeast Fallujah.

The trial of former Enron executives Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay enters a critical phase Thursday, when Skilling is expected to testify. Accused of conspiring to deceive investors, analysts and the public about Enron's financial condition, Skilling faces decades in prison if convicted.

House Republicans' choice to take over Tom DeLay's duties, Roy Blunt, is known by politicians from both parties for his "velvet" approach. But he has been dogged by his own ethics questions. Host Melissa Block talks to Deirdre Shesgreen, Washington correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In Southern Sudan, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army is no longer a rebel group. Under a peace deal signed earlier this year to end Sudan's 22-year civil war, the former rebels will run the south of the country as a semi-autonomous province -- and must make the transition from guerrilla movement to government.

Untreated wastewater flows from Tijuana, Mexico, into the Pacific Ocean near the California border. Sasha Khokha of NPR station KQED says the U.S. government is expected to endorse a much-debated treatment plant.

A commission on American prisons offers a report to the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. Among the group's findings: Violence is an enormous problem, and health care is a disaster. The panel recommends an end to institutional secrecy that has permitted prisons to evade oversight for decades.