Search results for

Noah talks with Steve Erlanger, a New York Times correspondent in Belgrade, about the political situation in Yugoslavia. President Slobodan Milosevic made a surprise address on Serbian television today, as citizens staged strikes and demonstrations to demand he concede defeat in last month's presidential election. Milosevic painted the Yugoslav opposition as traitors and lackeys of the West. People in the countryside seemed to heed the opposition's strike call with more enthusiasm than residents of Belgrade. The government seems particularly worried about work stoppages at two big coal mines. Meanwhile, Vojislav Kostunica -- the opposition candidate who says he won the September 24th vote outright -- repeated his refusal to take part in a second round of voting.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that Russia is resisting pressure from the Yugoslav opposition and from Western governments to persuade Slobodan Milosevic to step down. President Vladimir Putin has offered to meet both Milosevic and opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica in Moscow. He has offered to mediate their dispute over the results of last month's presidential elections in Yugoslavia. But a statement released by Putin's office implies that the election should go to a second round, as Milosevic is insisting.

Writer Daniel Asa Rose tells the story of a chance meeting late one night in a bar in on Nantucket. The man sitting next to him turned out to share his birthday, his birthplace and even the same maternity ward. Though they had spent lives traveling in completely different directions, they were once again breathing the same air, nearly five decades later.

Writer Armistead Maupin, creator of the award winning newspaper serial turned TV series Tales of the City. Maupin's new book The Night Listener (Harper Collins, 2000) is his first novel in eight years. It examines the relationship that grows between a cult writer and one of his younger radio fans; critics have noted the autobiographical subtext to the story. Maupin won the 1998 Peabody Award for his work in television and has written several novels and two collections of essays. He lives in San Francisco.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the novel When We Were Orphans(Knopf) by Kazu Ishiguro.

Presidential hopefuls spend months campaigning in Iowa to win the important Iowa caucuses. But in the general election, Iowa, and its main industry, agriculture, don't get much attention. Host Jacki Lyden talks to corn and soybean farmers Jack Kintzle of Coogon and Bill Horan of Rockwell City ... about their concerns as farmers and business owners this election year.

The Christian Coalition meets this weekend in Washington. NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

Host Scott Simon speaks with Daniel Pinkwater, Weekend Edition Saturday's ambassador to the world of children's literature, about a new book for Rosh Hashana called Gershon's Monster.

Scott reviews the news of the week with Wired magazine's John Heilman.

Scott speaks with Weekend Edition's sports commentator Ron Rapoport about the week's biggest Olympics stories and about Marion Jones's quest for five Olympic gold medals.