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An index of the day's stories: IRAQ & UN -- NPR's Ted Clark reports that today, chief UN arms inspector Richard Butler briefed the Security Council on Iraq's latest refusal to cooperate with UN inspections for weapons of mass destruction. The US says Iraq is not only in violation of the original 1991 peace accords that ended the Gulf War, but also in violation an agreement he reached with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last spring to end the last confrontation over arms inspections. Later in the day, the Security Council said that Iraq's freeze of cooperation with UN weapons inspectors is "totally unacceptable," and called for the urgent resumption of dialogue between the inspectors and the Iraqi government. (3:30) ASHRAWI RESIGNS -- NPR's Linda Gradstein reports that Palestinian Authority Education Minister Hanan Ashrawi has resigned from Yasser Arafat's cabinet in protest of the Palestinian leader's refusal to sack ministers accused of corruption and mismanagement. Ashrawi has been one of the most articulate spokespersons for the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. (2:00) BARAK -- Robert talks with Ehud Barak, the chair of the Israeli Labor Party. General Barak talks about the peace talks and security issues for the State of Israel. He's currently in Washington, DC as part of a delegation of members of the Israeli Parliament. (6:30) LEWINSKY TESTIFIES -- Robert and Linda have the latest information on today's testimony by former White House intern Monica Lewinsky before a federal grand jury. (:45) EMERGENCY CARE -- NPR's Julie Rovner reports on the debate over emergency care provisions in the patient bill-of-rights measures now under consideration on Capitol Hill. Republicans, Democrats, and President Clinton all say they want legislation this year. But differences over how to require broader access to emergency care could derail efforts to pass a bill. (6:40) RUDOLPH SEARCH -- NPR's Kathy Lohr reports that law enforcement agents still haven't found fugitive Eric Robert Rudolph, and they've expanded the search. Rudolph is wanted in connection with a bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama abortion clinic earlier this year. He's believed to be hiding in the woods of western North Carolina. (5:15) TEXAS ENERGY DOLLARS -- Federal emergency aid is flowing into Texas, to help people pay for the extraordinarily large utility bills resulting from this summer's heat wave. People are flocking to apply. Janet Heimlich reports from Austin. (5:00) SWIMMER SANCTIONED -- NPR's Tom Goldman reports that Michelle Smith-DeBruin, the Irish triple gold medal winner in swimming, has been banned from the sport for four years for tampering with a drug test. Smith-De Bruin has been suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs in the past. A urine sample she submitted was found to have been tampered with. (2:15) LETTERS -- Linda and Robert read from listeners' comments. To contact All Things Considered, write to:
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KUDZU BUG -- Robert talks with David Orr, a professor of entomology at North Carolina State University. Orr talks about a way to eradicate the seemingly-unstoppable vine called kudzu, which is found throughout the Southeastern United States. He says that tiny wasps could implant their eggs into a certain kind of caterpillar, which would then eat the kudzu vines. The wasp larvae make the caterpillars very hungry, spurring them to eat even more of the kudzu than they normally would. (4:30) RENO CONTEMPT? -- NPR's Peter Overby reports from Capitol Hill on today's vote by the House Government Affairs Committee to bring contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Janet Reno. The committee's chair, Rep. Dan Burton, pushed for the contempt charges because Reno has refused to hand over two internal Justice Department memos which urge her to name an independent counsel to investigate possible campaign funding violations in 1996. Reno has refused to comply with Burton's demands, insisting that the memos need to remain confidential to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations. (4:00) GRAND JURY TESTIMONY -- NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports that former White House intern Monica Lewinsky appeared today before a federal grand jury, more than six months after news broke that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr was investigating allegations she had had an affair with President Clinton and that both of them lied about it under oath. Lewinsky, who has been granted immunity from prosecution, is expected to confirm allegations of an affair, and to say that she and the President had talked about ways they might conceal the relationship. Lewinsky is one of the last key witnesses expected to appear before the grand jury; President Clinton is set to testify on August 17. (6:00) BABY LAW -- NPR's Andy Bowers reports on a new California law that will prohibit the use of infants born pre-maturely for "newborn" roles in films and television. (2:00) ALASKA DRILLING -- NPR's John Nielsen reports on today's announcement that the U.S. government will open part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to oil and gas leasing. The area is in northern Alaska near Barrow and borders the Arctic Ocean. US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said that about 4 million acres, about 87% of the reserve's northeast quadrant, would be available for leasing by energy companies. Environmental groups say that oil from the pristine area is not needed and they maintain that development of the oil reserves will damage the fragile arctic ecosystem. (4:30) GYPSIES IN PRAGUE -- Commentator Andrei Codrescu says that the city of Prague in the Czech Republic looks almost like a Disneyland now, but has a very bloody past. He talks about the history of the Roma, better known as Gypsies in the city, and tells the story of one man who dared to speak up on their behalf. (3:15) IRAQI INSPECTOR -- Linda talks with Charles Deulfer, the deputy executive chair of the U.N. Special Commission. He returned from Iraq yesterday and talks to us about Iraq's announcement to stop cooperation with UNSCOM. (4:45) CONGO -- NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Kinshasa that Laurent Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, acknowledged today that army rebels have seized at least two towns, and he told the country to prepare for a long war. Fighting continues in eastern and western Congo. Kabila blamed the war on neighboring Rwanda's Tutsi-led government. In the streets of Kinshasa, thousands of people marched in support of Kabila, denouncing Rwanda and ethnic Tutsis who joined the revolt. (3:30) ANGLICAN CONFERENCE -- NPR's Michael Goldfarb reports that a conference of Anglican bishops in Canterbury has issued a resolution declaring homosexual activity "incompatible with scripture," and advising against the ordination of homosexuals. The vote -- 526 in favor, 70 against -- is seen as a victory for conservative African and Asian bishops, whose churches are growing very quickly. The vote is non-binding. (4:00) ORIGINAL WORDS -- NPR producer Art Silverman has a few words of advice for censured Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle, who was asked to resign from his paper for allegedly plagiarizing part of George Carlin's book Brain Droppings for a column that appeared last Sunday. (2:00) MAAL & RANGLIN -- Banning Eyre reviews the first two releases from the new label Palm Pictures. Palm is the latest endeavor for Chris Blackwell, who founded Island Records over 30 years ago and went on to sign Bob Marley, among others. Eyre says Blackwell continues to showcase remarkable talent with Senegalese singer Baaba Maal's Nomad Soul and Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin's In Search of the Lost Riddim. Both CDs are on the new label Palm Pictures: In Search of the Lost Riddim by Ernest Ranglin is Palm CD 2001; Nomad Soul by Baaba Maal is Palm CD 2002. (5:00)
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