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LEBANON - NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Jerusalem that Israel regretted mistakenly shelling a United Nations base which was sheltering Lebanese civilians. But Prime Minister Shimon Peres and other officials defended their right to fire artillery shells at positions of the Hizbollah guerrillas. They pointed out that Hezbollah had fired Katyusha rockets toward Israel from a position just three hundred meters from the U-N base.

NPR's Mary Kay Magistad reports on diplomatic attempts to mend relations between the US and China. A meeting between the US secretary of state and China's foreign minister at the Hague tomorrow is the first since the Taiwan crisis last month, and both sides are talking optimistically.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that the high civilian death toll in today's Israeli bombardment in Lebanon has accelerated efforts to end the latest round of fighting in the Middle East. A senior State Department official will travel to the region tonight to pursue a diplomatic solution. It won't be easy for the United States to play the role of honest broker, however, because it sided with Israel when the clashes began a week ago.

Nearly 500 million people are voting in national elections in India this month. And the Bhartiya Janata party may have a good chance of victory. But, the BJP is a Hindu nationalist party and many of India's Muslim's are anxious about the party's appeal for a 'uniform national heritage.' NPR's Chitra Ragan reports.

On October 12, 1958, a bomb exploded outside the most prominent Jewish synagogue in the Atlanta. It was a sign of the growing tensions over the civil rights movement between both whites and blacks, and also between whites sympathetic to the plight of blacks and white segregationists. Daniel speaks with author Melissa Fay Greene about her book "The Temple Bombing" which explores the implications of the bombing and the unique predicament of Southern Jews during the era of the Civil Rights Movement.

Marius Benson reports from Pretoria that South Africa's government today postponed for a third time provincial elections for the violence-torn region of KwaZulu-Natal (kwah-ZU-LU nah-TALL). Many feared such a move would touch off a political crisis, as the Inkatha Freedom Party had threatened to quit the government of national unity if the vote were put off again. But Inkatha's leader, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi (man-go-SOO-too booduh-LAY-zee), grudgingly accepted the move, which delays the May 29 vote for up to a month. The postponement grew out of concern that escalating violence between Inkatha and the African National Congress would make it impossible to hold the election without significant bloodshed.

Phillip Davis reports on the FCC's lucrative auctioning of licenses for the next generation of wireless phones. San Diego-based NextWave Telecom made the highest offer in an auction that the FCC plans to generate $10.2 billion for the federal treasury.

Robert Siegel speaks with Martin Lee about China's takeover of Hong Kong in July of next year. Mr. Lee is an elected legislative counselor and chair of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong. Mr. Lee says China is backing away from promises it made in an agreement with Britain in 1984, to allow Hong Kong's autonomy and to permit democratic rule. He is in the United States to appeal for support for a democratic, independent Hong Kong.

Noah Adams talks with Tim Cohen, a political correspondent with Business Day in Cape Town. Cohen has being following the constitutional process in South Africa. Today, South African politicians passed the post-apartheid constitution. The constitution will be phased in between now and 1997. The constitution is loosely based on the our Constitution and has a Bill of Rights that protect basic freedoms. (4:30) -b- 6. FREEBIES ON THE STUMP -- The Democratic Party hopes to raise $11 million at a Washington, DC shindig tonight, just a little less than Republicans hauled in at a gala of their own early this year. What do donors get for the checks? What about voters? Peter Overby reports.

A re-broadcast of Noah Adams reading some of the obituaries of victims of the Murrah Federal Office Building bombing which appeared in the Daily Oklahoman five days after the explosion in Oklahoma City.

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports that Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole announced today that he will leave the U.S. Senate to pursue his presidential campaign full-time. Dole's surprising announcement came after weeks of debate within the Republican party and the Dole campaign about whether his candidacy was better served from the floor of the Senate or out on the campaign trail. However, a series of legislative setbacks for the Republicans apparently convinced Dole that giving up his Senate seat would be the best route to take.

The Democratic Party hopes to raise $11 million at a Washington, DC shindig tonight, just a little less than Republicans hauled in at a gala of their own early this year. What do donors get for the checks? What about voters? Peter Overby reports.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports on Israeli prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu's first speech to the Israeli people. Netanyahu narrowly defeated incumbant Shimon Peres to become the nation's youngest-ever head of government. In his speech Netanyahu commited his government to continuing the peace process with the Palestinians and Arab neighbors.

Edmund Roy reports on the uncertainty facing India's political future. The split vote suggest that Indians are being more independent in their choice of candidates, but this has led to a hung parliament and the possibility of a new election in six months.

Linda Wertheimer talks with NPR's Lynn Neary in Wilmington Delaware, where a panel of Episcopal bishops ruled that church doctrine does NOT specifically ban the ordination of non-celebate homosexuals. The ruling means that a retired bishop who ordained a non-celebate gay man in 1990 will NOT have to face a heresy trial. Today's opinion by a special panel of Episcopal bishops did NOT deal with the church's position on the morality of homosexual relationships.

on the British government's decision to allow a Saudi Arabian dissident to remain in their country, and the possible fall out for Britain's defense industry.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports on Israeli youth and how they might vote in next week's election. Whereas young people used to be more hawkish than their elders, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in November has pushed them toward the Labor Party because, they say, it is the party more concerned with peace.

- For several years the Stratfield public elementary school in Fairfield, Connecticut has scored high marks for academic excellence with a well established reputation as one of the best public schools in the nation. But Tandaleya Wilder of Connecticut Public Radio reports that recent allegations of test tampering have tarnished Stratfield's image...and led to an investigation of the school.

- Five years ago, the so-called "killer bee" arrived in the United States. So far, they are a problem in four states: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of southern California. Daniel talks with bee expert Anita Collins - at the U.S.D.A. bee lab in Beltsville, Maryland - about the threat killer bees pose to humans. Researchers refer to regular North American bees as "Europeanized" bees and the so-called killer bee as "Africanized." These Africanized bees are defensive and will not bother humans or animals unless their home is disturbed - it's then that they behave aggressively. Cold weather keeps Africanized bees out of most U.S. states.

Timothy Leary died today of cancer at age 75. Leary was a Harvard psychology professor who began a series of controlled experiments with LSD and other psychedelic drugs in the early 1960's, exploring their use as a means of acheiving greater self-knowledge and awareness without the constraints of traditional medicine or religion. After his ouster from the college, Leary became a philosopher of the counterculture movement, popularizing the phrase, "tune in, turn on, and drop out."