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By a vote of 74 to 22, the Senate today passed the Helms-Burton bill, which expands sanctions against Cuba. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. that the measure would require an act of Congress to loosen the current U.S. embargo of Cuba, and would permit the United States to aid pro-democracy movements there. It would also allow Cuban exiles whose property was confiscated by the Castro government to sue foreign companies who use that property. The House votes tomorrow.

NPR's Vicky Que reports on a study which shows that pregnancy and birth rates are up again among teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19, and even more dramatic increase occuring in younger teens. This reverses a trend of the early 1980s, when the rate of teen pregnancy and births to teen mothers began to level off. Some analysts thinks sex education needs to start earlier to correspond to the early onset of sexual activity and menarche in young girls in the U.S.

item veto bill today. It will allow a president to eliminate specific items in spending legislation, as well as very narrow tax loopholes and new entitlements. The new law, which presidents have called for for decades, goes into effect next January and will expire in eight years unless Congress extends it. Proponents say it will help cut the deficit. But NPR's Mara Liasson reports that many analysts are skeptical about the line-item veto's effectiveness.

NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on the diplomatic tangle with China over its failure to curb counterfeiting of American intellectual property. Computer software, CDs, and numerous other easily copied goods continue to pour out of China a year after the Chinese government agreed to crack down on this trade. American companies say they're losing billions, but they don't speak with one voice. Microsoft, for example, wants sanctions, but Boeing fears the Chinese will retaliate by buying planes elsewhere.

a new government took power. In Freetown, Sierra Leone. There was a handover of power by the military, to the new civilian president -- Ahmad Tejan Kabbah [ah-med TEE-jin KAH-bah], is the first democratically-elected leader in Sierra Leone since the late 1970's. The rebels agreed earlier this week to extend a two-month cease-fire. The BBC's West Africa correspondent David Bamford reports.

Drummers...maybe hundreds...are filling the town of Santa Cruz, California, with rhythm...lots of rhythm...non-stop rhythm. The drummers are exorcizing the spirit of Robert Bly...they're energizing their bodies; freeing their spirits; celebrating the joy of being alive. They're also REALLY making the people of Santa Cruz mad. Tonight, the city council votes on an ordinance to ban drumming between the hours of 8PM and 10AM. The drummers are bummed. Kathy MacAnally reports.

NPR's David Welna reports that life for Cuba's beleaguered dissident movement has gotten even harder in recent weeks. Since shortly before last month's downing of two American planes by Cuban jets, Fidel Castro's police have stepped up their harassment and arrests of the Cuban leader's opponents. Castro has not chosen to completely crush the dissidents, however; he apparently feels he must tolerate a certain amount of dissent as part of his effort to attract foreign investment.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports on the measures President Clinton will take against Cuba in response to Havana's shooting down of two unarmed civilian planes this weekend. Clinton says he is asking Congress to pass legislatin that allow the administration to compensate the families of the victims with money from Cuban assets frozen in the United States. He says the United States also will step up the embargo and the propaganda war against Cuba and cancel all charter flights between the United States and the island nation.

Chris Nuttall ((NUT-uhl)) reports from Ankara, Turkey, that a chasm has opened between the United States and Europe over arming the Bosnian government. Thirty countries had come to Turkey at the request of the United States to talk about helping the Bosnians build an effective fighting force. Studies show the Bosnians need 800-million-dollars. The U.S. will contribute a hundred-million-dollars in military stocks. Not one European Union country made an immediate pledge.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has authorized construction in Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank at a pace that exceeds that of his predecessor, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu. Palestinians and peace groups had hoped that in his stated quest for peace, Barak would freeze settlement building. The US has called settlement building an impediment to peace. But in his first three months in office there has been no freeze.