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The BBC's Karen Coleman reports from Sarajevo that a government has been approved for Bosnia-Hercegovina. The House of Representatives, made up of Serbs, Croats and Muslims, finally met this morning, more than three months since elections were held. Although it means that Serbs, Muslims and Croats will be working together, the real power in the country still resides in the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

A jury today in Fayetteville, North Carolina found former army paratrooper James Burmeister (BURR my ster) guilty of the December, 1995 murder of Jackie Burden and Michael James. The black couple were shot at close range as they walked in a Fayetteville neighborhood. The prosecution argued Burmeister was a skinhead who wanted to kill blacks to earn a special tattoo. Now, he could get the death penalty. Aileen Leblanc reports.

- A study released by the federal government today says that nearly 60 per cent of those convicted of sex offenses in the past two years are back on the street on parole. But NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports that officials say there is little cause to worry. They say statistics show that the number of sex offenses has dropped dramatically and point to the success of new laws that keep communities abreast of the convicted sex offenders in their midst.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that in a series of meetings with audiences ranging from President Clinton to the National Press Club, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has said there can be no resolution to the month-and-a-half-long hostage crisis in his Capitol that would entail releasing imprisoned guerillas and making peace with the hostage-takers' organization, the Tupac Amaru.

Pondering the hows and whys of crime novelist Eugene Izzi's suspicious death has become a popular parlor-game in Chicago. Izzi wrote under the name Nick Gaetano. As Rick Karr reports, discussion of Izzi's life and death in this way ...as a form of amusement... is an idea that deeply troubles his friends and colleagues.

A growing number of corporations have taken steps in recent years to adopt so-called "family-friendly" policies. But organized labor has been sitting on the sidelines and hasn't pushed for policies that relieve stress on the homefront. NPR's David Molpus reports that's starting to change, but ever so slowly.

NPR's Cheryl Devall reports that while this weekend's American Airlines strike lasted mere minutes, it still sent an unseasonable chill throughout the Caribbean, where the airline provides up to 70 percent of service to some islands. Caribbean officials speak of the strike threat - which came at the height of the winter travel season - as a 'wake up call.'

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on an effort by the West African nation of Burkina Faso to tax the black market. Ninety percent of this desperately poor country's economy is on the black market, so it's a huge source of potential government revenue. It's unclear how successful the effort has been, but it could serve as a model for other poverty-stricken nations.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that more than 200 children in Japan have been hospitalized and thousands more affected by an outbreak of food poisoning that authorities believe is related to the E-Coli (Ee KOH-lie) bacteria. E-Coli has been linked to lethal cases in the United States ... all believed to be caused by eating beef that was not adequately cooked.

NPR's John Burnett reports on a decision today by federal judges that redrew thirteen congressional districts in Texas and nullified their primary election results in order to conform with recent Supreme Court rulings outlawing so-called "racial gerrymandering." This decision has important implications for some Congressional races in Texas. Some incumbents who had faced no primary opposition could now find themselves with rivals for those seats.