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Now that Baghdad has fallen and southern Iraq is largely under the control of U.S. and British forces, attention is turning to the northern part of the country where the key city of Kirkuk fell today. Some analysts believe the next big battle for US led forces will be Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. NPR's Tom Gjelten analyzes the military options.

NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports on the call for Jihad among international Muslim communities. Jihad by definition means "Holy War," but some experts say the idea of jihad is open for interpretation.

U.S. military strategy for controlling Baghdad appears to involve the Army moving in from the west and the Marines from the east. But it was another day of bloody urban warfare in the capital. Hundreds of civilians are reported wounded or killed, and three journalists die. Hear reports from NPR's Anne Garrels and NPR's Mike Shuster.

U.S. officials say Saddam Hussein's regime appears to have lost hold of Baghdad, but caution there may be additional fighting ahead. From Qatar, U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks says the situation in Iraq has reached a "tipping point" and that the population is beginning to recognize the Iraqi regime is "coming to an end." Hear NPR's Nick Spicer.

Commentator David Ropeik says SARS might not be as much of a health threat as the unbridled fear it's causing among the world's populations.

As signs of government authority in Baghdad disappear, hundreds of Iraqi civilians take to the streets, cheering U.S. soldiers and ripping up posters of Saddam Hussein. But many loot government buildings throughout the Iraqi capital. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels and NPR's Nick Spicer.

NPR's Eric Westervelt is at the Parade Grounds in Baghdad with units of the 3rd Infantry Division. They're securing and consolidating their hold on Baghdad. Resistance today was moderate. Nonetheless, one officer says this is the longest and most tense warfare the U.S. Army has seen since Vietnam.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to John Keegan, defense editor for the Daily Telegraph, about how the collapse of Saddam's regime is due to the complete ineptitude of the Iraqi military, which made no use of the country's natural defenses. He says whatever advantages they had were thrown away.

An NPR War Diary entry from Lt. Col. Ken Brown, a chaplain with the 101st Airborne Division, in southern Iraq, who is helping young Americans in the armed forces to deal with their first brush with death, close up.

Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces take control of a key mountaintop overlooking the Iraqi-held city of Mosul, a senior Kurdish official says. He says it is the most important gain in the region thus far, and has opened the way for troops to enter Mosul. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.