Search results for

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.

President Bush is aggressively touring the country to promote his call for private Social Security accounts. Yet polls show support for the president on this issue has declined in recent weeks. Even backing from some Republicans is in doubt on an issue the president acknowledges is politically risky.

With clean-up efforts underway, relief workers in southern India concentrate on removing corpses and finding potable water. Emergency workers are also trying to get drinking water to tens of thousands of survivors. Health workers worry contaminated drinking water may result in more deaths then the 7,000 the tsunami caused. Laura Womak reports.

According to a Government Accountability Office report, hundreds of injured Army reservists and National Guard members -- including many wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan -- have lost medical care and pay because they were dropped from active duty status.

In San Diego, the Navy begins hearings on allegations that two lieutenants in the elite SEALs unit abused Iraqi prisoners. But questions about how to deal with the release of classified material are complicating the proceedings. Hear NPR's John McChesney.

Researchers in England are exploring a potential new breast cancer treatment that would take advantage of a genetic weakness in cancer cells that normal cells do not have. The new discovery could lead to more effective and easier treatment for millions of people affected by the disease.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza hold elections to choose Yasser Arafat's successor to lead the Palestinian Authority. Former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas is expected to win in a field of seven candidates. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and NPR's Peter Kenyon.

In the wake of Syria's announcement of a gradual withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, many Christians join other Lebanese in demanding a full and speedy pullout. Hezbollah, a mainly Shiite Muslim militia backed by Syria, is planning a rally Tuesday to urge the Syrians to stay.

Tens of thousands of mourners turn out for the funeral procession of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri was killed Monday when a bomb exploded in downtown Beirut. Nick Blanford of The Christian Science Monitor discusses the ceremony and the rally that followed.