October 1, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

WHAT TO DO ABOUT KOSOVO? -- Pictures of atrocities committed against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province are making it harder for the international community to avoid military action against the Yugoslav and Serbian forces responsible. The US State Department says that increasingly, the NATO allies are coming to understand the danger of inaction. In the meantime, the UN Security Council, which has seen its call for a ceasefire in Kosovo flouted by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, is meeting again to consider the crisis. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports. (4:15)

BOMBING TARGETS -- Noah talks with NPR Pentagon correspondent Martha Raddatz about which areas would be the likely targets if NATO were to use air strikes to secure Kosovo province. (4:15)

RUSSIAN ECONOMIC PLAN -- NPR's Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that the Russian newspaper Kommersant, a business daily, has published what it says is the economic crisis program put together by Yuri Maslyukov, the new deputy prime minister in charge of the economy. Maslyukov is a communist, and critics describe his proposals as neo-Soviet. Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov stressed, however, that the government has not finalized its anti-crisis plan. (3:30)

SWISSAIR UPDATE -- Air safety officials say they are trying to decide what, if anything, they can do to prevent aircraft fires. For example, faulty wiring has been suspected in some airplane fires, and officials are wondering if they need to declare an official lifespan for an airplane's wiring systems. Safety officials also are looking into a new aspect of the Swissair crash a few weeks ago. Investigators say the plane had sound and temperature insulation that accelerated fires in four other cases. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports. (4:30)

NEXT OF KIN -- Mark Zdechlik of Minnesota Public Radio reports on a new rule that went into effect today that requires persons flying on international flights from the U.S. to tell the airline whom to contact in case of a disaster. The aim is to make notification of next of kin much easier, following complaints from relatives of people who died in the TWA Flight 800 disaster and others. (3:30)

WELFARE RULE CHANGE -- Today, new welfare rules go into effect nationwide which increase the work requirement for a number of welfare recipients to receive their benefits. Illinois has implemented a policy that eases sanctions if people are actually working 25 hours a week or more. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports. (5:00)

RURAL WELFARE -- Andrea Dukakis of Colorado Public radio reports that people who live in rural areas are having a tough time getting off welfare because those areas are NOT seeing record low unemployment. Welfare recipients are struggling to compete with more attractive candidates for jobs. We profile the problem in the small farming town of Center, Colorado. (5:00)

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COPYRIGHT LAW -- NPR's Larry Abramson reports from Washington that academics, researchers and some businesses are concerned that legislation before Congress could infringe on the "fair use" doctrine that allows certain use of portions of copyright material without permission. But advocates for increased intellectual property right protections argue that new laws are needed to bring U.S. copyright law into the digital age -- and to comply with a new international treaty on intellectual property rights. (4:15)

40 & COUNTING -- Commentator Reynolds Price has some thoughts about celebrating his 40th anniversary of teaching at Duke University. (3:30)

HEDGE FUND HEARING -- NPR's John Ydstie reports Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan today defended the Fed's actions in coordinating the rescue of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund that engaged in risky investment strategies. Greenspan said he did not think Congress needed to devise new regulations to curb the activities of hedge funds. He said he knew of no regulation that would prevent people from making dumb mistakes. (5:00)

WORLD BANK & IMF -- NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports that as world financial leaders gather in Washington for the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, an IMF official defended the IMF's handling of the economic crises in Asia and Russia. Michel Camdessus, the fund's Managing Director, said the IMF had chosen the best option available when it encouraged countries to raise interest rates to defend their currencies. (3:30)

FLORIDA PANHANDLE -- Floodwaters from nearby rivers continue to inundate the Florida panhandle town of Milton. But officials do not expect as much water to pour into town as yesterday. The rivers were swollen with rain from Hurricane Georges, which dumped as much as 25 inches of rain on the area after it came ashore earlier this week. The process of recovery from disasters such as this is a big one for not only home and business owners. It's also a big job for public officials. NPR's Cheryl Devall reports on efforts by local officials to repair the town's infrastructure. (3:30)

RULES OF IMPEACHMENT -- NPR's Brian Naylor reports from Capitol Hill on preliminary maneuvering prior to next week's meeting of the House Judiciary Committee to consider asking the full House for permission to conduct a formal inquiry into President Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Republicans have called for permission to hold a broad investigation while Democrats are asking for a definition of what would be an impeachable offense before the investigation gets started. (4:15)

DO-NOTHING CONGRESS -- NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that those who are complaining about the do-nothing congress just have not been paying attention. Impeachment talk has provided cover for Washington lobbyists to advance their own agenda. (3:30)

PRE-NASA -- Noah talks with senior NASA historian Roger Launius, on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the space agency. Although the study of rocketry and aeronautics had been going on throughout the Second World War, it was in the 1950s that the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite inspired an act of Congress creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was formed on this date in 1958. Launius talks about the challenges of setting up NASA projects...including problems with the rockets initially being used, which often exploded at the launching-pad or had to be destroyed. These early failures were very public ones, and endangered the existence...and credibility...of the fledgling agency. (4:30)

CHURCHILL & WWIII -- Robert talks with Donald Cameron Watt, a professor emeritus of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. They discuss new evidence that the alliance between the West and Soviet Russia during World War II was under strain as early as VE Day. Winston Churchill apparently was preparing for Stalin to ignore previously agreed-upon frontiers and agreements in Europe. Watt says that at the conclusion of World War II, both the British and American governments were weighing the consequences of the Red Army's advance into central Europe, and assumed that Stalin would not withdraw. (4:30)

FAMILY LORE -- Commentator Diane Toomey talks about her father's experiences in World War II. After he returned from his tour in the Pacific, he didn't much want to talk about the things he had done during wartime. (3:30)

ELDERLY HEALTH -- NPR's Wendy Schmelzer reports on a study done by RAND researchers and published in the October 1 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. It confirms that older Americans are more fit and more healthy now than they were more than a decade ago. The researchers compared census data collected in 1984 with data from 1993 that reported on whether older Americans could perform simple tasks of everyday life like climbing a flight of stairs without resting. The results confirmed that the proportion of Americans over 50 who are disabled is going down significantly. (3:30)

KOMEDA REVIEW -- Music critic David Greenberger reviews What Makes It Go? by Komeda, a Swedish pop band. Greenberger says it's a snappy CD by a group of young musicians who craft melodic and electronic tones under smart and often deep lyrics. This CD is released on the Minty Fresh label: www.mintyfresh.com.(3:45)