August 11, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Stock Markets -- NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that the stock market tumbled more than 200 points today amid concerns that the Asian economic crisis will be prolonged and have a greater impact on the U.S. economy and corporate profits than originally expected. (3:30)

Embassy Bombings -- Latest From Washington -- NPR's Martha Raddatz reports that the Pentagon has sent in hundreds of troops to help with the security of the FBI forensic and investigating teams trying sifting through the ruins of the two bombed out U.S. Embassies. While information remains scarce, and at times contradictory, some things are becoming known. (4:15)

Embassy Bombings -- Latest From Nairobi -- NPR's Michael Sullivan has the latest from Nairobi on Kenyans' grim search for relatives missing from last Friday's massive bombing of the U.S. embassy and nearby buildings. Anxious families crowd around lists of survivors posted in hospitals, and those who don't see their relatives on those lists search the morgues. Some have still not located their family members after several days of looking. (4:00)

European Heat Wave -- It's blistering in France and the rest of the continent. Sarah Chayes has a report from Paris on the heat wave across the Atlantic. French winegrowers are worried about grapes shriveling on the vine. With the temperature in Paris hitting one hundred, city officials declared an air pollution alert, issuing health warnings to children and old people and lowering speed limits. (3:30)

Summer Havens -- Commentator Naazish Yar Khan grew up in very hot climates in India and the Middle East, where her mother and grandparents had many strategies for keeping cool. Now that she has her own house, she does the same things but can't recapture a certain quality. (4:00)

Camp Sundown -- All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer visits Camp Sundown in New York's Hudson River Valley. It's for kids who have a rare skin disease called Xeroderma Pigmentosum or XP. The disease makes any exposure to sunlight or ultraviolet rays deadly. So these kids fish, ride horses, play games all night and sleep during the day. Dan and Caren Maher of Poughkeepsie started the camp three summers ago. Their six-year-old, Katie, has XP. They say they wanted Katie to have a chance to go outside and play with other children for a few weeks of her life. There is no cure yet for XP, which destroys the body's ability to restore skin cells. You can find out more by visiting the Xeroderma Pigmentosum Society Web site.

New Chewing Gums -- All Things Considered host Noah Adams talks with Gary Kehoe, president of GumTech International, Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona. GumTech makes what Kehoe calls "functional chewing gums," which are fortified with a variety herbs, vitamins and minerals that, according to Kehoe, can increase energy levels and stamina in the chewer. While Kehoe believes that functional gum can yield positive results, he explains that GumTech's products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and are dietary supplements, not drugs. (4:00) (4:00)

The Wristwatch Show -- Commentator Daniel Pinkwater likes a certain show on cable television that comes on in the wee small hours of the morning. The show focuses only on selling wristwatches. He says it's positively hypnotic. This item is unavailable due to copyright issues.

Jonesboro Sentencing -- NPR's Wade Goodwyn has details from Jonesboro Arkansas, where two youngsters were convicted today of "delinquent behavior" today. The pair opened fire on a group of fellow students and a teacher in local middle school last March, killing five people. (3:30)

Chicago Murder Hearing -- NPR's Cheryl Corley reports that a judge in Chicago will be deciding today whether two young murder suspects, aged 7and 8, should be allowed to go home, or confined in a psychiatric hospital pending further legal proceedings. The two boys are among the youngest ever charged with murder in the U.S. They are charged with killing an 11-year-old girl to steal her bicycle. (3:30)

Juveniles and Justice -- Linda talks with Jim Garbarino, co-director of the Family Development Center at Cornell University and a professor of human development, about children who commit violent acts. Garbarino says seven and eight-year-olds have a very primitive understanding of death, and that many children have been desensitized to violence. (5:00)

Welfare and College -- Should welfare support college students? Most states give a resounding "NO," but others argue its the surest way to helping people off government assistance into good-paying jobs.In part one of two stories, Steve Young of Vermont Public Radio profiles Abby, a Vermont college student on welfare. (7:15)

Bell Atlantic Settlement -- NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports on today's tentative settlement of the strike by workers at Bell Atlantic Corp. The settlement would protect workers from layoffs or forced transfers during the two-year deal -- and turn about 3,000 temporary employees into permanent jobholders. Union officials say the deal will give workers access to new jobs in telecommunications -- such as Internet services and data networking. (3:30)

Los Angeles Bus Fare Strike -- NPR's Mandalit DelBarco has details about a fare strike today by Los Angeles public bus riders. People boarded the buses, but refused to pay the fare. Riders complain that buses are too crowded, too infrequent and don't cover enough of the city. (3:30)

Patenting Math Formulas -- The third "R" has always been viewed as a sort of universal language, a way of representing the world and predicting the behavior or objects that was no one's property. But NPR's Dan Charles reports that courts have now decided that mathematical formulae can be patented. These aren't the chemical formulae for things like Coca-Cola, but mathematical calculations most often used to create software. The recent court judgments have lawyers and mathematicians facing off over what is patentable and what belongs the everyone. (5:30)

Boy George Is Back -- They're back! Boy George and his band Culture Club are touring the U.S. A new 2-CD set (with three new songs, a VH-1 performance and greatest hits) hits the stores today. Lest you think the band just another '80's throwaway, Culture Club's 1983 album, "Kissing to be Clever," was the first debut release since the Beatles to yield 3 Top Ten U.S. singles. And Boy George defends his era as being more adventurous than the 1990's. From London, Mathew Cowan reports. This item is unavailable due to copyright issues.