USA Today

Global warming is likely to disproportionately harm the health of children, and politicians should launch "aggressive policies" to curb climate change, the American Academy of Pediatrics said today. By Marilyn Elias

The Army improperly awarded one of its largest contracts — a 10-year, $150 billion deal to support U.S. troops around the world — and should reconsider its decision, a government agency said Tuesday. By Matt Kelley

The number of uninsured veterans jumped sharply in the first half of the decade to 1.8 million in 2004, a new study shows. By Gregg Zoroya

World international and domestic airports handled a record 4.4 billion passengers in 2006, an increase of 4.8% from the previous year, the global airports organisation ACI reported on Wednesday.

Most Americans believe that dramatic steps are needed to conserve energy and reduce the threat of global warming, but they are willing to go only so far in changing their lifestyles to "go green." By Patrick O'Driscoll and Elizabeth Weise,

American and Iraqi officials are seeking to persuade so-called "reconcilable insurgents" to join forces against al-Qaeda as the terror network steps up attacks on both Islamic sects in Iraq, the departing U.S. ambassador said Monday.

Four years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, nearly 9 of 10 Iraqis say they live in fear that the violence ravaging their country will strike themselves and the people with whom they live. By Susan Page

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY. By Leslie Cauley

At least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. military have deserted since the Iraq war began, Pentagon records show, although the overall desertion rate has plunged since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. By Bill Nichols

Arizona's record dry winter combined with a low snowpack could lead to potentially disastrous drought conditions, officials said.

There are enormous differences between the war in Iraq and the one in Vietnam that defined a generation. The current conflict hasn't lasted as long, taken nearly as many American lives or sparked the sort of anti-war movement that marked the '60s and '70s. By Susan Page

More than one in four U.S. troops have come home from the Iraq war with health problems that require medical or mental health treatment, according to the Pentagon's first detailed screening of servicemembers leaving a war zone. By Gregg Zoroya

High temperatures were the underlying cause of a massive die-off of pinyon pines in the recent Southwest drought, a research team reported Monday. By Patrick O'Driscoll

As the world's sole superpower, the United States has tremendous influence. Beyond military might, it can shape issues from trade to terrorism to the environment.

59% Support Troop Cuts — A New High. By Susan Page

As many as one out of four veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals in the past 16 months were diagnosed with mental disorders, a number that has been steadily rising, according to a report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. By Marilyn Elias