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NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the intense political crisis gripping Zaire, one of Africa's largest nations. A rebellion which began several weeks ago in the east of the country is steadily spreading, and Zaire's underpaid and poorly disciplined army is putting up very little resistance. To compound the problem, President Mobutu Sese Seko (mo-BOO-too SAY-SAY SAY-koh) has been out of the country for months, as he recuperates from cancer surgery on the French Riviera.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that among the roughly half million refugees returning to Rwanda are some of those who carried out the 1994 genocide there. Survivors of the massacres against Tutsis and moderate Hutus are now faced with the dilemma of how to deal with returned neighbors who killed their relatives. We meet one woman who searches for her family's killers, and finds the murderers' mother and brother.

NPR's Mandelit Delbarco reports that the plaintiffs have rested their case in the civil trial of OJ Simpson, accused of the "wrongful deaths" of his former wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman. The final witness for the plaintiffs was Fred Goldman, father of victim Ron, who testified to the tremendous pain his son's death has caused him. Now, the defense will take over, and is expected to focus on demonstrating flaws in police work following the murders.

NPR's Mara Liasson reports that President Clinton opened an emergency summit today between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Arafat. The meeting is an attempt to salvage the Middle East peace process, which unravelled in violence last week in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem. But in the opening sessions of the two-day summit, there appeared to be more distrust and anger between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders than a commitment to seek compromise.

Pan Am Flight 21 from New York to Miami took off on schedule this morning. Nothing unusual there... except the name of the airline. Pan Am is back in the air again today after going out of business in 1991, the victim of years of mismanagement and a terrorist bombing. The new investors who bought the right to use the Pan Am name are hoping they can use that name to succeed against heavy competition. NPR's Jim Zarroli has a report.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that the Clinton Administration is sending Secretary of State Warren Christopher to the Mideast this weekend to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the eve of new peace negotiations at Erez on the Gaza border. Christopher's Mideast visit, only days after the two-day Israeli-Palestinian summit at the White House, underscores the importance the US is placing on reviving the Middle East peace process.

David Baron reports on the three U.S. scientists who won the Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of a form of helium that has shed unexpected light on the first moments of the universe...and a form of helium called Helium-3 has properties called superfludity at extremely low temperatures. the two Texans and the British chemist who won the prize in chemistry for discovery of a carbon molecule that sparked a new field of study.

Republican lawmakers have given up their effort to allow states to bar the children of illegal immigrants from public schools. President Clinton had threatened to veto the overall immigration reform bill if it came to him with the ban included. The provision was supported by Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that negotiators from the House and Senate agreed to drop the amendment in order to save the rest of the immigration bill.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Jerusalem that after the intercession of King Hussein and the threat that the US mediator Denis Ross would pack up and go home, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are finally close to signing an agreement for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hebron. But what was held up the talks is not so much reaching an agreement on how the withdrawal should be handled. The real concern appears to be getting a commitment to time tables for further Israeli withdrawals in the next year from the occupied West Bank countryside.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports that the United States and other nations are increasingly concerned that fighting in eastern Zaire will lead to a regional war involving Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi. At the same time, the United Nations is trying to figure out how to care for the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been forced to flee their Zairean camps because of the violence. So far, however, no one has any idea how to end the conflict or help the refugees.