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A visit to an isolated, poverty-stricken village in China's mountainous Northwest illustrates how far some rural areas lag behind the country's cities -- and the challenges Beijing faces in tackling the problem.

President Bush will speak Monday night on immigration, a topic for debate that returns to the Senate next week. But other issues swirl around the White House, including a report that the National Security Agency has been tracking the phone calls of tens of millions of Americans.

Thousands of South Koreans demonstrated in Seoul on Sunday, protesting the expansion of a U.S. military base a few miles south of the city. U.S. forces currently stationed near the demilitarized zone and in Seoul will be transferred to the larger facility in Pyongtaek, a city of 350,000 people. Twenty people were arrested in the largely peaceful demonstration.

The Unexpected Productions troupe of Seattle specializes in improvisational theater, and right now they're focused on Shakespeare. Actors Ron Hippe, Elicia Wickstead and Randy Dixon create a bit of the Bard on the fly for Debbie Elliott.

The European Union fines Microsoft more than $350 million for defying a 2004 antitrust ruling. The EU warned the company it could face even bigger penalties from the start of August. European regulators want the software giant to provide technical information to rivals after it found Microsoft abused the dominance of its Windows operating system.

Written around the time of World War One, Sergei Rachmaninov's "All Night Vigil" is an extraordinary choral music composition. A new recording of Rachmaninov's work from conductor Paul Hillier and The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is out, and music critic Tom Manoff says it's magnificent.

Israel bombs Lebanese bridges and sends troops north into a region it occupied for more than 20 years, in response to the Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. Just 10 miles south of Beirut, Israeli planes attacked a center Israel identified as a guerrilla base.

The U.S. military doesn't do all its public relations work overseas -- it's also investing in grass-roots efforts here at home. The Pentagon's "America Supports You" program employs Pentagon staff and private PR contractors to coordinate activities that support the armed forces.

In his new book, Talking Right, linguist Geoff Nunberg examines the parlance of the American political right. Conservatives, Nunberg notes, have been remarkably effective at creating a language through which to convey their agenda.

Conservative candidate Felipe Calderon leads an official recount of votes in Mexico's presidential election by the thinnest of margins over former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. On Wednesday, Lopez Obrador threatened to ignore the final tally because of "serious evidence of fraud."