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In the final installment of a three-part series on the Sicilian Mafia, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Palermo that many Sicilian women are playing a more assertive role in their society. Long relegated to the shadows of a society steeped in religion, superstition and machismo, Sicilian women have now joined the battle against the Mafia.

Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts is one of three co-chairmen of the Republican National Convention. He is also the only African American Republican in the House of Representatives. He and other blacks have prominent roles at the convention in Philadelphia as the GOP aims to soften its image with voters of all races. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on a new study today that concludes that the falling murder and suicide rates in America are not related to the 1994 Brady law to regulate handgun purchases. The study's authors say the findings illustrate the enormous impact of the unregulated gun market on crime. Independent scientists say the research is sound -- but its ability to judge the effectiveness of gun control is limited.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports from Santiago on the secrecy that Chile's Supreme Court is maintaining, as to whether it will strip former President Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution. The court met on Tuesday but refuses to announce its decision, or even to say whether it has decided whether Pinochet should face trial.

NPR's Allison Aubrey reports that a new study on the long-term effects of inhaler use has some good news for asthmatics. The study, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, says regular use of asthma inhalers can significantly reduce the likelihood the disease will become fatal.

NPR's Laura Sydell reports that the Smithsonian Institution will return an important cultural artifact to a Native American group today. For the past 80 years, the brain of the last Yahi Indian has been part of the Smithsonian's collection of Native American remains.

Just hours before his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention, George W. Bush attended a luncheon honoring his wife Laura. The program was sponsored by the National Federation of Republican Women, a group that says the Texas governor can end the Democrat's two-decade dominance among women. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that officials in Poland are trying to come to terms with the truths of their Communist past. The moves come years after Czechoslovakia and Germany barred former high level Communist officials from holding office and opened secret police files to the public.

In Angola, Sierra Leone, and the Congo, the diamond trade has provided insurgent movements with billions of dollars worth of wealth and arms to continue their murderous campaigns. The United Nations has taken unprecedented steps to cut off the illicit diamond trade. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that the tragedies of the gulag archipelago still haunt the Siberian mining city of Norilsk. Stalin deported prisoners to this frozen region in Russia's far north to mine some of the world's richest deposits of nickel, palladium and platinum. Today, construction crews plough up miners' bones from mass graves in the industrial wasteland.