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NPR's Tom Gjelten reports Fidel Castro plans to come to the United States to attend the United Nations summit next week. The Cuban government says it has requested travel visas for him and other Cuban officials to attend the meeting in New York. US officials have indicated they will issue the visas, but Cuban American leaders are urging that Castro be arrested if he sets foot in US territory. Such threats kept Castro from attending the WTO meeting in Seattle last year. But legal experts say he has probably concluded that his diplomatic immunity will protect him in this case.

Host Renee Montagne talks with GQ Magazine author and columnist Peter Richmond about the upcoming National Football Season, which begins on Sunday.

Host Renee Montagne talks with Michael Kahn, the director of the Academy for Classical Acting, about a new program for working actors. It's a one-year Master of Fine Arts degree devoted exclusively to classical acting. It's the only such program of its kind.

Robert talks to Larry Jackson, a project engineer with the National Transportation Safety Board, who helped reconstruct TWA Flight 800 from pieces found in the ocean after the crash. The reconstructed plane is now in a hangar in Calverton, New York, waiting to be moved to an academy where it will be used to train crash investigators.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Associated Press reporter Jeffrey Collins about a series of crimes swirling around a powerful South Carolina family.

Robert and Linda note two news items today -- related to church attendance in this 21st century. And Storyteller Kevin Kling relives a Sunday morning from his childhood, when the family would pile into the car and head to church. The kids would fight in the car, and Kevin's dad would assert himself to restore order... until he fell asleep in the service.

Russia's three days of voting for its parliament and city governments begin Friday. This political season has seen unusual tactics to keep Putin's opposition from running and off the ballot entirely.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports that the trial of former Indonesian President Suharto opened today in Jakarta, but Suharto failed to appear. A team of 24 doctors attending the former president told the judge they had examined Suharto earlier in the day and that he was too ill to go to court. The trial now has been postponed for two weeks to allow the court to rule on a prosecution request for an independent medical examination of Suharto. He is charged with illegally siphoning off some 500-million dollars from charities during his three decades in power.

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.

Linda talks with Hod Lipson, a research scientist at Brandeis University about a robot he and computer scientist Jordan Pollack designed, which constructs other robots. He says this is a new step towards the autonomy of artificial life.