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Nick Wood reports from the town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, that NATO-led peacekeepers seized control of the dilapidated Trepca mining complex today, prompting angry protests from local Serbs. The United Nations administration in the province said it was closing the mines as a health measure, because the Trepca smelters were spewing out toxic fumes. The head of the UN administration, Bernard Kouchner, said an international consortium plans to renovate the mines and eventually reopen the facility.

Phil Ittner reports from Moscow that the Russian navy is frantically trying to save more than 100 sailors trapped on board a submarine lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea in Russia's arctic north. The boat fell 480 feet to the sea floor Sunday, during naval exercises. A spokesman for the Russian navy's general staff said the accident could have been caused by a collision with a foreign submarine, although he gave no evidence for this.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports from Arusha, Tanzania, that President Clinton has arrived there to lend American support to efforts to end Burundi's civil war. He met with former South African President Nelson Mandela, who has been trying to broker a Burundi peace, as well as with Burundi leaders. But five hard-line Tutsi groups boycotted the accord between Hutus and Tutsis that Clinton saw signed today.

The soccer mom personified the swing voter in the last presidential election. This time everyone's talking about the "working waitress." Governor George W. Bush uses the example of the waitress to describe his tax cut. Vice President Al Gore attacks Bush's tax plan and recalls his own mother's working days as a waitress. Scott Horsley reports on how the candidates' competing tax plans would affect a real working waitress.

Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that a fire raged for more than a day in the city's television tower, leaving at least two people dead. The blaze caused considerable damage to the structure -- the world's second tallest tower -- and nearly all television service to the capital has been cut. The fire -- coming just after a bomb blast in Moscow and the sinking of the submarine Kursk -- has prompted more talk about Russia's crumbling infrastructure.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on decision-making by state election officials across the country about which of the two Reform Party candidates to recognize on their presidential election ballots. Both Patrick Buchanan and John Hagelin claim to be the real Reform Party candidate. This dispute -- which has some 12-point-6 Million dollars in Federal funds ((ed: *NOT* "Federal matching funds")) riding alongside it -- will wind up in courts across the country before election day.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports from Cartagena, Colombia, on President Clinton's visit today. The President wants to show support for Plan Colombia, which aims to end Colombia's 40-year cycle of political and criminal violence. The U.S. will provide nearly a billion dollars toward the plan, much of it in military aid. Human rights groups are worried that the plan will contribute to even more violence against civilian populations.

NPR's John Nielsen reports on the controversy over a type of genetically altered corn that's fed to livestock. The corn has not been approved for human use, but may have found its way into the food supply. It's one of eight varieties of genetically modified corn seed currently on the market and contains a substance called krinine c (KRIGH-nine.see), which can trigger allergic reactions in humans.

Marcie Sillman from member station KUOW reports that the fate of a 93-hundred year old skeleton known as Kennewick Man is still in limbo. The Clinton Administration says the bones should be returned to the five tribes who claim them...but eight Oregon scientists have taken the case to federal court.

From South Dakota, Charles Michael Ray reports on the seizure of 4-thousand industrial grade hemp plants from land on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Federal agents took the plants last month even though hemp was legalized by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council as a cash crop. The council claims it's their sovereign right to grow hemp on tribal lands. Federal officials disagree.