MSNBC brings you full news coverage of the day's events, updates on breaking stories, and in-depth reports — many in full multimedia, with audio and video clips from MSNBC reporters.

The MSNBC Cover: The MSNBC cover is your portal to our complete daily coverage. Click on any headline on the cover to jump to the relevant story. Top stories are presented "Center Stage" with headlines featured to the right. The right side of the page displays MSNBC Headliner which not only contains headlines selected from our main sections, but often contains a slide show as well. In addition, keep up to date with our marquee at the top of the cover. The marquee is updated as soon as news breaks and is a great way to stay current.

Section fronts: Each section also has its own front page, or section front, that lists the top stories in the section. You can jump to any section front by clicking its name in the navigation bar at the top of the left side of any page.

In our unique TV News section, you'll find programming information for NBC and for the MSNBC and CNBC cable television channels.

The MSNBC News Menu: When you download the MSNBC News Menu, a list of all the headlines in a section is displayed whenever your pointer moves over the section name in the navigation bar. Just click a headline to jump to the story. Click here to download the MSNBC News Menu (requires Microsoft Windows 95, 98, or NT; and Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.x or later).

Your own Personal Front: You can personalize your front page by entering your zip code and stock symbols in the boxes along the bottom of the MSNBC cover. Your own Personal Front then displays the story headlines and information that especially interest you on the lower portion of the cover page.

Story enhancements: Most stories contain links to related sites, or to audio or video clips. You can click the name of a link to jump to the site, enter the chat room, hear the sound, or download the animation. For more information about our multimedia offerings and the software tools necessary to enjoy them, see "Enjoying multimedia features" on this page.

 
Getting the best view of MSNBC

 
Navigating through MSNBC
In MSNBC, you’re never far from any page you want. On the navigation bar at the left side of each page, you’ll see links to all of the sections and to a summary of the top stories from each section. (You can always tell when your pointer is over a link, because it turns into a pointing hand.) Just click the name of the section you want, or jump to any story directly from the navigation bar by using the MSNBC News Menu.

At the bottom of your Personal Front and every story page are links to all of the main MSNBC pages, including an Index page. Click Index to see a list of all of the current sections and stories.

 Finding stories quickly with MSNBC News Menu
 Moving through the news
 Finding stories by subject
 Reading a page
 Jumping from MSNBC to other places
 Enjoying multimedia features

Finding stories quickly with MSNBC News Menu
If you have downloaded the MSNBC News Menu, to navigate directly to any story from any MSNBC page, just move your pointer over the navigation bar. As the pointer touches a section name, a menu of story headlines appears for that section. You can click any headline to jump to the story — or click the section name to go straight to the section's front page. Click here to download the MSNBC News Menu (requires Microsoft Windows 95, 98, or NT; and Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.x or later).

Moving through the news
Links on the navigation bar and in other parts of MSNBC allow you to move freely throughout the site. Here’s how to use them:

	To jump to a section front from any page On the navigation bar, click a section name.
	To jump to a story from the cover or a section front Click a headline or the central photo.
	To jump to any current story Use MSNBC News Menu. If you have not downloaded it, click Index at the bottom of your Personal Front or any story page, and then click a headline on the Index page. Or, from a section front, click a headline located in the lower portion of the page.
	To move from a section to a subsection In Internet Explorer, move your pointer over the top section and then click the name of the subsection. Subsection names appear in bold capital letters in the MSNBC News Menu.
	To jump to your local news On the navigation bar, click Local News. If you haven't defined a city, follow the directions on the page that appears, and then click Go.
	To return to the cover page At the upper-left corner of any section front or story page, click the MSNBC logo.

Finding Stories by Subject
You can use one or more search words to find stories in today’s edition of the news. Click Find at the bottom of any page, and then follow the directions on the page entitled "Search MSNBC."

Reading a page
When you jump to a story page, the first part of the page appears within a scrolling area. To read the entire page, use the vertical scroll bar at the right side of the window. You can scroll through the page, or you can move through screen by screen.

	To scroll a few lines Click a scroll arrow once.
	To scroll continuously Slowly drag the scroll box down or up.
	To jump down one screen Click once in the bar area between the scroll box and the scroll-down arrow.
	To jump up one screen Click once in the bar area between the scroll box and the scroll-up arrow.

Jumping from MSNBC to other places
In most MSNBC stories you'll see links representing stories, videos, sound clips, or Web sites that relate to the current story. You can click the link name to jump to the story, multimedia event, or site.

 
Going interactive
One of the most exciting features of MSNBC is its interactive nature. Here are a few ways you can interact with MSNBC:

	Get the news your way, with MSNBC free personalization tools.
	Select an MSNBC Affiliate for your local news.
	Join other readers in a chat session.
	Evaluate our stories to help identify the Top Ten..
	Send us your views, and we may publish them!

MSNBC Personalization
With the following free MSNBC personalization tools and services, you can receive the news in ways that meet your individual needs. To download a tool or register for a service, go to the MSNBC CoolTools page. Then, click the name of the tool you want and follow the directions.

