April 14, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Botha Trial -- NPR's Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports from George, South Africa, on the first day of the trial of former South African President P.W. Botha on contempt charges. Botha has refused to appear before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission to tell about his role in suppressing the nation's black liberation movement. Attorneys for Botha and the Commission spent the day trying to reach an agreement that would avoid a trial and result in the former president appearing before the Commission. (4:30)

Americans Charged Overseas -- All Things Considered host Robert Siegel talks with Kathy Peterson, who works at the State Department, about the 1993 Vienna Convention, which guarantees that law enforcement officials inform the embassies of arrested foreign nationals. For example, if an American is arrested abroad, a U.S. consulate should be notified. About 100 countries are signatories to the treaty, including the United States. Peterson is director of Overseas Citizens Services at the State Department. (4:30)

Iraq Executions -- NPR's Ted Clark reports that a new United Nations Human Rights analysis accuses Iraq of executing some 1,500 prisoners in order to thin out its jail population. Iraqi officials deny the charge. (3:00)

Race and Sports -- NPR's Tom Goldman reports that President Clinton is presiding over his second presidential town hall meeting on race, televised on ESPN, to attract more white males to the dialogue. Race and Sports is the topic and the administration sees sports as a metaphor for a society that brings people of different backgrounds together working for common goals. But there are also signs that the racial polarization that troubles American society is reflected in the world of sports as some blacks and whites prefer to play separate games. (7:45)

No to Napalm -- Christina Koenig of member station WBEZ in Chicago reports that a train shipment of napalm from San Diego to East Chicago, Indiana has no place to go. The company that had agreed to recycle the napalm has backed away from the agreement under political pressure. Pollution Control Industries had a Navy contract to turn the napalm into industrial fuel, but several Midwestern congressmen said the plan was dangerous to their communities. The Navy, which has millions of gallons of napalm left over from the Vietnam War, says it's safer to move than regular gasoline. (4:30)

Union Pacific -- Jim Bell of member station KUHF in Houston reports on Union Pacific's efforts to fix the massive tie-up in its southern rail system that began after its 1996 merger with Southern Pacific. Houston officials estimate the rail jam is costing local shippers alone $100 million a month in lost sales. Union Pacific has begun taking steps to fix the problem, but companies and state officials say they're running out of patience. (4:30)

Old Ironsides -- Linda speaks with Commander Robert Gillen, former commander of the USS Constitution, about his opposition to the Navy's plan to sail the 200-year-old ship into the open ocean this summer. He has joined 14 of the 17 living ex-commanders of the ship in saying the Constitution is not ready for the extreme conditions of the North Atlantic. He is concerned that a leak could cause catastrophic flooding that could not be controlled. (3:30)

Holy Week -- Commentator Frederica Matthewes-Greene says the elaborate rituals demanded by Christian Orthodoxy mean that Holy Week is full of praying, weeping, and singing. The Orthodox Holy Week is one week later than in the western Church. The week culminates in a procession by the congregation during which they carry the funeral bier of Christ around the outside of the church. (3:30)

Cherry Blossoms -- NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that a venerable Japanese rite of spring was all but rained out this year. Soggy days and nights prevented Tokyo residents from enjoying the blossoming of the cherry trees until the flowers were nearly gone. The Japanese, undaunted, spent the evenings partying under the trees anyway, well fortified with sake. (4:30)

Deadly Drug Side Effects -- NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on a new study that suggests adverse prescription drug reactions are a major cause of death among hospital patients in the United States. Researchers concluded that approximately 106,000 deaths at U.S. hospitals in 1994 were due to bad reactions to drugs. That would rank unexpected drug reactions as the fourth leading cause of death behind heart disease, cancer and stroke. But critics say the study has flaws and the estimate is too high. (4:30)

Mail Monoply? -- The CEO of United Parcel Service says it's unfair the Postal Service has a monopoly on letter mail. James Kelly says the Postal Service uses profits from first class mail to subsidize its other services, like parcel delivery. Postmaster General Marvin Runyon says that's not true. He says the different classes of mail don't subsidize each other. He also says he believes the Postal Service is moving toward the day when it can survive without the legal protection of a monopoly on letter mail. NPR's Larry Abramson reports. (4:00)

Faster Internet -- NPR's Dan Charles reports on a $500 million initiative to help start the "next" Internet. It's a new and much faster network through which universities and other high-volume and high-speed computer users can communicate and swap data. (3:00)

Shell Island -- NPR's Adam Hochberg reports on the battle between the state of North Carolina and a luxury oceanfront condominium that is in danger of falling into the sea because the beach around it is rapidly eroding. The owners are suing the state over its refusal to build a seawall to protect the property. They claim the state's refusal to build the seawall is an unconstitutional "taking." (5:45)

Tijuana Drug Cartels -- NPR's Phillip Davis reports from Ciudad Juarez on the bloody internal battle to succeed Amado Carillo Fuentes as head of the drug smuggling Juarez Cartel. Carillo-Fuentes was known as the Lord of the Skies for his use of cargo planes to ship drugs across the border into the United States. He died last summer after undergoing plastic surgery and liposuction to alter his appearance. (5:00)

Border Patrol -- Nick Gillespie tells the story of Ezequiel Hernandez, an 18-year-old student caught in the crossfire of the drug war. Gillespie says that this case should force us to take a hard look at America's drug policy. (3:00)

Hostages in Columbia -- All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer talks to Rhoda Metcalfe, a reporter in Bogota, Colombia. In 1993, three missionaries, Dave Dalkins, Mark Rich and Rick Tenenoff, were taken hostage by armed guerrillas from their houses in Panama, just over the border from Colombia. Today, Terry Anderson and Terry Waite, both of whom were hostages in Lebanon, appeared at a news conference in an effort to gain freedom for the three hostages. (4:30)

Pulitzer Prizes -- NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports on this year's Pulitzer Prize winners, announced this afternoon. Philip Roth is the winner of the fiction award for his novel, American Pastoral. (3:00)

Pulitzer Envy -- Commentator and Pulitzer Prize non-winner Dominic Papatola weighs in with a whiny outlook on not winning the journalism prize yet again. Papatola is the theater critic for the New Orleans Times Picayune. (3:30)

Pulitzer Winner -- Poet Charles Wright won the Pulitzer Prize for his collection, Black Zodiac. (2:00)