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Recognizing the global impact of the media, Pope Benedict XVI becomes the first pontiff to hold a news conference. In a 15-minute gathering, he thanked the press for coverage of Pope John Paul II's death and the conclave which elected Benedict as John Paul's successor.

President Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder put aside their differences over Iraq Wednesday and pledged to focus instead on areas of agreement. Thousands protested as Bush visited the German city of Mainz, but the two leaders promised to work together to build democracy in Iraq.

A U.N. envoy who met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says there will be a Syrian timetable early next week for withdrawal from Lebanon. The U.S., France and Russia are among nations pressing Syria to remove its troops.

A Senate panel will investigate claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency improperly allocated disaster relief funds to Miami-Dade County after last year's hurricanes. The county was not hit as hard as other parts of Florida by a series of major storms.

An agreement to fight global warming goes into effect Wednesday in much of the world. The Kyoto treaty was ratified by 140 nations, with some notable exceptions -- the United States and Australia did not sign the treaty. Signatories are legally committed to meeting emissions targets by 2012.

Thirty years after flying off the roof of the U.S. Embassy, on one of the last helicopters out, NPR's Loren Jenkins recalls the last day of the Vietnam War from downtown Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City.

The Iraqi National Assembly agrees on a president and two vice presidents during its third meeting, breaking weeks of deadlock. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani is the new Iraqi president; a Shiite and Sunni were chosen as the two vice presidents.

President Bush's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency may have a confirmation problem. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) threatens to block Stephen Johnson's appointment unless an EPA study on children and pesticides is cancelled.

The ivory-billed woodpecker was thought to be extinct. Now, scientists say it's been sighted again and conservationists are planning ways to protect it. The striking bird has been discovered in the Big Woods area of Arkansas.

In a weeklong series, NPR's Michael Sullivan takes a look at Vietnam, 30 years after U.S. troops left the country and the end of the Vietnam War. In the first story, he journeys on the north-south Highway 1, on the border with China. The first stop is Lang Son, a town the Chinese once occupied.