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NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome that the political mood in Italy has changed. Two weeks ago voters elected enough politicians from the center-left to form a coalition. Next week the new parliament forms a government. It will be the first time since the end of the second world war that the center left has had an opportunity to govern.

President Clinton is using his executive powers to help boost beef prices and ease the rise of gas prices. NPR's Mara Liasson reports on the President's decision to stabilize beef prices by buying more beef and opening conservation acreage for grazing. This decision comes in the wake of his announcement yesterday to sell oil reserves to increase market supplies.. this to combat price hikes in gasoline.

Gene Brian Johnson of member station WNYC reports that today is the 100th anniversary of Plessey vs. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court decision legalizing racial segregation. The High Court overturned Plessey in 1954 in the famous Brown vs. Board of Education case. But forty plus years after Brown, some African-Americans are rethinking the whole idea and rationale behind integration.

NPR's Richard Harris reports on scientists' latest estimations of the age of the universe. Cosmologists have been struggling to come up with an accurate estimate of the age of the universe, which has been in dispute since Hubble Space Telescope data suggested that previous estimates were wrong. The age of the universe will have important implications for the eventual fate of the cosmos

The nation's governors are meeting in Washington this weekend, and the big issue on their agenda is welfare reform. NPR's Barbara Bradley reports that when Congress gave the state more responsibility for welfare last year, many governors were pleased. But now thatthey see how much its going to cost them, they're having second thoughts.

In Moscow today, President Boris Yeltsin made a rare public appearance to meet with visiting French President Jacques Chicac. Yeltsin's health, weakened by heart problems and pneumonia, has been the subject of much concern in recent months, NPR's Andy Bowers reports that, according to Chirac, the pugnacious Russian leader is clearly on the mend.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that Mitsubishi Motors committed to help raise up to $200 million for minority-owned businesses in a deal ending a dispute over alleged sexual and racial discrimination at the company. Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson said the accord allows him to end a Mitsubishi boycott led by Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

For a second consecutive New Year's Day, the 10 percent federal tax on commercial airline tickets is lapsing. Unlike last year, travelers won't benefit. The carriers already have announced fare increases equal to the anticipated tax cut on 14-day and 21-day advanced-purchase tickets. Steve Inskeep reports.

Detroit, Michigan is the pulse-point of America's automobile industry...but it's been battling every major urban ill for the past three decades. Poverty and poor schools are still a reality in Detroit...but there are surprising signs of a new lease on life for the city. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that with so much money flowing around the Super Bowl, it would seem logical that the franchise owners of the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots would be in for a hefty payday. But that's not so, says Ydstie, who says that revenue sharing means that the worst teams make as much money off the Super Bowl as the teams that actually play.