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President Bush this afternoon announced he would proceed with developing a missile shield that would protect the United States from at least some forms of missile attack. The president said the system would be designed to stop a limited number of missiles that had been fired by minor powers, by terrorists or by accident. He said he thought this could be done without withdrawing from the 1972 treaty that banned anti-ballistic missile systems. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from the White House.

Robert Siegel speaks with Megan Twohey, welfare reporter for the National Journal, about how welfare reform has affected the lives of people like Maria Lopez. Twohey says welfare reform and a booming economy have succeeded in getting many former recipients into jobs. But, she says, those jobs are often low-paying and dead-end. Twohey also says that it remains difficult for welfare recipients to pursue higher education, an issue that will likely come up when Congress looks at reauthorization in 2002.

Joshua Levs reports that authorities in DeKalb County, Ga., are conducting their largest investigation ever into the murder of Derwin Brown. Brown was the sheriff-elect when he was gunned down in his driveway in December, three days before he would have taken office. Brown had promised to overhaul operations at the county jail, which he called a cesspool of corruption. Thirty-six detectives are on the case, but so far no murder suspects have been named. Three men have been charged with lying to investigators.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Maidstone, England, on the trial of Dutchman Perry Wacker, the truck driver charged in the deaths of 58 illegal Chinese migrants who suffocated while being smuggled in his truck into Britain. Wacker took the stand yesterday to insist he didn't know he was carrying human cargo. In its cross-examination, the prosecution sought to show he knew full well and closed the vent on his truck to make sure no one heard the illegal migrants inside.

NPR's Van Williamson reports from Chestertown, Maryland, on tomorrow's launch of the schooner, "Sultana" onto the Chester River. Professional builders and volunteers spent four years constructing the vessel, which is more than 50 feet long and weighs 52 tons. It's modeled after a cargo vessel, built in 1768, that the British Navy used to patrol for smugglers. At the time, Chestertown was a deepwater port, 20 miles up the Chester River from the Chesapeake Bay. Today it's a tourist destination.

NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg reports on a case before the Supreme Court that tests how law enforcement can use the technique of thermal imaging. Using a special machine, police can detect the amount of heat radiating from the exterior walls of a building, which can help them catch people who are growing large amounts of marijuana in their homes. But one man who was arrested after police used thermal imaging argues that the technique is an invasion of privacy.

Linda Wertheimer talks wtih Vikram Parekh, Researcher on South Asia for Human Rights Watch about Human Rights Watch's lastest report, Massacres of Hazaras in Afghanistan, which gives eye witness accounts of a massacre in January in the central highlands of Afghanistan, as well as new evidence related to an earlier massacre last May. During both events, the victims were primarily Hazaras, a Shia Muslim ethnic group, previously targeted by Taliban forces for abuse. Afghan humanitarian aid workers were also killed.

NPR's Melissa Block reports the prosecution has rested in the trial of four men accused in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In presenting its case in New York, the prosecutors called dozens of witnesses and presented a range of evidence from tapes of wiretapped phone conversations to network news interviews with Osama Bin Laden. Some of the most powerful testimony came from people who were injured in the bombings.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from Paris, where Secretary of State Colin Powell met today with the other five foreign ministers in the so-called Contact Group on the Balkans. {The ministers stressed the large degree of consensus within the Contact Group on the various Balkan issues. With regard to the recent fighting in Macedonia, they strongly supported Macedonia's territorial integrity and condemned violence by ethnic Albanian insurgents. As for Montenegro, which will soon hold a referendum on independence, they expressed support for a democratic Montenegro within the framework of a democratic Yugoslavia.}

On Friday, workers at the Duro plant just across border inside Mexico voted overwhelmingly not to join an independent union. The outcome is seen as further evidence of Mexico's harsh treatment of independent labor organizers. The election was preceded by intimidation by the company and the state-controlled union, which is considered very corrupt. President Vicente Fox has indicated he wants independents to be protected, but the vote doesn't reflect any change in Mexico. NPR's John Burnett reports.