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For all of the disagreement about how to revitalize New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there is one thing that most everyone can agree on: Mayor Ray Nagin has a leviathan task on his hands.

The Pentagon is exploring proposals to give the military a prominent role during disasters within the United States. That might require changing the posse comitatus law, which generally makes it illegal for the military to perform law enforcement duties within the United States. In the second of two commentaries on the law, commentator Austin Bay, a colonel in the Army Reserve, says we should leave posse comitatus alone.

The real-life story behind Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise is a compelling one: the author's manuscript lay unread for years after her death at the Auschwitz camp. But Nemirovsky's writing, notes author Elizabeth Strout, can stand up to its own tragic provenance.

For a fifth straight day, the Israeli military trades fierce missile attacks with Hezbollah guerrillas operating in south Lebanon. The exchange leaves dead and wounded civilians on both sides of the border.

A worn-out space suit on the International Space Station is getting a second life as a satellite. On Friday, astronauts will throw the suit out the orbiter's hatch. Those stuck on Earth will be able to track and listen to the suit as it circles the planet.

Senators and outside experts testify before a Senate panel on the need to reform rules governing lobbying. A consensus appears to be developing around some areas of reform, such as gift giving and slowing the movement between Congress and the lobbying industry. But other issues are not so clear-cut.

The new poet laureate of the United States will be introduced Wednesday. The poems of Donald Hall, a New Hampshire native, have been compared to those of Robert Frost. He will succeed Nebraskan Ted Kooser.

German-born Pope Benedict XVI makes a solemn visit to the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp, ending a four-day tour of Poland. Benedict called the Nazi death camp "a place of horror."

Commentator Ruth Levy Guyer reflects on the power of wind -- to spark life by spreading seeds, to cause disease by spreading pathogens, and to disturb the psyche. Guyer teaches courses in bioethics and infectious diseases at Haverford College.

Bukavu was once a Congolese tourist capital, offering beautiful vistas of lush green hills. Now the town is home to crumbling, abandoned brick buildings and beat-up roads. But as the July 30 elections approach, there is a feeling that life may soon improve.