Search results for

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that Mexico's President-elect Vicente Fox is on a two-day visit to Washington to present his proposals on trade, immigration and drug trafficking. Fox defeated the ruling party's candidate, President Ernesto Zedillo, in a July election. He supports opening borders as a way of addressing illegal immigration and helping to develop Mexico's economy. US business and labor leaders are unenthusiastic, but President Clinton has said he wants to hear more about Fox's ideas before expressing an opinion. In addition to visiting President Clinton, Fox met with Vice President Gore and plans a similar session tomorrow with Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush.

Peter Kenyon of NPR News, reports from Erie, Pennsylvania that Texas Governor George W. Bush is defending his state's record in providing health insurance for children. A federal judge in Texas has ordered the state to improve its enrollment in a healthcare program for poor children. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore has been pressing the Republican candidate for details of his health care plan for the nation. But Governor Bush is not being rushed. He says he'll have details of the plan after the Labor Day holiday. He goes on to criticize the Clinton-Gore administration for being ineffective on this issue for the past seven years.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem on the uproar caused by an orthodox rabbi's derogatory remarks about Arabs, and about Jews who died in the Holocaust. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party , has been busily trying to backtrack on his charges over the weekend that Arabs were unfit to live with or near and that the Jews who died in the holocaust were "reincarnated sinners," or Jews whose secular ways had offended God. In one single sermon he offended both Israelis and Arabs. Yosef's part was until recently a part of the governing coalition.

Veteran Missouri Congressman Bill Clay is retiring after 32 years in office. The state's first African-American congressman, he is extremely popular and has proven to be unbeatable during his career. But his bid to anoint his son as his successor is finding some resistance in tomorrow's Democratic primary. From St. Louis, Kevin Lavery of member station KWMU reports. (4:45) Music following story: theme from "Dynasty", from the CD "Television's Greatest Hits of the 70s and 80s".

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports Fidel Castro plans to come to the United States to attend the United Nations summit next week. The Cuban government says it has requested travel visas for him and other Cuban officials to attend the meeting in New York. US officials have indicated they will issue the visas, but Cuban American leaders are urging that Castro be arrested if he sets foot in US territory. Such threats kept Castro from attending the WTO meeting in Seattle last year. But legal experts say he has probably concluded that his diplomatic immunity will protect him in this case.

Orlando de Guzman reports U-S diplomats and law enforcement officials are in the Philippines, trying to obtain the release of a 24-year-old American taken hostage by a brutal group of Muslim separatists. Jeffrey Schilling of Oakland, California, is the latest of dozens of foreigners to be kidnapped by rebels. He was abducted from a shopping center in Zamboanga City, by the group known as Abu Sayaf. The same group beheaded two school teachers earlier this year when demands for their release were not met. Nonetheless, the U-S State Department says the US will not pay ransom, change policies, release prisoners or make any concessions that reward hostage-taking.

David D'Arcy reports on the dispute over ownership of a painting that the Nazis took from a Jewish art dealer in 1938 Vienna. Portrait of Wally, by Egon Schiele has been on loan to the Museum of Modern Art for the last two-and-a-half years. A federal judge ruled that the painting cannot be considered "stolen" because the American military returned it to the Austrian government in 1945. The Justice Department is asking the judge to reverse his ruling. The case has implications for the families of Holocaust victims, who are trying to recover art and other property that was looted by the Nazis.

In the second part of her Mafia series, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports on a civic campaign to rebuild the old city of Palermo, capital of the Italian island of Sicily. Palermo is a living museum, with architectural styles ranging from the ancient to art nouveau. But under the influence of corrupt politicians and their friends in the Mafia, it fell into ruin. Citizens have now begun to take back their city from the mob, restoring its architectural treasures. (8:00) Music after story was "Costumi Siciliani" from the CD "Italian String Virtuosi", copyright 1995, Rounder Records.

NPR's Joshua Levs reports a Georgia judge has ordered evidence from a nineteen year old murder case to be turned over for DNA testing to determine whether the man executed for the murder was innocent. Ellis Wayne Felker was convicted in 1983 for the rape and murder of a teenage girl. At the time of his conviction, DNA analysis did not exist. Felker was executed for the crime in 1996, after pleas by his lawyers to have evidence submitted for DNA analysis were turned down by the courts. Yesterday's ruling was on a request by four news organizations, who told the court they would pay for new DNA tests on that evidence.

NPR's Mike Shuster concludes a 4-part series on national missile defenses with a report on the political considerations in deciding whether to develop such a system. In 1996, President Clinton dropped his opposition to proceeding with development. He agreed to continue research on missile defenses but didn't commit to a specific deployment date. That has enabled the Republican Congress to keep missile defenses alive. The research and development is very expensive, and forging ahead with it has damaged U.S. relations with Russia and China.