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NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Jerusalem reports Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has again ordered the army to use all means necessary to punish and prevent Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets. Increasingly, this has meant hunting down and killing individual militants that Israel suspects are responsible for the attacks. Palestinians call it "state terrorism", and the policy is provoking new debate among Israelis.

NPR's Jason Beaubien reports that in Massachusetts, students in special education may be allowed to earn a certificate of completion in lieu of a high school diploma. The state's governor is proposing the plan because so many of these students are failing the standardized test required for graduation. Critics say the certificates are only an excuse for public schools to avoid teaching the students most in need.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that European Union officials are calling for investigations into what is being called the Balkan Syndrome. Several Italian soldiers have fallen ill with leukemia since serving as peacekeepers in the Balkans. There are fears they may have been sickened because of contact with ammunition made of depleted uranium, an extremely dense metal used to pierce armor.

NPR's Howard Berkes reports that the state of Utah may file a federal lawsuit over the results of the new census. At issue is which U.S. citizens living abroad are included by the Census Bureau in its count. If Utah succeeds in having thousands of its citizens working as missionaries included in the count, the state could gain a new Congressional seat.

James Argroves of Georgia Public Radio in Atlanta reports that the Georgia State Senate has voted to enact a compromise ending a long controversy over the use of a Confederate symbol for the state flag. The new flag will incorporate the old flag as one of several displayed to represent the flags of Georgia's history.

It's been more than a month since seven inmates escaped from a maximum security prison near San Antonio, Texas and authorities are still trying to figure out how they escaped and where they are. Janet Heimlich reports on what some are calling deeply-rooted problems in the Texas prison system.

The 1998 tobacco settlement curtailed the industry's traditional advertising practices. For example, it banned most forms of outdoor advertising, including billboards and signs in stadiums. As NPR's Debbie Elliott reports, cigarette makers have responded by turning to new marketing strategies to build customer loyalty. Among other steps, they are increasingly using promotions in bars and nightclubs as a way to market cigarettes to adults-only crowds.

Leda Hartman reports Hispanic activists in North Carolina are learning how to lobby -- in an effort to turn the growth of their population into political clout. Over the past ten years North Carolina has seen its Hispanic population explode from 77,000 to at least four times that number. Recently, Hispanic activists received lessons on how to get their concerns about education, health care, and housing on the agenda of legislators.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that rescuers, looking for survivors of Friday's massive earthquake in western India, managed to find a few more people still alive today. They had almost given up hope for finding more survivors. Indian officials now estimate that at least 20-thousand people were killed in the disaster. This would make it the worst earthquake to strike India in a half-century.

From Minnesota Public Radio, Tim Pugmire reports on a rediscovery by some school districts of an old truth: that one of the best ways of raising student achievement is to make sure students show up for class. Minneapolis and other districts have begun new efforts to cut down on truancy, and researchers say the results show up in higher test scores--especially among minority students.