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President Bush names former ambassador Paul Bremer as the new head of the transition team in Iraq. Bremer takes over for retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who has been leading the post-war reconstruction effort so far. Observers say the appointment is aimed at downplaying the impression that Iraq is under U.S. military occupation. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

More than 200 Iraqi delegates agree during a U.S.-led meeting in Baghdad to meet again within a month to select members of an interim government. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is considering moving a key base for U.S. air operations from Saudi Arabia to Qatar. Hear reports from NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Jennifer Ludden.

Taiwan reports 39 new cases of SARS, bringing the island's total to 383 cases, 52 of which have been fatal. Ninety percent of the cases were spread in hospitals. Meanwhile, citing success in battling SARS, Chinese officials announce plans to re-open schools in Beijing Thursday. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

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.

New U.S. administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer bans up to 30,000 members of the Baath party from working for government ministries. But despite Bremer's insistence that the country's security condition is improving, Iraqis express frustration with ongoing disorder -- and they blame U.S. postwar administrators. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, visits the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in his first official visit outside of Baghdad since arriving in the country last week. Bremer denies reports that the United States plans to postpone the formation of an interim Iraqi government, but does not give a firm date for its creation. 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.

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.

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.