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An expert panel has assembled a presidential report detailing how to send a human mission to Mars. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports that the multi-billion dollar initiative would require draining resources from other scientific research projects.

Much of the reporting coming out of Myanmar is accomplished by people who risk their lives to send information to Burmese pro-democracy advocates in exile. Aye Chan Naing, executive director of the Democratic Voice of Burma, talks about the dangers of reporting from the country formerly known as Burma.

NPR's Martha Raddatz reports that investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation are in Saudi Arabia to gather information about the bombing of the U.S. military housing complex in Dharan that killed 19 Americans. There were initial reports from Saudi officials that the car used in the bombing may have been recovered, but U.S. officials doubt the getaway car has been found.

Noah talks with NPR's Melissa Block about a published report that investigators have found the first evidence that an explosive device was detonated on Trans World Airlines Flight 800. The report, published in Friday's editions of the New York Times, says the FBI has found traces of a chemical used in plastic explosives on a piece of wreckage retrieved from the area that investigators believe was the epicenter of the blast.

NPR's Phillip Davis reports that the Federal Aviation Administration announced new measures to scrutinize safety at Valujet. The measures include a review of any operational incidents reported on Valujet planes in the past, as well as an inspection of every plane in the airline's inventory. A Valujet DC-9 crashed in the Florida Everglades Saturday, killing 110 people.

- Tom speaks with Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about efforts by that organization to locate children who've been reported missing around the country. Allen says that police receive more than 800-thousand reports of missing children annually. Most of those kids are successfully reunited with their families, often with the help of pictures mailed to homes or on milk cartons.

A report released by the FBI yesterday says the nation's crime rate is down this year. Large cities have had the most significant drop in crime, while rural areas have experienced a slight increase. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports that the Justice Department attributes the falling crime rates to improved community policing efforts, but some criminologists say its difficult to pinpoint the reasons for the drop in crime.

A special prosecutor in New York has concluded a four-year investigation into evidence-tampering by that state's police. Daniel speaks with reporter John O'Brien of the Syracuse Herald-Journal who says the report says the state troopers tampered with evidence in as many as 36 cases. O'Brien says the scandal has rocked the justice system, causing state police supervisors to resigned, cases to be retried and judges to dismiss convictions.

Under the new welfare reform legislation, some states are worried that recipients may flock toward those states that offer the best beneifits. But reporter Laura Womack of member station WAMU in Washington D.C. reports that in an unexpected twist, states like Virginia, which offer fewer benifits but have good job placement programs, may become the residences of choice for legions of welfare recipients looking for employment.

NPR's Joe Neel reports that scientists have identified a gene that appears to protect people against HIV. The gene appears to prevent the AIDS virus from infecting critical immune system cells known as T-cells. Studies suggest that 1 percent of people of Caucasian descent carry the protective variation of the gene. The findings are being reported in the journals Cell and Nature.