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A study suggests offenders who kill white victims in Maryland are more likely to be sentenced to death than those who kill non-whites. Departing Gov. Parris Glendening imposed a moratorium on the death penalty pending the study's outcome. Lisa Nurnberger of member station WAMU reports.

Gov. Gray Davis (D-CA) prepares to deliver his annual State of the State address. He's expected to address a California budget deficit estimated at $35 billion. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

A brief summary of some of the other important stories on today's program.

NPR's Ivan Watson reports on Pakistani reaction to the new policy of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service that requires visitors from two dozen Muslim nations to register with the I.N.S. or risk being deported. Many Pakistanis voice outrage at the new policy, and Pakistan's foreign minister is urging Washington to exempt Pakistani citizens.

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.