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NPR's Jim Zarroli reports the Clinton Administration has unveiled a proposal to make pensions more available and secure for American workers. The initiative, a mix of old and new ideas for reforming pension regulations, would expand the availablity of IRA savings plans, make four-oh- one retirement plans more portable and simplify the process of establishing a 401K plan.

Linda talks to Dula James - the country representative for Catholic Relief Services. She is in Monrovia describing the experience from her apartment-- which she hasn't been able to leave for five days. She can hear the rebels outside her apartment. As Linda speaks to her the sound of gunfire can be heard and she eventually has to end the conversation because she is crouching in her apartment in fear.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on whether people can file claims in state courts against medical device manufacturers when the devices are subject to federal regulation. The case in question involves a malfunctioning heart pacemaker. NPR's Nina Totenberg has the story.

NPR'S Ted Clark reports that U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher is meeting serious obstacles in his quest for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Today, Syrian President Hafez Assad even declined to meet with Christopher in Damascus.

- Daniel speaks with NPR's Martha Raddatz, who's in Sarajevo, about the flare up of tensions over the last day between Bosnian Serbs and Muslims. In one instance, NATO had to move into a neighborhood to ensure there would be no further violence.

- Daniel speaks with Bernard Loeb, Director of the Office of Aviation Safety at the National Transportation Safety Board, about the investigation into the crash yesterday of a Valujet flight near Miami. Loeb, who's in Florida working on the investigation, says the plane and the 109 people on board lie underneath a murky and muddy swath of swamp in the Everglades. The search for survivors has been called off. And the NTSB is trying to figure out how to tackle the difficult logistics of getting to the plane to remove the bodies. One scenario involves draining the swamp at the crash site.

- On May 11th, 1946 - 50 years ago today - the first CARE packages were distributed in (Le Havre) France. Daniel talks with three early CARE package recipients. They are Charles and Mathilde (mah-TILD) Middleberg, French Jews who later moved to the United States, and Klaus Putter (POO-ter) who was a teenage German soldier during the war. Early on, CARE packages consisted of surplus U.S. army rations. Then CARE put together boxed containing such items as flour, coffee, meat, and peanut butter.

- It's Mother's Day so Danny decides to visit a maternity ward and chat with a few women and their partners who have just had their babies or are about to deliver.

The residents of Fort Smith, Arkansas and neighboring towns are cleaning up as best they can after a devastating swarm of tornadoes destroyed buildings and left four people dead. Linda talks to Mike Morton of the Fort Smith Public Library about how the residents are coping with the disaster.

with Robert Reischauer, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, and currently a senior fellow of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institute. Reischauer talks about the real savings in this year's budget and how there are cuts in the deficit. He tells what the government is likely to do towards balancing the budget next year.

This week we are airing a series of commentaries on the issue of "English only." Today we hear from Judy Chu, a councilwoman for the city of Monterey Park, California. She believes advocates of English-only divide communities and see immigrants as easy scapegoats rather than looking closely at all the ways to bring immigrants and others into the mainstream of American society.

phone lines make using the Web more enjoyable because they dramatically increase the speed at which graphics and other information appear on your screen. But ISDN lines remain very expensive and, while costs are coming down in some parts of the country, it's not fast enough to satisfy most computer users.

NPR's Joe Palca reports that scientists have for the first time deciphered the entire genetic code for an organism that has cells like humans. An international collaboration has sequenced the entire 16-chromosome genome of baker's yeast, which, like humans, have "eukaryotic cells." Researchers believe the achievement will help give scientists an extremely useful tool for learning more fundamental biological functions.

that Ford Motor Company has announced what could be the largest recall program in the history of the auto industry. Ford is offering to fix faulty ignition switches on more than 8 million vehicles manufactured between 1988 and 1993. The ignition switches can short circuit, leaving Ford vehicles vulnerable to fire.

on the transformation of Hezbollah from a politically weak party to a force that far transcends the number of seats in parliament. Each day of fighting has turned the Lebanese to look to Hezbollah as an expression of the national will.

Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut announced al-the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Estimates are that about 150 Lebanese had been killed in the fighting and more than 400 wounded. Hafez Assad in Damascus said the ceasefire was not substitute of peace. Jennifer Griffin reports from Beirut.

NPR's Sunni Khalid reports from a UN-controlled refugee camp in Tyre, Lebanon. Whatever may be happening on diplomatic circles, refugees on the ground see no end to the disruption of their lives.

The man who made the Corvette Classic into a legend died Sunday. Zora Duntov (DUN-toff) was a Russian engineer and race car driver. Two years after the first Corvette appeared, Duntov was hired as an engineer at Cheverolet and began changing the Corvette into a "muscle car." He was 86. (1:30) (IN S

Congressional investigators say the Energy Department has overstated the business for U-S firms that was generated by Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's trade missions overseas. Her critics in Congress have criticized the cost of the trips but O'Leary says they created a net gain in exports. NPR's John Nielsen has a report on a hearing today about the claims.