Search results for

A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including Secretary of State Colin Powell; Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sun Yuxi; President George W. Bush; Senator Russell Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin); Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky); the announcement of the Senate's 59-41 passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill; Senator John McCain (Republican, Arizona); Representative Joe Moakley (Demoract, Massachusetts); House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (Republican, Texas); Senator Phil Gramm (Republican, Texas); and Senator Kent Conrad (Democrat, North Dakota).

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that Japan's Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori met today with other leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party. After saying this weekend that he would step down as prime minister, he now says he did NOT offer to resign. His party is reportedly exasperated with Mori, whose approval rating has dropped into single digit range. Mori will likely be a lame duck by the time he meets President Bush on March 19th at the White House.

Host Bob Edwards talks to Mitchell Daniels who, as director of the Office of Management and Budget, is responsible for getting the budget through Congress. On Monday, the president released details of his $1.96 trillion budget, which he had outlined in a blueprint on February 28th. Last week, the Senate approved the blueprint after scaling back the President's proposed 10-year tax cut from 1.6 trillion to 1.2 trillion. The House approved the entire 1.3 trillion tax cut proposal on March 21st.

Vice Premier Qian Qichen is in Washington. He is the highest ranking Chinese official to visit since the Bush administration took office. Qian will meet with the president tomorrow at the White House. China's top concern right now is a decision Mr. Bush must soon make on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Taiwan wants to buy advanced anti-missile technology (Aegis destroyers) but China is adamantly opposed to such a sale. If the sale goes through, some analysts say China will drop the more moderate stance it has recently adopted toward Taiwan. Other analysts say China's views should not be a factor in any U.S. decision to sell weapons to Taiwan.

A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including Duke's 95-to-84 victory over Maryland, which puts the team against Arizona in Monday night's NCAA basketball championship game; White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and David Sandalow of the World Resources Institute; Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and Hamas spokesman Ibrahim Ghosheh; remarks by President Bush at the Radio-Television Correspondents Association 57th Annual Dinner; and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook commenting on former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee raised questions about whether the network's coverage could be compromised by pressure from the Chinese Communist Party.

When Carol Allison was six, she opened a bank account in Scotland with her grandmother and then forgot about. Allison, who is now 74, was cleaning her house recently and found the bank book.

Melissa Block and Robert Siegel read from listeners' emails from the past week. They comment on a story out of Iraq about a Muslim man who buries the unclaimed dead, Melissa Block's quest for the elusive Wok Hay, and the reporter in the White House pressroom affectionately referred to as the Goyal Foil. We also share a brief message from sound designer Randy Thom about the progress of our Search for Sound project.

The Georgia state house has approved a bill that would levy a 5-percent surcharge on wire transfers by illegal immigrants to their native countries. State lawmakers are seeking to stem the tide of undocumented workers and recoup the cost of providing public services to them.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay plans to give up his seat, one week after one of the Texas Republican's top aides pleaded guilty in the corruption investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In addition to a tough battle for re-election, DeLay is facing corruption charges in Texas.