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Her book Eats, Shoots & Leaves, a best seller in Britain, is a narrative history of punctuation. Truss claims that with the advent of e-mail and text messaging, proper punctuation is an endangered species. Truss is also the author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas. She has been a television critic and sports columnist for The Times (London). She also won Columnist of the Year award for her work for Women's Journal. She now reviews books for the Sunday Times of London.

Efforts are underway in Afghanistan to register at least 7 million of its 10 million eligible voters -- a number the United Nations deems necessary to declare the country's upcoming elections legitimate. International volunteers say they face many cultural obstacles in convincing women to take a more active civic role. Hear NPR's Renee Montagne.

Senators of both parties weigh in on the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq after a closed-door briefing on the subject by Pentagon officials. Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which heard from senior military officers, called for investigations and accused the Pentagon of a cover-up. NPR's David Welna reports.

Confusion continues to grow over Medicare's discount-drug program, which had its official start Monday. The new plan provides seniors with a choice of discount drug cards, but reports arose late last week that many of the discounts listed on the government's Web site were not accurate. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

An internal Army report details "sadistic, blatant and wanton abuses" of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. The report, completed two months ago, came to light following the dissemination last week of images of U.S. military personnel humiliating inmates at the prison. Seven U.S. soldiers have been reprimanded for the abuses. Hear NPR's Jackie Northam.

Details emerge over the abuse of Iraqis held prisoner by U.S. military authorities in Iraq.

Thomas Hamill, the civilian who escaped his captors near Tikrit after three months as a hostage, led soldiers to the house where he had been held; two men there were taken into custody. Hamill's wife, Kellie, said after learning of her 43-year-old husband's freedom, she felt "wonderful." Hear NPR's Craig Windham.

An unusual anti-communist ordinance passed by the city council of Garden Grove -- a California town with a large Vietnamese-American population -- draws criticism from Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesman. Many residents of Garden Grove and nearby Westminster fled Vietnam when communist forces took over the nation in 1975. NPR's Michael Sullivan reports from Hanoi.

Reports that U.S. military personnel abused Iraqi prisoners in the occupied nation spark accusations that the humiliations and torture were orchestrated by U.S. intelligence officials. The uncle of one of the accused, Army Reserves Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, says Frederick is innocent. Hear NPR's Cheryl Corley, NPR's Jackie Northam and Gary Solis of Georgetown University.

- As part of our series of commentaries on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American troops, psychotherapist Jeffrey Harper says that the desire to act towards enemies with cruelty -- and take pleasure from it -- is human nature.