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Ben Bernanke, President Bush's nominee to become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, goes before the Senate for a confirmation hearing Tuesday. Bernanke, the 51-year-old chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, is expected to be confirmed with little difficulty.

Egyptian authorities report that at least three explosions struck the Red Sea resort city of Dahab on Monday night. The precise number of casualties remains unknown, but officials say at least 22 people have been killed, and 150 wounded.

Three years after the start of the war in Iraq, public support for the effort is at an all-time low, according to the latest poll from the Pew Research Center. Andrew Kohut, the center's director, discusses the results with Robert Siegel.

Residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward were allowed to return to their homes Thursday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit. Residents were permitted to stay for the day and had to leave by sundown.

Four Connecticut librarians spoke bitterly Tuesday about a months' long gag order they were subjected to after the FBI requested patrons' records under the Patriot Act. The librarians decried their inability to participate in congressional debate on how to rewrite the act.

The California Supreme Court has reinstated the state's high school exit exam as a graduation requirement. The divided ruling means that 47,000 seniors who haven't passed the test may not be able to graduate.

Thailand's army has taken control of Bangkok in an apparent bloodless coup timed to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's visit to the United States. Military leaders revoked the constitution, but they have also promised a return to democracy.

California's record $35-billion budget deficit is anything but a game, but a Sacramento Bee columnist has made it one. Daniel Weintraub challenged his readers to study where the money goes, and then plug their proposed spending cuts and tax increases into an online budget game. NPR's Andy Bowers reports on some of the novel solutions players came up with.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry claims victory in the Virginia and Tennessee primaries, saying the wins demonstrate his electability in any U.S. region. Kerry handily defeats Southern rivals Sen. John Edwards and retired general Wesley Clark. Clark, who placed third in both contests, is expected to drop out of the race Wednesday. Hear NPR's Mara Liasson.

President Bush calls for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, saying he wants to stop activist judges from changing the definition of the institution. His remarks come as court decisions in Massachusetts and city officials in San Francisco have opened the door to gay marriages. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Don Gonyea.