Search results for

Alan Cheuse reviews Dancer, a fictionalized biography of Rudolf Nureyev by Colum McCann. Dancer is published by Metropolitan Books.

NPR's Debbie Elliot tells NPR's Lynn Neary about opening statements in New Orleans on the latest class action suit against the tobacco industry. An estimated three million smokers, some who are not ill, want the tobacco industry to pay for health screening for tobacco-related illnesses, called medical monitoring. The tobacco industry says medical monitoring is an unproven remedy, and that they shouldn't be held responsible for smokers ignoring the warning labels and smoking anyway.

In Brazil, seasonally heavy rains and flashfloods have caused deadly landslides. More than 100 people have died in the last month, most of them residents of urban shantytowns perched precariously on steep hillsides. Some say more needs to be done to curb the urban sprawl. Others say people have a right to put a roof over their heads. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.

NPR's Julie Rovner reports that with Republican control of the federal government, abortion opponents are looking forward to several victories this year. The first issue expected to pass both houses and to be signed into law is a ban on late abortions, which abortion opponents call "partial-birth" abortions. Other issues that will be debated include proposed laws to protect fetuses injured during violent crimes against pregnant women; a law barring adults from taking adolescents across state lines for abortions; and a law that would make it easier for hospitals and providers to decline to offer abortion services.

NPR's Lynn Neary talks with Jody Steinauer, founder of Medical Students For Choice, an organization seeking to reform medical school curricula to include training in abortion. She says only 46 percent of medical schools provide abortion training, despite a requirement to do so to receive accreditation. Steinauer is currently doing a fellowship in OB/GYN and Internal Medicine at U.C.S.F. and San Francisco General Hospital.

With U.S. troops closing in on his position in Tora Bora, Afghanistan in 2001, Osama bin Laden used a simple trick to escape. That's according to a report in the Washington Post, which says bin Laden passed the satellite phone the Americans were tracking to one of his guards. The guard then led U.S. troops one way while bin Laden went another. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Washington Post correspondent Peter Finn in Casablanca, Morocco.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on librarians' concerns that anti-terrorism laws will require them to violate their patrons' privacy. Librarians are holding workshops to learn about their responsibilities and options.

Some protests are motivated by war, or civil rights violations. Others are sparked by issues of somewhat less dire concern. But that doesn't necessarily lessen the emotion behind them. Witness Paulette Lsyshyn's effort to get the Gem canning jar company to reverse its decision to stop production of a certain size of lid. NPR's Lynn Neary talks with Paulette Lsyshyn of Leoville, Saskatchewan, Canada, about her countrywide petition.

Mexico is asking the World Court at The Hague to stop the United States from executing 51 Mexican citizens. Mexico argues the United States has violated international rules by not informing Mexican detainees of their right to assistance from the Mexican consulate. The United States disagrees, and says Mexico is infringing on its justice system by questioning the use of capital punishment. NPR's Gerry Hadden reports.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to University of Iowa film professor Rick Altman about filmmaker Edwin Porter. One hundred years ago today, Porter received the copyright on Life of an American Fireman, a film that's regarded, along with his other 1903 film The Great train Robbery, as the first to use the conceit of editing to compress time and space. Porter's pioneering work influenced all subsequent filmmakers. Altman says audiences quickly learned to follow the new way of telling stories. Editing saved the faltering movie industry, which up to Porter's work in 1903 mostly used single, uncut shots of real world events. Porter cut away from an action to show events happening at the same time elsewhere.