Search results for

The Bush campaign is elated about the president's performance at Friday's town-hall meeting with Sen. John Kerry. But Kerry campaign aides are also pleased -- especially with post-debate poll results. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden, NPR's Don Gonyea and NPR's Scott Horsley.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on an effort by the West African nation of Burkina Faso to tax the black market. Ninety percent of this desperately poor country's economy is on the black market, so it's a huge source of potential government revenue. It's unclear how successful the effort has been, but it could serve as a model for other poverty-stricken nations.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Kinshasa on the growing anxiety among Zaire's wealthy elite, as anti-government rebels continue their relentless advance towards the capital. Some of the rich are beginning to hide their belongings--and their families--in anticipation of an eventual rebel victory. There is tremendous popular resentment of the wealthy, who have prospered under President Mobutu Sese Seko's corrupt dictatorship for the past three decades.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden explores how Zairean rebels are running Kisangani, their biggest prize in the war so far. The guerrillas captured Kisangani, Zaire's third-largest city, earlier this month. Despite their leader's Marxist past, the rebels are promoting the private sector and have held rudimentary elections for local offices. While many of the city's residents fled before the rebels' arrived, life in many ways has returned to normal.

Attention to border security has increased dramatically since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A crackdown along the Texas border has closed illegal crossing points, making life hard for two towns on opposite sides of the Rio Grande. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Lajitas, Texas.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Jerusalem reports on the latest Israeli-Palestinian violence, including a series of bomb blasts in central Israel that left dozens injured. The bloodshed came amid US efforts to broker a breakthrough with the two sides for a final Middle East peace settlement. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is now expected to fly to Washington for talks with President Clinton this week.

Today in a West Bank town, Binyamin Kahane, son of the slain Rabbi and militant Jewish settler Meir Kahane, was shot to death along with his wife, and five of his six children were wounded. Then a local head of Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party was gunned down in what appears to be a revenge attack, according to Palestinians. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem on the latest violence.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Jerusalem reports Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has again ordered the army to use all means necessary to punish and prevent Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets. Increasingly, this has meant hunting down and killing individual militants that Israel suspects are responsible for the attacks. Palestinians call it "state terrorism", and the policy is provoking new debate among Israelis.

The prospects for a long-term peace agreement in the Middle East have declined sharply with yesterday's election of Ariel Sharon as prime minister of Israel. In the short time since his election, Sharon has sent numerous signals that the 7-year-old Oslo peace deal is dead. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has issued an ultimatum to Yasser Arafat: bring an end to violence in the next two days or the peace process will be dead. But in New York, the U.N. Security Council is stalled over a resolution condemning Israel for provoking the riots of the past week, and using excessive force. From Jerusalem, NPR's Jennifer Ludden speaks to host Jacki Lyden with the latest.