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Commentator Andrei Codrescu is quite struck by Timothy Leary's decision to have his suicide be a live event on the internet.

NPR's Joe Palca reports on the murky ethical questions that can arise during medical research. Palca tells the story of a woman with multiple sclerosis who volunteered to test an experimental drug. She says she was promised a free supply of the medication in exchange for her participation. Medical ethicists say patients should never be made promises like that, and should not enter studies with the expectation that they will benefit personally.

Barbara Bradley reports on the case of Fauziya Kasinga, the Togolese women who is seeking asylum in the United States to avoid being circumcised as part of a marriage ritual. The case, which goes before the US Board of Immigration Appeals on Thursday, is expected to open the doors for women fearing female genital mutilation.

News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that President Clinton of late has spoken of a streamlined--yet effective--government, and has been developing this theme since his State of the Union speech in January.

Commentator Daniel Pinkwater has decided to reduce and offers his own special 3-part diet. Keyword: Ratatouille.

NPR's Tovia (TOE-vee-uh) Smith reports on a fight in Connecticut and a number of other states over how best to care for mentally retarded adults. A number of states have closed down their mental instituions, favoring instead smaller home based programs. But some in Connecticut defend the state's largest such institution, the Southbury Training School...saying it is not the cold cruel place critics charge it is.

Mexico and reports on the business of smuggling illegal immigrants from Mexico into the U.S. Crossing the border has grown more difficult in the past few years... causing smugglers to drastically raise their prices. The U.S. is preparing to tighten security at the border even more in response to incidents of the past month. Yesterday, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a version of an immigration bill that would reinforce the U.S. border patrol and crack down on smuggling.

NPR's Cheryl Corley visits the Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently filed a major sex harrassment suit against Mitsubishi, charging that female employees had been victims of years of harrassment by male employees. Employees are divided over whether the charges are justified, and the dispute has made life very tense at the plant, one of the largest employers in town.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that international relief agencies are agonizing over whether to return to Liberia. Most aid groups were forced to abandon the country last month, when renewed fighting shattered the country's fragile peace. Mostly teenage militias ransacked relief agencies' offices and stole their equipment and supplies. Aid workers worry that even if the situation stabilizes and they do return to Liberia, there are no guarantees that things won't deteriorate again.

Scott and Weekend Edition sports commentator Ron Rapoport talk about how some young basketball players are leaving college early, and some bypassing college altogether, to play for the National Basketball Association.