October 29, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

TRC REPORT -- NPR's Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports from Pretoria that South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission today issued its final report on human rights abuses committed during apartheid. The report said the vast majority of gross violations were carried out by the white minority regime, but it also blamed the African National Congress for abuses in the fight against apartheid. The thirty-five hundred page document concluded that former President P.W. Botha is accountable for killings and torture carried out during his rule. It also said Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was responsible for killings and torture carried out by her bodyguards. (6:00)

GAZA CAR BOMBING -- NPR's Eric Weiner reports that a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into an Israeli army jeep in Gaza, killing an Israeli soldier and the bomber. Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat condemned the attack and promptly put Sheikh Yassin, the leader of the Islamic extremist movement Hamas, under house arrest. (2:30)

KOSOVO REFUGEES -- Claire Doole reports from Geneva that Swiss authorities are scrambling to shelter ethnic Albanian refugees from Serbia's Kosovo province. Switzerland has the second largest population of Kosovars in Europe, and in recent months as Yugoslav authorities cracked down on the independence movement, thousands more poured into the country. The Swiss have now pressed the army into the business of housing and feeding the Kosovars, many of whom have been living on the streets. (3:00)

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HIGH TECH CANDY -- It's Halloween this weekend. Certainly, there will be the standard chocolate kisses and Tootsie Rolls, and maybe an apple or two. But NPR's Ivan Amato reports that candymakers are digging deeper into their bag of high-tech tricks to produce novel new concepts--including holographic all-day suckers. (4:45)

FLORIDA GOVERNOR'S RACE -- NPR's Cheryl Devall reports African-American voters may determine the outcome of the race for governor in Florida. Republican Jeb Bush has enjoyed a comfortable lead for most of the campaign, but polls show it has narrowed somewhat in recent weeks. But Democrat Buddy McKay is unlikely to win if he can't keep black voters in the Democratic fold. A series of missteps by Democratic legislators and a concerted effort by Bush to woo minorities have put the loyalty of black voters up for grabs. (5:30)

TED HUGHES OBIT -- Sarah Chayes reports from London that Britain's poet laureate, Ted Hughes, has died of cancer at the age of 68. Hughes, whose work often highlighted violence and cruelty in the natural world, has been compared to one of his laureate predecessors, Alfred Lord Tennyson. He was once married to the American writer Sylvia Plath. We'll hear his poem "Hawk Roosting."(3:30)

A SIMPLE HEART -- Commentator Andrei Codrescu tells the story of a woman who wrote him a long letter detailing her ten year friendship and concern for a Romanian family. Andrei is touched by her story of an unselfish friendship. (3:30)

THE STAR FACTORY -- Noah talks to writer Ciaran Carson about his new book, The Star Factory, which is a series of essays about his hometown of Belfast. He says that the Belfast of his childhood in the 1950s is very different from the Belfast of today. When he was a boy, he was free to explore the streets and fields all around, but today children lead more circumscribed existences. He also reads from a ghost story in his book that was written my a ten year old boy. The Star Factory by Ciaran Carson is published by Arcade Publishing. (7:30)

DISCOVERY LAUNCH -- The space shuttle Discovery was launched today, sending seven astronauts, including Senator John Glenn...one of the pioneering members of the Mercury space program in the 1960s...into orbit around the Earth for a series of experiments. Glenn, who is 77 years old, will be sending data on his physical condition back to Earth as part of a project researching the aging process. President Clinton and a crowd of up to a million people watched the historic launch earlier today at Cape Canaveral, Florida. NPR's Richard Harris reports. (4:15)

STARR EXPENSE REPORT -- NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports that Congressional Democrats are outraged at some of the expenses Independent Counsel Ken Starr has charged to taxpayers in his investigation of President Clinton. House Democrats say they have obtained documents showing Starr paid 19-thousand dollars a month for luxury apartments for eight staffers. The Democrats say some of Starr's other expenses were 370-dollars for his personal parking space and 729-thousand dollars for five private investigators, although dozens of FBI agents were assigned to the case. (3:30)

BALLOT INITIATIVES -- Next Tuesday, in 16 states -- most of them in the West -- voters will consider more than 200 ballot measures on issues ranging from medical use of marijuana to abortion to affirmative action to changes in hunting rules and new taxes. Some of the initiatives and referenda have gotten on ballots as a result of citizen-led petition drives and others have been put to the voters by legislatures. Linda talks with NPR's Northwest correspondent Wendy Kaufman who has been tracking these measures through the fall campaign. (4:15)

EDUCATION ELECTION ISSUES -- NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports that polls indicate that voters are concerned about education and politicians are responding by making educational issues important parts of their campaign. In Ohio, education concerns figure in both the Senate and the Governor's races, and state-wide contests as well. (8:00)

ONION SHORTAGE -- NPR's Michael Sullivan reports that drought and then monsoon rains have ruined the onion crop in India. In most places, that would not be a crisis, but people in India depend on the normally cheap onion as a vegetable and vital flaring ingredient in their cooking. The government has moved to import and subsidize onions in some areas, remembering what happened to a previous government when onions became unaffordable. (4:30)

HORSE MEAT BAN INITIATIVE -- NPR's Mandalit delBarco reports on a California ballot initiative that would ban the sale and export of horse meat for human consumption. But, while the French may find nothing wrong with fricasseed horse, supporters of this measure find it an inexcusable cultural offense. Opponents are stunned that the issue even made it to the ballot. (5:00)

MERRY-GO-ROUND -- Noah reads a newspaper story from the Castine Patriot in Castine, Maine. Castine Town Manager Joe Slocum describes how a city work crew decided not to throw an old merry-go-round into the dump. Instead, Larry, Denny and Henry of the public works crew fixed it up, and kids are riding it again. The Town Manager compares the town's anticipation of the refurbished ride to waiting for the launch of the space shuttle. (2:30)

JOHN WINSHIP -- Linda talks with John Winship, a painter from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Winship works from old snapshots, trying to extract from them a subtext that is not obviously visible. Reproductions of Winship's paintings can be seen on the NPR website at www.npr.org. John Winship's new paintings are currently on display at the Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery of the Fuller Building in New York City through November 5. (7:00)