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Mortgage rates are on their way back down again, just as the housing market seems to be cooling in many markets around the country. Figures out this week from Freddie Mac show the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan to be 6.4 percent, down from 6.8 percent a month ago.

Army Spc. Mark Wilkerson served for a year in Iraq, and was scheduled to return for another tour of duty. The Army denied his request for conscientious-objector status, so he disappeared for 18 months. On Thursday, Wilkerson returned to his base in Ford Hood, Texas, to turn himself in.

Director Richard Linklater's adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel A Scanner Darkly stars Keanu Reeves. It was produced by filming live actors, and rendering the images in a painting-like animation process. Bob Mondello reviews.

Commentator James Reston Jr. describes his frustration with federal limits on stem-cell research. His daughter has a transplanted kidney, and he fears she will need another transplant in a few years. Reston thinks stem-cell technology could help speed up research about growing new kidneys artificially.

Meryl Streep steals the show in The Devil Wears Prada. Film critic Elvis Mitchell tells Scott Simon the actress seems to be doing an uncanny impression of a man she's worked with three times: director Mike Nichols.

As Saddam Hussein's trial resumes, commentator Melissa Waters describes what she calls "The Great Iraqi Walkout." She has seen it many times in her job training Iraqi judges and lawyers. Waters says the Great Iraqi Walkout looks like chaos to Americans -- but in fact, it's the way many Iraqis defuse tension.

Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in northern Gaza leave one Israeli soldier and more than 20 Palestinians dead. Israel invaded Gaza with the stated goal of freeing a captive soldier and protecting its territory from Palestinian rockets.

Hezbollah militants continue to fire rockets from southern Lebanon into Israeli towns and cities across the border. Two Israelis were killed, and more than 100 wounded, in Katyusha rocket attacks on Thursday.

The space shuttle Discovery lands at the Kennedy Space Center after a successful visit to the International Space Station. NASA now turns its attention to the launch of Atlantis. That mission may go as early as Aug. 27 and will haul a major addition to the space station.

Thom Yorke, lead singer of the band Radiohead, has just released his first solo record, The Eraser. Music critic Will Hermes says while the music may seem depressing, Yorke has actually written a soul-record for the 21st century.