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Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announces he will leave the Bush administration early next year. His successor will face the challenges of securing the nation's borders, transportation systems and airports. The next secretary will also confront a federal bureaucracy still shaken by the Sept. 11 attacks. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

President Bush names Treasury deputy secretary Samuel Bodman as his new secretary of energy. Bodman, a chemical engineer and former business executive, was previously deputy secretary of the Commerce Department in Bush's first term. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

Doctors in Vienna say Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned by dioxin. The opposition leader has suffered from stomach ulcers, severe acne and terrible pain since the fall. What are the effects of dioxin? Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and Dr. Arnold Schecter, of the University of Texas School of Public Health.

In Kuwait, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld takes questions from U.S. soldiers bound for Iraq. Spc. Thomas Wilson of the Tennessee Army National Guard asked the secretary why soldiers have to scrounge around in scrap piles to find material to armor their vehicles.

Congress nears an agreement on a bill to restructure the nation's intelligence-gathering operations. The House passed the measure by a wide margin Tuesday night. The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday. However, even some who backed the bill wonder how it will affect civil liberties. NPR's David Welna reports.

NASA is considering an unprecedented robotic mission to save the Hubble Space telescope. But a final report from the National Academy of Sciences says the robotic mission probably won't be ready on time to save the telescope. It strongly recommends sending astronauts instead. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

Bombings in Najaf and Karbala, Iraq, leave dozens dead and wounded, in the latest insurgent attacks. In Fallujah, U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces plan to allow some residents to return to their homes, even as they still encounter insurgents. Hear NPR's Mike Shuster.

President Bush names the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, to be the first national intelligence director. The post involves oversight of 15 agencies including the CIA. In a White House ceremony, the president said the director will play a key role in waging the war on terror.

President Bush taps a career civil servant and biologist to become the next head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Stephen Johnson has worked at the EPA for 24 years, most recently as the agency's acting head. He will be the first career EPA official to head the agency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency meets in Vienna to examine Iran's recent pledge to freeze its nuclear enrichment program. Washington has repeatedly accused Tehran of plans to develop nuclear weapons. Greg Webb, editor for Global Security Newswire, discusses the IAEA meeting.