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Sarah Chayes reports the French government has offered a package of tax reductions to the fishing industry to offset the high price of fuel. Fishers enraged by prices that have increased 140-percent in a year have been blockading ports around France for the past week. Following the government's concessions, fishing unions have urged an end to the protests. But not all the fishermen have complied, and taxi drivers, truckers and farmers say the tax reductions for fishers do nothing to alleviate their high fuel prices.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports on the latest developments in the huge Firestone tire recall, including more fatalities in crashes likely related to the defect. At the same time, eight-thousand U.S. Firestone workers are threatening to strike parent company Bridgestone. And the Venezuelan government is considering criminal charges against both Ford and Bridgestone.

The FBI today arrested a man suspected of putting out a phony press release that sent a high-tech company's stock plummeting last week. As Jim Zarroli reports, authorities said the man made nearly $250,000 on the scheme.

Film director Carl Reiner. He was a writer and appeared in Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. He's best-known to baby boomers as the creator and writer of The Dick Van Dyke Show. His film direction credits include The Jerk and Bert Rigby, You're a Fool.

President Clinton today vetoed a bill to repeal the federal estate tax. The veto sets up a confrontation with Congress as early as next week. It also continues the election-year debate over what to do with the federal budget surplus. Pam Fessler reports.

Linda and Robert read letters from All Things Considered listeners. (3:15) To contact All Things Considered, write to All Things Considered Letters, 635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20001. The e-mail address is atc@npr.org.

Janet Heimlich reports Texas authorities are taking a "softly, softly" approach to a stand-off with a family at the center of a custody dispute. The family has barricaded itself into a homestead on 47 acres in a remote area of eastern Texas. The family is drawing support from militia groups.

Osteoporosis is fast becoming one of the nation's leading health care problems. NPR's Alison Richards has part two of her series on the disease. She reports on two things that could prevent osteoporosis: increasing calcium intake and increasing vigorous exercise. The calcium issue is tricky, because our bodies are programmed to absorb only a small amount of the calcium we take in. And our more sedentary lifestyles make it hard to get all the weight-bearing exercise we need.

Orlando de Guzman reports U-S diplomats and law enforcement officials are in the Philippines, trying to obtain the release of a 24-year-old American taken hostage by a brutal group of Muslim separatists. Jeffrey Schilling of Oakland, California, is the latest of dozens of foreigners to be kidnapped by rebels. He was abducted from a shopping center in Zamboanga City, by the group known as Abu Sayaf. The same group beheaded two school teachers earlier this year when demands for their release were not met. Nonetheless, the U-S State Department says the US will not pay ransom, change policies, release prisoners or make any concessions that reward hostage-taking.

Phillip Davis reports on the political battle surrounding rising hurricane insurance rates in Florida. Florida insurers have used a scientific model they commissioned to argue that global warming means that Hurricane strength will continue to increase in the coming years, thus the need for rate increases. State meteorologists are not convinced. But efforts to get money appropriated for an independent state study have been killed by the insurance lobby.