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Trying to ignore a series of violent disruptions, Afghan voters go to the polls for the nation's first free legislative elections in three decades.

U.S. forces launch attacks on parts of Fallujah following the expiration of a deadline for insurgents to surrender their heavy weapons. The action comes a day after fighting near the holy city of Najaf that left more than 60 Iraqis dead. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

Afghanistan holds its first parliamentary election in decades. Ten people were killed in the hours leading to the balloting. Results aren't expected for a week or more.

As U.S. forces seek out the last remaining pockets of resistance in Fallujah, insurgents in Mosul, Baqouba and other Sunni Muslim towns and cities are back on the offensive. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

Al-Jazeera and other Arabic-language satellite networks broadcast photographs of American soldiers humiliating Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghuraib prison -- a prison made notorious for torture during Saddam Hussein's rule. Some Iraqis say the photographs prove the Americans are not much better than their former dictator. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

Two American soldiers are killed in an explosion while raiding a Baghdad building suspected of producing chemical munitions. It's unclear whether the blast, which destroyed four U.S. Humvees and a large part of a building, was a deliberately detonated bomb or the result of an accident. Meanwhile, one U.S. soldier is killed in fierce fighting in Fallujah. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

A huge explosion partially destroys a building in Baghdad, moments after U.S. soldiers entered it in an apparent search for chemical weapons. Officials say two soldiers died in the blast and five others were wounded. Elsewhere in Iraq, fighting broke out in Fallujah and Najaf. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

Four U.S. soldiers are killed and six are wounded as insurgents fire on a base north of Baghdad. Dozens of Iraqis are killed in rocket attacks, roadside bombings and fighting with U.S.-led troops around the country. An the oil terminal off the southern city of Basra comes under attack, apparently by suicide bombers. Hear NPR's Cheryl Corley and NPR's Philip Reeves.

Afghanistan's presidential balloting has run into an immediate challenge. Rivals to interim President Hamid Karzai called for a boycott, saying ink stamped onto voters' hands in a bid to prevent fraud washed off too easily. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

Indian Atal Behari Vajpayee resigns after his Hindu-nationalist party was dealt a shocking defeat in national elections. Italian-born Sonia Gandhi's Congress party now readies itself to take power in the world's largest democracy. Gandhi vowed to put together a secular government but would not say whether she would become the next prime minister. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.