Search results for

Last week, the National Institutes of Health issued long-awaited guidelines that will allow scientists receiving federal funds to study stem cells taken from frozen embryos. The embryos used will only be those that are formed as a result of in-vitro fertilization, and are then abandoned at private clinics. Their use has been a deeply-contested issue. Host Jacki Lyden discusses the ethical concerns over this type of research with Dr. Arthur Caplan, Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennyslvannia.

This summer the World Health Organization rated the French healthcare system best in the world. Instead of crowing, French researchers questioned the methodology of the WHO study. The high cost of the health system has plagued the French government for a decade. Still, as NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from Paris, if you have the misfortune to get sick, France is a good place to be.

Koreans living in this country watched with mixed feelings earlier this month when South Korean families were briefly reunited with their North Korean relatives after 50 years. There are no diplomatic relations between communist North Korea and the United States, and currently U.S. the government does not offer assistance to Korean-Americans seeking reunification with their families. Host Jacki Lyden visits the Korean Central Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Virginia, where she speaks to Koreans who hope the U.S. government will change its policy and begin assisting them in trying to locate their lost relatives.

Irish author, playwright and comedian Brendan O'Carroll speaks to host Jacki Lyden about his best-selling Agnes Browne trilogy, comprised of The Mammy, The Chiselers, and The Granny. The entire set is now available in U.S. The Angelica Houston film adaptation of The Mammy, called Agnes Browne, is available on video this month. (Putnam Penguin Publishers, 2000)

NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg reports that the creators of Curious George are about to introduce another character...an adventurous penguin. The penguin was actually invented before Curious George, but his stories have never been published...until now.

Host Bob Edwards shares letters from listeners.

Texas Governor George W. Bush continued his swing through the Midwest today, saying he is the candidate who will help middle class families. From birth to retirement, the Republican presidential nominee says he is looking out for working Americans. Bush made that appeal in a neo-natal ward yesterday, a school today, and in an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's daytime talk show. NPR's Anthony Brooks is traveling with the Bush campaign.

A note on some of the little known candidates for the White House in this year's election.

Host Bob Edwards talks to BBC's Suzanna Price about the latest explosion in Islamabad. A bomb ripped through a busy fruit market on the edge of Pakistan's capital today killing at least 16 people and wounding about 50.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports on the Teamsters' endorsement of Democrat Al Gore for President. James Hoffa, President of the Teamsters says the decision is based on a poll of the union's one-point-five-million members. Gore received an enthusiastic welcome at the Teamsters' convention in Las Vegas yesterday and then appeared last night at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, hosted by Rob Reiner.

NPR's Steve Inskeep and Anthony Brooks speak with host Jacki Lyden about the Gore and Bush campaigns this week. They answer questions from our listeners about candidates' positions on issues not mentioned during campaign appearances.

NPR's Bob Mondello reviews the documentary Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, the story of some 10,000 German Jewish children sent to live with British families just before World War II. The rescue operation came to be known as the "Kindertransport."