From NPR news in Washington, I am Louise Schiavone.

 

　　President Obama is introducing three new appointees to his new cabinet, of greatest interest in sequester-worried Washington. Sylvia Mathews Burwell's appointment to lead the Office of Management and Budget. As former deputy budget director under President Clinton, Mr. Obama says that Burwell has what it takes.

 

　　“I am confident that my nominee for OMB director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, is the right person to continue Jeff‘s great work”. Opening the first meeting of his second term cabinet, the President said he continued to seek out Republican partners to reach a deal to end the sequester, 85 billion in budget cuts now launched. The President has also appointed air quality expert Gina McCarthy to lead the EPA and nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy.

 

　　It's been two years since BP oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico taking the deep water horizon oil rig with it along with several lives. As NPR’s Jeff Brady reports, a civil trial in New Orleans is entering its second week.

 

　　Attorneys for the plaintiffs and companies that helped drill the Macondo well grilled BP’sMark Bly about his investigation. A lawyer for rig-owner Transocean questioned Bly about apparent gaps in the report including a call made to shore just before the accident. Transocean says its employees did not receive the information they needed from BP to operate safely. BP maintains the accident was the result of a series of failures by multiple parties. This trail aims to figure out what happened and who was at fault. It is expected to last through May unless the parties settled the case before then.

 

　　Jeff Brady, NPR news.

 

　　At least 42 Syrian soldiers have been killed in Iraq near the border with Syria. NPR’s Nicole Beemsterboer says Iraqi forces were escorting the soldiers back to Syria.

 

　　The convoy of Syrian soldiers had fled the town of Yaarubiyeh near the border, after opposition forces took control of the government base there. Dozens of soldiers took refuge in Anbar province of Western Iraq, a predominantly Sunni area that one time was heaven for al-Qaeda-linked militants. Iraqi officials tell the Associated Press authorities were transferring the Syrian soldiers back to Syria when militants ambushed the convoy in a well-coordinated the attack. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack. Sunni Muslims in Iraq’s Anbar province have in the past few months risen up and support a Syria’s anti-government movement.

 

　　Nicole Beemsterboer, NPR news, Beirut.

 

　　Fresh from a visit to North Korea, former NBA star Dennis Rodman reports that Kim Jong Un wants President Obama to call him. White House spokesman Jay Carney. "The United States has channels of communications directly with DPRK and these are the channels we choose to employ".

 

　　On Wall Street, the Dow now up 33 point. The NASDAQ up 8. This is NPR.

 

　　There are conflicting reports about the reported death of a senior al-Qaeda-linked jihadi leader in Northern Mali. NPR’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports the authorities in Chad announced he had been killed by their troops on Saturday but others including France are urging caution.

 

　　If confirmed, the killing of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, and before him al-Qaeda’s number 2 regional commander Abou Zeid would eliminate the Franchises leadership in Mali, although Belmokhtar split from al-Qaeda to set up his own Signed in Blood brigade last year. Chad claimed its forces killed both militants in Mali. But US-based site service reported and identified militant chat website participant posting a message on several forums saying Belmokhtar was alive and well and leading battles himself. The head of France’s Joint Chiefs of Staff AdmGuillaud couldn’t confirm whether Belmokhtar was dead or alive but said AbouZeid’s death was very probable.

 

　　Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR news in Dakar.

 

　　Due to repeated cycles of drought and flooding, millions of Africans stand to face severe food shortages. The assessment of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the global humanitarian body, identified Angola, Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe is the hardest hit by crop failures, life-stock loss and contaminated water supplies.

 

　　Major General Michele Johnson breached the military’s Brass Ceiling. She has now become the first woman to command the air force academy in Colorado Springs.

 

　　I am Louise Schiavone, NPR news, Washington.