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President Bush defends the U.S. mission in Iraq, saying that calls for American troops to leave the country are premature. The president warned that the situation would only worsen without U.S. troops -- and that "chaos in Iraq would be very unsettling in the region."

No longer restrained by a a government gag order, the Army Reservist who turned over pictures of inmate mistreatment at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison to military investigators is discussing publicly his decision to disclose the abuse.

The Food and Drug Administration approves over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, called Plan B by its maker, to those 18 or older. The FDA's decision ends a contentious 3-year effort to make it available without a prescription. But women 17 and younger will have to obtain a doctor's prescription to get the pills.

Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Julie Rovner about the Food and Drug Administration's decision to approve sales of the so-called morning-after pill without a prescription. The new rules allow women over 18 to buy the "Plan B" drug over the counter. The decision comes after three years of national debate over access to emergency contraception.

NASA has announced that Lockheed Martin will build America's new space capsule, called Orion. Expected to orbit Earth by 2014, Orion is expected to reach the moon by 2020. Although the capsule design has not been deemed to be especially exciting, unlike earlier capsules, Orion will be reusable. Melissa Block talks with U.S. Air Force Chief Scientist Mark Lewis about the spacecraft.

This week the Senate is debating whether to pass a bill that would both raise the minimum wage for the first time in almost a decade, and permanently cut the estate tax. It's a compromise that would give both Democrats and Republicans something each side wants. The House has already passed the bill. Don Gonyea talks to David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal.

Hezbollah bombs Haifa in northern Israel on Sunday, in the worst spate of violence yet. Rockets from the Labanese guerillas hit a train station where at least eight people died, and landed near an oil refinery and gas storage tanks. Residents hid in bomb shelters in the northern cities of Acco and Nahariya.

The Senate has approved a measure that would prohibit taking a minor across state lines to have an abortion without informing her parents. The 65-34 vote is the first time the Senate has approved such a bill -- many states already have laws covering such cases.

Israeli airstrikes target southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, on the fourth day of fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces. Lebanon's diverse communities are divided over Hezbollah's actions and the Israeli response.

A doctor and two nurses were arrested overnight in New Orleans, where they are charged with second-degree murder in connection with patient deaths at a city hospital. The deaths occurred in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.