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Illustrator Edel Rodriguez fled Cuba with his family during the Mariel boatlift in 1980, a story he tells in his new graphic memoir, "Worm." He talks with NPR's Scott Simon about it.

After more than two years in captivity, the last 20 hostages abducted during Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, have been released.

States have many policies to stop risky older drivers from renewing their licenses. But in practice, it's often adult children who must decide when to take the car keys away from an aging parent.

For years, squatters have been living in abandoned buildings in New York's East Village and Lower East Side. In spite of the risk that one day they could be forced out, squatters have often improved the buildings dramatically, investing time and money in an effort to create a home. Recently however, the New York City police department launched a large raid on several squats, forcing the residents out. While the city argues these buildings had been illegally co-opted, the squatters argue the law protects their rights as homesteaders. Beth Fertig of member station WNYC reports that now the matter has gone to court.

In the second part of her Mafia series, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports on a civic campaign to rebuild the old city of Palermo, capital of the Italian island of Sicily. Palermo is a living museum, with architectural styles ranging from the ancient to art nouveau. But under the influence of corrupt politicians and their friends in the Mafia, it fell into ruin. Citizens have now begun to take back their city from the mob, restoring its architectural treasures. (8:00) Music after story was "Costumi Siciliani" from the CD "Italian String Virtuosi", copyright 1995, Rounder Records.

As part of NPR's ongoing Changing Face of America series, NPR's Melissa Block reports on political activism among Asian-Americans in Flushing, New York. Despite having the second largest Asian American population in the country, New York State has never sent an Asian-American to Congress, to the state legislature, or even to the city council of New York. In the richly diverse community of Flushing, several Asian candidates are hoping to change that. They are already campaigning for a city council seat that will open next year.

NPR's Ed Lifson takes a look at German newspapers. As far as Berlin newspapers are concerned, The Wall is still standing as high as ever. People in what was West Berlin read papers published in the western part of the city, and people in East Berlin read papers published in...the eastern part of the city? Is it editorial content? is it just habit? Whatever the reason, papers on both sides are trying to lure readers from the other...with few results. (4:15) Funder 0:29 XPromo 0:29 CUTAWAY 1B 0:29 RETURN1 0:29 NEWS 2:59 NEWS 1:59 THEME MUSIC 0:29 1C

New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani has announced plans to send 1000 poorly-performing students from the city's public school system to local Catholic schools. We visit Bishop Loughlin (LOCK-lin) High School in Brooklyn to talk with students and educators about the differences between the public and parochial school settings. As NPR's Barbara Mantel reports, teachers feel that Catholic schools like Loughlin bring a sense of a mission to the job of teaching -- giving students a greater feeling of belonging than they receive in public schools.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from the Macedonian city of Tetovo that fighting escalated today between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian security forces. The two sides exchanged fierce gunfire just outside the city -- Macedonia's second largest. Occasional shells and bullets landed in the central square. Most activity has come to a halt. The government says it's preparing for all-out war. Although Macedonia was the one republic to secede from Yugoslavia without bloodshed and an ethnic Albanian party is included in the ruling coalition, the rebels say they're fighting for greater rights for the Albanian community.

Iraqi police have found at least 85 bodies, killed execution-style, in a Shiite neighborhood in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. Host Alex Chadwick discusses the mass execution and ongoing Shiite-Sunni Muslim sectarian violence in Iraq with New York Times reporter Ed Wong, reporting from Baghdad.