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NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports that the Supreme Court has agreed to decide on the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act. Passed by Congress early this year as part of the massive Telecommunications law, the Act restricts the transmission of so-called indecent material on the Internet. A federal judge declared the Act violated free speech guarantees and blocked its enforcement. The Supreme Court will hear the government's appeal of that decision. A ruling is expected next summer.

Robert talks with Maryam Elahi, the program officer for the Middle East, North Africa and Europe for Amnesty International. They discuss the report released this week about the torture of prisoners by the Palestinian Authority, and her visits to that region to check of reports of human rights abuses.

and healthier than it's been in years, the EPA plans to enact stricter standards. The agency wants to impose new restrictions on ozone and particulate emissions.

Film Critic JOHN POWERS reviews two new films that will open at select theaters today "Jerry Maguire" and "Mars Attacks"

by a recent series of crashes to agree to install more safety devices on airplanes. Additional fire safety equipment could reduce the possibility of fires in cargo holds and fuel tanks.

Commentator Marion Winik struggles with how to talk to her kids about drugs. Since drugs were a big part of her life and her husband Tony struggled with them until the day he died, she feels she can not simply counsel her children to "just say no".

Kofi Annan, a career diplomat from Ghana, was chosen by the U-N's Security Council to be the international body's next Secretary General. NPR's Ann Cooper reports.

NPR's Mary Kay Magistad goes on a reporter's trip to the "Three Gorgeous Dam" in Central China.

Book critic MAUREEN CORRIGAN gives us her Holiday picks for the best books to buy as presents: "Angela''s Ashes" by Frank McCourt (Scribner) "Great Books" by David Denby (Simon & Schuster)"Committed to Memory," a collection of 100 best poems in English, edited by John Hollander"Life As We Know It" by Michael Berube (Pantheon)"Mason''s Retreat" by Christopher Tilghman"Derby Dugan''s Depression Funnies" by Tom DeHaven"A Letter From Mary" by Laurie R. King.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Kigali that Zairean Tutsi rebels today declared a unilateral three-week ceasefire. The guerrillas say the truce is designed to give more than one million Rwandan Hutu refugees in Zaire a chance to go home. In the past two weeks, the rebels have captured all of the main cities along Zaire's border with Burundi and Rwanda, and foreign relief agencies have evacuated their staffs. There is little hope the refugees will return to Tutsi-controlled Rwanda, and relief groups say shortages of food and medicine could soon lead to mass starvation and epidemics among the refugees.