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Barbara Plett reports for the BBC that Bashar al-Assad officially becomes president of Syria today. Al-Assad takes the oath before parliament as president of Syria after winning an overwhelming vote in a nationwide referendum to take over the post held by his late father Hafez for 30 years.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports on the upcoming Reform Party convention being held in Long Beach. In contrast to the Democratic and Republican convention, the Reform Party has two candidates vying for the party's presidential nomination. Ex-Republican Pat Buchanan is the clear favorite, but many expect John Hagelin, who's already the nominee of the Natural Law Party, to field a substantial challenge.

NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the prospect of Congressional opposition to peace's price tag looms over the negotiations at Camp David.

Up until a few short weeks ago, Whittier, Alaska - a small town of 300 or so people could only be reached by rail. But now - the tunnel which links it to the rest of the state has been opened to vehicle traffic as well. As Anne Sutton reports, tourists are taking advantage of this and rushing to view the former army post. But what they're finding there isn't quite what they expected.

Linda talks with Steve Bowlin, Director of Public Works for the drought-stricken town of Throckmorton, Texas. He joins us by phone from the construction site of a pipeline, which workers began laying today to pump water from the town of Graham, 35 miles away from Throckmorton.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on the bragging by both Democrats and Republicans about how many millions they've raised for congressional elections. This is expected to be the most expensive congressional campaign season ever, and the Democrats say they have the most money in hand now -- a rare occurrence. Both parties seem poised to break the legal limit on how much can be spent directly to help a candidate. They note that a federal court has outlawed the spending caps in six western states and the parties say they might just assume the caps will be thrown out for the rest of the country too.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem on yesterday's protests by tens of thousands of Israelis, who oppose Prime Minister Barak's participation at the Camp David Summit. The demonstrators are against making concessions to Palestinians.

Commentator Lenore Skenazy expresses her thoughts about rodents and their place in Manhattan.

Nancy Greenleese reports on the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, California this weekend.

We continue the Monday rebroadcasts of our American Popular song series, with a program about composer Will Marion Cook. He was born in 1869 and was part of the first generation born after slavery. Cook was one of the innovators of ragtime song, and helped introduce ragtime to Broadway. Cook wrote In Dahomey the first full-length Broadway musical written and performed by African Americans. It opened on Broadway in 1903. Some of Cooks songs reflect the racial stereotypes and dialect of the time. In this program we hear selections of his music performed by singers VERNEL BAGNERIS and TERRY BURRELL, and pianist DICK HYMAN. We also hear from MARVA CARTER who is writing a biography of Cook. She is the director of Graduate Studies at the School of Music at Georgia State University. (original broadcast: MAY 18, 2000)12:28:30 FORWARD PROMO (:29)12:29:00 I.D. BREAK (:59)12:30:00...