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In Baltimore, homicides are up more than 17% this year. Mayor Brandon Scott discusses the increase in crime in his city.

We'll hear the speech made by New York City police officer Steven McDonald last night before the Republican National Convention. He talks about the need for politicians to address morality, and expressed his support for right-to-life delegates. A former Navy corpsman, he talked about his pride in serving his country, about the need to rekindle the pride of the nation, and the need to ground political discourse within a moral and familial framework.

Linda talks with Liz and Christy Carpenter -- two delegates with a long history of Democratic Conventions. Liz Carpenter was in Philadelphia in 1948 -- as a very young, very green reporter. She later became Press Secretary to Lady Bird Johnson. Today, she's a delegate from Texas. Her daughter Christy is a delegate from California. Her first convention was in Atlantic City, New Jersey -- in 1964. She was more excited about the possibility of seeing the Beatles afterward.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports on the continuing mystery about who's running the war in Chechnya. Russian soldiers are bombarding the Chechen capital of Grozny, but it isn't known if the Kremlin has signed off on the plan to take the city. Russian President Boris Yeltsin's security chief, Alexander Lebed, has flown to Chechnya from Moscow to talk with commanders from both the Russian and Chechen forces.

NPR'S Jon Greenberg reports that federal officials said today that they had broken a major Mexican-Columbian drug ring with the arrests and indictments of dozens of drug dealers, couriers and traffickers. Twenty nine indictments were unsealed in Chicago and Midland, Texas, and 15 of those indicted were arrested today in several large U.S. cities. Federal authorities said dozens of earlier arrests were related to the ring, which transported cocaine from Colombia, over the U.S.-Mexican border and across the United States.

Last week, officials appeared to have lost a chance to strike a blow against the country's leading drug lord. A Mexico City newspaper found that no one in his organization was detained...but federal officials DID arrest local and state police officers who had been hired as a security force.

Linda talks to NPR's Michael Skoler in the Zairean capital, Kinshasa, about the high tension in the central African nation following the fall of a key government stronghold to rebel forces. The rebels' capture of Kisangani last weekend has led many to conclude that the fall of the government of President Mobutu Sese Seko (mo-BOO-too SAY-SAY SAY-ko) is now just a matter of time. Some members of the Zairean elite, reportedly including some of Mobutu's family, are fleeing the city. Meanwhile, politicians and army leaders are jockeying for position in a post-Mobutu Zaire.

NPR's David Welna reports from Mexico City that another Mexican general has been arrested for allegedly working with a drug cartel. This comes just a month after the army general who'd been Mexico's drug czar was sent to prison on similar charges. In the latest case, the general is charged with offering a million-dollar bribe to an anti-drug official to turn a blind eye to the activities of the main cartel in Tijuana. This latest scandal comes as the Senate is set to decide whet her to overturn President Clinton's certification of Mexico as cooperating in the drug war.

about her three years at the Justice Department. She took over as second in command to Janet Reno when the department was in a mess after the Lani Guiner controversy and several scandals. One of her proudest accomplishments was implementing a comprehensive plan to deal with national emergencies like the Oklahoma City bombing. She resigned in January.

Linda talks with NPR's Sylvia Poggioli in Tirana, Albania. U.S. Marines have begun to evacuate Americans. The first flight out carried 50 people...most of them children. Albania has sunk into anarchy. There is pandemonium on the streets of Tirana and other large cities as men, women and children arm themselves with assault rifles taken from armories that are no longer guarded. The Albanian army has melted away. Uniformed policemen have disappeared from the streets. Prisoners have fled jail after the gaurds walked away from their posts.