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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.

Maine Public Radio's Andrea De Leon (AHN-dray-uh day-lay-OHN) reports that Maine Islanders are up in arms over Nabisco's decision to stop making their favorite chowder cracker. The company says Crown Pilot crackers are just not profitable. But residents of Chebeague Island say chowder just isn't the same without them and they've launched a campaign to 'save the cracker'. Latest word is that Nabisco may be reconsidering.

NPR's Virginia Biggar reports that now that a civil jury has found OJ Simpson liable for compensatory damages in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, the trial turns its attention to possible punitive damages. The jury has already awarded 8.5 million dollars in compensation to the family of Ron Goldman, and the plaintiffs' lawyers will begin arguing tomorrow for punitive damage. Part of their task will be to demonstrate just how much Simpson is worth, and that his future earnings should be counted in the assessment.

In last night's State of the Union address, President Clinton made education the centerpiece of his second term, proposing to make higher education more affordable and to make U.S. education the envy of the world. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports that many educators welcome the President's support, but they say that many of the programs he proposed have been in existence in one form or another for a long time. They question whether the federal government is in a position to enact the reforms the president talked about.

NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports on a new, negative evaluation of the recent television ratings system. The conservative Media Research Center claims the system has failed to adequately alert parents to programming they might not want their children to see. In fact, the group's reviewers contend that prime time programming rated for general audiences routinely contained "vulgarities" and "obscenities". The study looked at 150-hours of prime time television on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, UPN, and WB networks. NBC garnered some of the harshest criticism.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports that South Africa is already making the transition to the post-Nelson Mandela era. The 78-year-old Mandela will be president until he retires in 1999, but Deputy President Thabo Mbeki has taken over much of the day-to-day running of the government. Many are fearful of a future without Mandela, but the president is laying the groundwork for a smooth transition by giving Mbeki more responsibility now. In addition, Mbeki is not expected to change many of Mandela's policies.

Robert talks with Pete Early, author of CONFESSIONS OF A SPY: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames (Putnam, 1997). Early is a former Washington Post reporter who interviewed CIA and KGB officials about Ames. Ames also granted Early secret interviews from prison. Early says he believes Ames "gave up" 25 American agents to the Soviets. Ten of them were killed and several are still missing.