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United Nations arms inspector Scott Ritter is returning to Baghdad this Saturday at the invitation of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi leader has agreed to provide Ritter and a documentary film crew access to weapons facilities throughout the country. Ritter will attempt to judge whether Iraq has rebuilt its arsenal since U.N. inspectors left the country 19 months ago. Linda talks to Colum Lynch, United Nations Reporter for The Washington Post, about Ritter's trip.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that US Secretary of State Albright met with her North Korean counterpart today in the highest level talks between the US and North Korea since the end of the Korean War half a century ago. The meeting, which took place in Bangkok, comes after a series of moves by North Korea to end its long isolation.

In this election year, a new NPR-Kaiser-Kennedy School Poll finds that Americans distrust government at all levels. They distrust the federal government the most, but they also want it to do more. NPR's Pam Fessler explores what's behind this distrust, and she visits a conference of state legislators, who plan to combat distrust with an education campaign in the schools to explain what they really do.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that once again the economy has outperformed expectations. The nation's gross domestic product increased five-point-two-percent in the second quarter, a much faster pace than most economists expected and a bit faster than growth in the first quarter. But even as overall growth sped up, inflation cooled off.

NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports from Lima on today's swearing-in of Peru's controversial President Alberto Fujimori. There were some clashes between police and thousands of opposition supporters demonstrating against Fujimori, who won re-election to an unprecedented third term in May. International observers derided the election as unfair.

NPR's Ted Clark reports the Israeli government has revived efforts to persuade the United States to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Clinton broached the issue in an Israeli television interview today.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that some members of Congress are pressing President Clinton **not** to certify that Colombia is making progress in improving its human rights record. The determination is a precondition to the release of a billion-dollar US aid package for the South American nation. Colombia's military has come under criticism for its ties to notorious right-wing paramilitary groups, which are responsible for most of the country's rights abuses.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Philadelphia, where the Republicans are holding their Platform Committee hearings in preparation for next week's presidential nominating convention. Republicans, following the lead of their presumed nominee, George W. Bush, are taking some of the tougher-edged rhetoric out of this year's document. But it remains a strongly conservative platform, as abortion-rights advocates were once again thwarted in their efforts to modify the plank.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports that officials from both Time Warner and America Online testified before the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. They're trying to convince the FCC to allow their planned merger. But a number of companies are opposing the business deal, saying it would put to much power in the hands of one company and could hurt consumers.

Los Angeles Times film critic Ken Turan reviews Eddy Murphy's new Movie, Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps. Murphy's portrayal of the overweight and idiosyncratic characters in his first Nutty Professor movie won acclaim. But Turan believes this time around, the jokes and characters have lost their appeal.