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NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the US military's plans to evacuate American citizens from Zaire if that country's civil war reaches the capital, Kinshasa. About a hundred and fifty American troops are in Brazzaville, the capital of neighboring Congo, just across the Zaire river from Kinshasa. Another two thousand are on the U-S-S Nassau, an ambphibious assault ship stationed off Zaire's coast. If an order to evacuate is given, the American forces are ready to move into Kinshasa with attack helicopters to evacuate the roughly five hundred U-S citizens there.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that Ghana today reluctantly agreed to permit an overcrowded freighter dock and unload more than three thousand people who had fled the fighting in Liberia. For the past ten days several West African nations, including Ghana, had refused to let the Bulk Challenge unload its desperate passengers, many of them hungry and sick. But after pressure from the United Nations and others, Ghana allowed the refugees to disembark today. A new camp will be built for them, but Ghana declared that it will not accept any more refugees.

Robert talks to NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Gisenyi, Rwanda, about the mass return of refugees from the nearby town of Goma, Zaire. Relief agencies are scrambling to handle the unexpected crush of roughly half a million people who returned over the past four days. As the throngs have headed home, families have been separated, and relief agencies are caring for a few thousand children who can't find their parents. Meanwhile, returnees face the situation of returning home to find their houses occupied by squatters.

- N-P-R's Jennifer Ludden reports on the delayed efforts of Zaire to hold democratic elections. In 1990, President Mobutu Sese Seko (moh-boo-TOO say-SEE say-KOH) mandated that Zaire hold democratic elections in 1995. Elections were never held and, one year later, reform groups are calling on Mobutu to follow his 1990 mandate. In calling for elections, reformers are identifying Mobutu and his corrupt government as the primary reason for the delay in Zaire's transition to democracy. But Zaire's troubles are not limited to governmental corruption; logistical and organizational problems abound.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from the Zairean capital Kinshasa that longtime President Mobutu Sese Seko is expected to return tomorrow after spending several months in Europe getting treatment for prostate cancer. Mobutu will be returning to a country in severe crisis: a weak civilian government and a largely inept military are facing a surging rebel army in eastern Zaire. Some believe the uprising, combined with Zaire's legendary corruption, economic mismanagement and political instability, could lead to the complete disintegration of one of Africa's largest nations.

Pakistan demands exemption from a U.S. registration program for non-citizens, and Indonesia tells its citizens not to travel here. The program requires visiting males from 25 Middle Eastern and Asian countries to be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed as an anti-terror measure. The Justice Department says the effort is starting to pay off. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem that a gamble by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to get a peace treaty to use as an electoral platform seems to have failed. Though U.S. envoy Dennis Ross is on his way back to the Middle East for one last ditch effort to find a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, there is little hope that he will succeed. If he doesn't, Barak's bid for re-election next month appears doomed.

Two months ago, the U.S. Navy finally honored Wheeler Lipes, a former pharmacist's mate who performed a life-saving emergency appendectomy aboard a submarine in enemy waters during World War II. Lipes died this week at 84. Jennifer Ludden and Navy medical historian Jan Herman remember Lipes' life.

A survey by a group called The Catalogue for Philanthropy finds the poorest American states score the highest on their "generosity index" for 2004 -- an annual scorecard ranking states by how much their residents give to charities in proportion to how much they have. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and George McCully, a trustee of the Ellis L. Phillips Foundation and project coordinator for The Catalogue for Philanthropy.

Drawing on the centuries-old tradition of female vocal music from Eastern Europe, the women's ensemble Kitka has won wide acclaim for their lush harmonies. Their latest CD, Wintersongs, features Slavic and Balkan carols and hymns. NPR's Jennifer Ludden talks with members of the ensemble.