Search results for

NPR'S Julie McCarthy reports that the Japanese are gearing up to go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament, but no surprises are expected. The Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto is expected to win, despite its involvement in recent scandals and charges of corruption. The LDP ruled Japan from 1955 to 1993, and after a short period out of power, it returned as the dominant force in a coalition government that ran the country since mid-1994.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports on the image make-over of Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. Legitimately given more power while President Boris Yeltsin gets ready for heart surgery, Chernomyrdin is working to create the image of a man who can be trusted- in contrast to his rivals for power. This week he gave a rare television interview intended to counter his image as a grey bureaucrat. It's the latest twist in the Kremlin struggle for power.

Meet everybody's favorite unknown Seattle band. Pearl Jam chose the Fastbacks as the opening act for its current world tour. The Fastbacks have been laboring for nearly twenty years on the Seattle club scene. They've watched as their friends became famous (during the major label feeding frenzy that descended on Seattle during the grunge boom) and they didn't. But they've persevered. Marcie Sillman, of member station K-U-O-W, reports.

Theodore Kaczynski, the man accused of being the Unabomber, kept a diary in his Montana cabin that detailed 16 bombings attributed to the terrorist, according to assistant U.S. attorney Robert Cleary. Cleary discussed the journals during a pretrial hearing in court in Sacramento today. Linda talks with NPR's Howard Berkes and reporter Bill Rickman of member station KXJZ in Sacramento about what this means for the case.

Commentator David Brooks has some thoughts about Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole's media bashing -- he thinks there is validity to Mr. Dole's claims that the media is liberal. A recent poll from the Roper Center found that 89% of national reporters voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. However, Brooks doesn't think that a liberal press corps kills a Republican campaign...obsessing about it does.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey said today that he will not replace the members of a four-person ethics subcommittee that is investigating allegations against House Speaker Newt Gingrich. But Armey left open the question of whether he will replace other members of the full Ethics Committee. Democrats are accusing the Republicans of playing politics with Gingrich's case by trying to use an obscure House rule to reconstitute the Ethics Committee. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that the United States stood by its opposition to renewing the term of office of UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali by vetoing a Security Council resolution to renew his appointment for another five years. The veto sets the stage for what promises to be a long and acrimonious argument between the US and the rest of the world, which wants to see Boutros-Ghali get another term.

NPR'S Vicki O'Hara reports that the resignation of Secretary of State Warren Christopher raises some uncertainties about U-S foreign policy. Chief among them is how the changes in the Clinton Administration will affect U.S. relations with China. Experts say the issues at stake -- from the treatment of dissidents, to the controversy over Taiwan to trade issues -- are immediate and explosive.

A source close to the case says President Clinton's former Whitewater real estate partner, James McDougal, has been cooperating with the independent counsel, apparently in an attempt to get a lenient sentence. McDougal was convicted of fraud and conspiracy for improperly using federally-backed funds. President Clinton was not charged in the case but testified in support of McDougal and his codefendants. NPR's Jon Greenberg has a report.

Challenger Bob Dole has been criticizing President Clinton over indirect campaign contributions from Indonesian business interests. The donors have contributed more than 400-thousand dollars to the Democratic National Committee. Critics say, in return, the administration may have used its influence to help the Indonesian corporation. The White House says it did not do anything in exchange for the contribution. NPR's Peter Overby reports.