Search results for

Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian official in Iraq, denies media reports that the Bush administration is postponing the creation of an transitional Iraqi authority. In the northern city of Mosul, Bremer meets with the city council billed as postwar Iraq's first elected body. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

The World Health Organization sends a team to a densely populated province in northern China to assess a sudden increase in the number of SARS cases. Doctors believe migrant workers may be spreading the disease. The visit is the first by a WHO team to a Chinese province outside of Guangdong, where SARS broke out in November. Hear NPR's Rob Gifford.

U.S. forces take into custody one of Iraq's top biological weapons experts, nicknamed "Dr. Germ" for her work in the production of biological warfare agents such as anthrax and botulinum toxin. Rihab Taha, a British-educated microbiologist, was not on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, but U.S. officials say her capture was still a top priority. Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten.

More than 3,000 bodies have been removed so far from a mass grave found in central Iraq. The bodies are believed to be those of people killed by Saddam Hussein's government during a Shiite uprising following the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Hear NPR's Christopher Joyce.

The SARS outbreak in Beijing is slowing down, Chinese officials say, dropping from a peak of more than 100 new cases a day to fewer than 50. But officials with the World Health Organization say the outbreak is not under control and say they worry the disease could spread significantly outside the capital city. Hear NPR's Richard Harris.

Barbara Bodine, the U.S. official assigned to govern central Iraq, will leave her post and return to the United States to take a position at the State Department. The move comes just days after the top civilian administrator in Iraq, retired Gen. Jay Garner, is replaced by L. Paul Bremer, a longtime State Department official. Bodine and Garner have been criticized for being slow to restore services and form an interim government. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

The Defense Department investigates the contents of a trailer it says may have been used as a mobile biological weapons lab. A U.S. official says the trailer, recovered April 19 near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, has all the equipment of a lab, but that preliminary tests have not turned up any evidence of banned biological agents. Hear NPR's Eric Westervelt.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says more peacekeeping forces may be needed to maintain order in Iraq. He says no decisions have been made, but suggests other nations may supply some of their own forces to provide security as Iraq moves to form a new government. Hear Dana Priest of The Washington Post.

Jay Garner, the retired general appointed by the Bush administration to oversee Iraq's reconstruction, arrives in Baghdad. Garner says his first priority is to restore basic services and rebuild damaged infrastructure. Garner's visit comes amid reports that two senior members of the Saddam Hussein regime are in U.S. custody. Hear NPR's Jackie Northam.

Retired U.S. Gen. Jay Garner sets up office in Baghdad as Iraq's new civil administrator. Garner says his first priority is restoring basic services such as water and electricity. NPR's Melissa Block talks with NPR's Scott Simon in Baghdad.