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NPR's Laura Ziegler reports that the drug P.C.P. is back. Phencyclidine (fen-SIE-kluh-deen) has been in and out of vogue in U.S. cities over the last 30 years. In its powdered form, P.C.P. is known as "angel dust" or "crystal"... but it's as a liquid that the drug is making a comeback. At a press conference last week, federal authorities cited an increasing demand, especially among young people, for liquid P.C.P.

More developments could be coming in the Whitewater investigation, because special counsel Kenneth Starr has said he expects to wrap up his probe this year. NPR's Phillip Davis reports the investigation has moved from looking at events that took place in the 1970's in Arkansas to related events in Washington in the '90's. It also has been expanded to include the handling of FBI files by some White House staff, and possible contradictions in statements made by a former presidential counsel to a House committee.

The Supreme Court heard arguments today on a challenge to the Brady gun-control law, which requires background checks on people trying to buy handguns. Sheriffs from Arizona and Montana filed suit, saying the law is unconstitutional because it requires states to carry out a federal policy. Supporters of the law say it has been effective in keeping criminals from buying guns. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

NPR's Martha Raddatz reports that the accession of Madeleine Albright to the leadership of US foreign policy is important...but not because she is expected to become the first woman to become Secretary of State. Her real importance lies in her commitment to an activist foreign policy. Her arrival at the State Department means the demise of the so-called Powell Doctrine, which refers to the sometimes overcautious commitment of US military forces in support of US foreign policy goals.

Jon Miller reports from Lima on Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's strategy towards the crisis in the Japanese ambassador's residence, where leftist rebels still hold 74 hostages. Fujimori refuses to consider the hostage-takers' demand that he free their imprisoned comrades, but at the same time he is actively seeking a negotiated solution. The Peruvian leader is resisting pressure from his military to storm the residence. He has even sent a top advisor to meet with jailed rebel leaders.

- In his first public remarks since his reprimand and fine by the House Ethics Committee, Speaker Newt Gingrich lashed out at the media and the Democrats for following a "double-standard" when dealing with conservatives who make ethical mistakes. NPR's Kathy Lohr reports Gingrich's unrepentent remarks received applause from the audience in his Georgia district, but the speaker still faces the question of how he will pay his $300,000 fine and possibly more questions from the IRS over possible tax violations.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports on this week's Washington visit by new U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan (KOH-fee AN-nan). Washington's choice to replace former Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali will lobby the White House and Congress to pay the one-point-three BILLION dollars the United States' owes to the U-N. Washington previously has refused to pay on grounds that the United Nations is poorly managed, fiscally irresponsible and often does not act in U-S interests.

Gene Bryan Johnson of member station WNYC reports on the trial of Lemrick Nelson and Nelson Price. Nelson was acquitted of state murder charges in a previous trial. In that hearing, he was accused of stabbing Yankel Rosenbaum in the violence that occured in Crown Heights, Brooklyn after a black child was killed by a car driven by a Hasidic man 6 years ago. Nelson is now being tried on federal charges of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights. Price is charged with violating Rosenbaum's rights by whipping the crowd into a mob that searched for Jews to attack.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that the Israeli cabinet has taken new measures to encourage the growth of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories in the wake of an drive by shooting of a settler family outside of Ramallah. The move is the latest of many by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to alter, if not reverse, the peace process begun by his predecessors. Palestinians consider any growth of Jewish settlements in their occupied lands as attempts to make make their aspirations for an independent Palestinian state...the eventual existence of which was implied in the Oslo accords...impossible.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports that the new U-N Secretary General, Kofi Annan (KOH-fee AH'-nan), today met with President Clinton and the new leader of his foreign policy team, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Annan is also talking with a longtime critic of the United Nations, Republican Senator Jesse Helms, in an effort to restore U-S confidence in the U-N and convince Washington to pay its back dues to the organization.