Search results for

President Clinton set out from Chicago today to start this leg of his reelection campaign with a bus tour through Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky. But before leaving the Democratic Convention city, he and Vice President Gore gave rousing speeches to national party officials and other loyalists, thanking them for their work so far, and exhorting them to get people registered and out to vote in November. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

NPR's Mara Liasson reports that President Clinton held a press conference today to talk about his decision to launch a cruise missile attack against Iraq. The President said the military strike sends a message to Saddam Hussein that he will pay a price for his aggression. The White House says there were several goals for the attack, including maintaining military credibility...proving that when the United States issues an ultimatum, it is prepared to back up its threats with action.

A day after the Mideast summit organized by President Clinton, Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole criticized the administration for having a failed foreign policy. He said that after four years of Clinton in the White House, "our friends no longer respect us and our enemies no longer fear us." But Dole offered few insights into his own foreign policy proposals. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports.

The civil trial of O.J. Simpson got underway today. Virginia Biggar reports that the turnout of spectators outside the courthouse was small compared to the criminal trial last year. Inside the courtroom, lawyers for the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman began their opening statement with a promise to show that Simpson committed the double murders. Simpson cannot be convicted of murder; in this civil trial, if he is found guilty, he must pay damages to the families of the victims.

NPR's Deidre Berger reports on the opening of an arson trial in Lubeck, Germany. Last January, ten refugees were killed when someone set fire to the refugee shelter where they were sleeping. A young Lebanese is accused. He denies the charge. His lawyer and other anti-racist groups want authorities to arrest four skin-heads as likely suspects. The four were arrested on other charges near the site of the fire.

Ted Clark reports on growing U.S. concern that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies encouraging new Jewish settlement in occupied Arab lands are a direct threat to a long term peace between Israelis and Palestinians as envisaged in the Oslo peace accords. While Netanyahu's rhetoric continues to endorse the peace process, U.S. officials worry that his acts are increasingly an obstacle to the success of that process.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports on the campaign for president in the Republic of Chechnya. It's part of a peace deal that ended twenty-one months of bitter fighting as Chechens sought to break away from Russia. Two of the leading candidates are folk heroes. One was a Rebel commander in the Chechen conflict; the other is a Separatist leader who was reportedly killed last spring. Many Chechens believe this candidate is actually in hiding, and would return to claim his presidential seat if elected.

In Belgrade, demonstrators haven't been able to convince Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to change his decision about annulling the results of municipal elections that were held in November. But, they continue to march in the streets of Belgrade and their protest is gaining international support. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that European countries...along with the United States...are beginning to look beyond the Milosevic regime.

Most Americans favor letting doctors help the terminally ill hasten their death -- particularly the young, who don't always understand what it's like for an old person dealing with a disabling illness. NPR's Wendy Schmelzer reports that a new survey of the elderly who are sick or depressed shows they are not having suicidal thoughts. Neither are the poor, the poorly educated and minorities who don't always feel in control of their health care. Most oppose assisted suicide.

The BBC's Jane Standley reports from Tanzania on the latest movements of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees. Tanzania has told the half-million Rwandans in camps there that they should go home by the end of the month. That had prompted many of the refugees to leave their camps and head away from Rwanda, but today large numbers headed back toward the camps. Tanzanian authorities insist it is safe for the refugees to return to Rwanda; many of the Hutu refugees fear retribution for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, carried out against Tutsis.