	Personal Front MSNBC already supplies you with the MSNBC cover, but you can easily design your own Personal Front containing the subjects that interest you. Your Personal Front, which appears below the MSNBC cover, might include stock quotes, sports scores, and links to traffic reports and four-day weather forecasts for the city nearest to you. You can personalize your front page by entering your zip code and stock symbols in the boxes along the bottom of the MSNBC cover, or by clicking on "Choose Your News" on the MSNBC CoolTools page. You can change your choices as often as you like by clicking Change News Choices, located at the top of your Personal Front.
	Personal News Alert MSNBC News Alert flashes an icon on your Windows 95/98 or Windows NT taskbar whenever important news breaks. And if you indicate the topics that interest you, MSNBC also announces new MSNBC news articles that match those topics. When you click the flashing icon, News Alert pops up the headlines with hot links to the stories. For more details, visit the News Alert help page.
	Personal Delivery: Today's Headlines MSNBC sends a list of top stories directly to your electronic mailbox at one of three times: 9am ET, 9am PT, or 3pm ET. You can peruse the latest headlines at your leisure. When you're ready to go online, you just click a link to automatically connect to the MSNBC item you selected.

Selecting your local news
MSNBC Affiliates in many locations can now bring you the latest news for your geographical area. Some affiliate channels are participating now, and more are coming online soon. Be sure to check the local news often to see the latest sites.

Joining an MSNBC chat or bulletin board discussion
You can join other readers in our MSNBC chats and on our bulletin boards to discuss the latest news. For a chat, you'll need chat software on your computer. To jump to a chat room or bulletin board related to the story you’re reading, click a link on that story's page and then follow the directions. You can also navigate to the current chat room from the Chat tab on the cover, and to bulletin board lists from the Opinions section.

Helping to pick the MSNBC Top 10
At the bottom of each MSNBC story page is a ballot that allows you to rate the story on a scale of 1 to 7. Just click a number on the scale, and your vote will be counted instantly. You can rate as many stories as you like, but you can rate each story only once. Results are automatically updated every 60 seconds. You can then check out the 10 most highly recommended MSNBC stories as chosen by you and other MSNBC readers. Whether you vote or not, you can click MSNBC Viewers Top 10, in the ballot box, for links to the most highly rated stories.

Sending us your views
Take a moment to give us your views of current events. It's easy! We offer you various avenues. Here are just two of the ways you can express yourself:

	On story pages in the Opinions section, click a link inviting you to respond to questions about a story's topic. Then, fill out the email form that appears. For the subject line, be sure to enter a brief form of the question before you send your opinion on its way. Later, check the Opinions section again. You may find your comments published there!
	Use the Live Vote ballot you'll find on various story pages. After you select one of the choices presented on the ballot, click Vote. The ballot will change to show the number of responses received and the percentages reflecting the way that you and other readers voted.

 
Enjoying multimedia features
MSNBC stories are rich in audio and video features. You may already have software on your system that allows you to play multimedia, or you may need to download free software to enjoy these features.

Viewing video clips
If you’re using Microsoft Windows 98, you already have the software tools necessary to enjoy video events in MSNBC. If you have Microsoft Windows 3.1 or a Macintosh computer, you will need to download the free Microsoft Windows Media Player.

Listening to audio clips
All of our audio clips use streaming audio technology, where no audio file is downloaded to your computer. Sound begins playing almost immediately after you click its link name, and you can pause, rewind, fast-forward, stop, or restart the audio just as you can with a CD player.

No matter what operating system you’re using, you must have Windows Media Player software and a modem with a speed of 28.8 Kbps (14.4 Kbps for the Windows 3.x Beta Player, for Audio only Streaming) or higher to hear our streaming audio clips. But modem speed is a key factor in audio quality. While a 28.8 Kbps modem produces adequate sound with any version of Windows Media Player software, using a faster modem with the latest version of Windows Media Player can bring you the best sound possible.

To download your free copy of the latest version of Windows Media Player, click on the Get Windows Media Player icon on this page and follow the directions on the subsequent pages. Or, you can reach the Windows Media Player download site from our MSNBC Cool Tools page.

For Windows Media Player questions, 30 days of free support is available by calling one of the following numbers:
(425) 635-7018 (WindowsNT)
(425) 635-7222 (Windows98)
(425) 635-7000 (Windows95)
The period of free support begins from time of your first call to one of the above numbers.

 
Downloading pictures and stories
Thanks for the compliment! We’re happy that you enjoy our pictures and stories enough to preserve them. And we need to mention that all of the material within MSNBC is copyrighted and can’t be legally reprinted, republished, duplicated, or used for anything other than personal use without permission from (and perhaps payment to) the holder of the copyright.

To make such arrangements, please contact the appropriate photographer, author, or news service credited in the story.

For more information about our copyright, click the copyright notice, below. This notice is also located at the bottom of every MSNBC page.