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The Supreme Court heard arguments today on part of the new anti-terrorism law. A Georgia death row inmate is challenging the law's new limits on appeals based on alleged violations of prisoners' constitutional rights, so-called "habeas corpus" petitions. Supporters of the law say prisoners have been abusing the system to delay executions. Critics of the law say reducing the opportunity for appeal increases the risk of executing innocent people. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on today's arguments before the justices.

Linda Wertheimer talks with Jerry Horton, the superintendent for the North Pontotoc [PAWN-uh-tawk] School District in Ecru, Mississippi. He pledges to keep some religion in the area's public schools, despite a federal court ruling against the district's practice of broadcasting prayers and Bible classes over the intercom system.

While the Democrats have charged repeatedly that Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole is in the back pocket of tobacco interests, both parties have benefitted from camapign contributions from the tobacco industry. Democrats are getting less money than they used to, but they still get a lot. And the Clinton Administration, while it has tried to limit smoking domestically, has not done so when it comes to tobacco exports. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

and found him as defiant as ever about the role he wants to play at the Republican convention next month.

Africa's newest nation. Eritrea defeated the occupying Ethiopian forces in 1993 despite being heavily outnumbered. Now the new country surges with music and images that valorizes their struggle for independence.

The strategically important nation has been ruled by one man for the past 30 years, but President Suharto, is now 75, and recent rumors of his ill health are affecting the country's financial strength.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports that in the United States, the USDA is instituting a new system aimed at increasing the safety of meat and poultry. Currently, inspectors rely on literally touching, smelling and looking at meat to determine whether it has been contaminated. Under the new system, scientific tests would be used to detect E-Coli and other microbes, and meat processors would be required to identify ways meat could become tainted, and take steps to prevent it from happening.

NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that there exist three potential hot spots in the world that, if they erupted, could hamper President Clinton's re-election bid--Israel, Russia and Bosnia.

Singer/songwriter ELVIS COSTELLO. Previously with the band The Attractions, he later went solo. Since then he has performed and recorded with The Brodsky Quartet and jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. He's written about 300 songs. His new release is "All This Useless Beauty" (Warner Bros) which he recorded with The Attractions. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE

NPR's Sunni Khalid reports that the Arab world is beginning to assess the potential damage to the peace process in the wake of last week's Israeli elections. At the meeting in Aqaba (AH-kuh-bah), Jordan, leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority called for Israel to continue the peace process.