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Noah talks with Nick Thorpe, a BBC reporter in Bucharest, Romania, about the surprising results of the recent Romanian elections. A former geology professor and a political novice, Emil Constantinescu, upset the incumbent president. Now, the president-elect must try to bring the former Soviet bloc country towards a market economy. Thorpe says the populace showed deep emotion in victory rallies - of the sort Thorpe has not witnessed there since the revolution of 1989.

Robert Dornan now looks as if he's lost his bid to return to Congress for a tenth term. Latina challenger Loretta Sanchez is ahead by close to 1,000 votes, a week after the election, with only two or three thousand absentee and provisional votes still to count. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports that it was absentee ballots and a strong Latino vote that overturned the fiery conservative in his equally conservative Orange County, California. Dornan is threatening to challenge the results, claiming that Democrats may have signed up ineligible immigrant voters.

Secret Service logs show that John Huang, the Democratic fund-raiser at the center of a growing controversy over foreign political donations, visited the White House more than 60 times this year. The records did not show what Huang's business was at the White House, but they indicate he was a much more frequent visitor than the White House has acknowledged previously. News of Huang's visits is prompting Republican demands for President Clinton to explain what Huang was doing there. Critics have questioned whether Huang's repeated presence in the White House violated conflict-of-interest laws. Phillip Davis has a report.

Danny interviews Chicano author Victor Martinez, who novel, "Parrot in the Oven," won this year's prestigious National Book Award for young fiction. Martinez recounts his struggle to become a writer and reads excerpts from his book.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that President Clinton has agreed in principle to contribute as many as several thousand US troops to a proposed multinational effort to get food and medicine to about a million refugees in eastern Zaire. A White House spokesman said that once such a force is established, perhaps one thousand American troops would deploy in Zaire, helping provide security at a key airport and along special corridors set up to get aid to the mostly Rwandan refugees cut off by recent fighting. The spokesman said most of the US forces would be outside of Zaire, acting in support of the aid operation.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich is facing calls for him to step aside because of his unpopularity with the general public. Some of his problems stem from the conservative agenda, others from ethics charges. Even among his usual supporters, some GOP congressmen say Gingrich should step aside as Speaker for the good of the agenda. But NPR's Brian Naylor reports Gingrich still has many congressmen behind him, and is likely to be reelected Speaker next week when House Republicans meet to elect their leaders.

- Daniel talks with political writer Sidney Blumenthal (New Yorker magazine) about his play, "This Town," which is a send-up of the Washington Press Corps. Blumenthal, is critical of the celebrity culture, which he says, permeates Washington journalism. The play was performed this past week at The Washington Press Club - before an audience of journalists.

Robert talks with Jan Vansina, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin who specializes in Central Africa, about the Hutu-Tutsi conflict in Central Africa. Vansina discusses the potential for a full-blown war in the area which includes parts of Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi.

- NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Jerusalem on a real estate trend in that city which some say could endanger hopes of a lasting peace there. Traditionally, Jewish Israelis have lived on the west side of the city and Palestinians have lived on the east side. But recently a private Jewish group has begun buying properties on the east side and renting them to Jewish families. And critics warn that the trend is only adding to tensions between Arabs and Israelis.

After elections in which the number of police on the streets and leadership in the drug war were debated, Congress and the president have the same issues to confront in 1997. NPR's Chitra Ragavan says other crime issues likely to occupy Washington next year are computer crime, militia movements, and the cost of the growing prison population.

Commentator Malcolm MacKinnon likes walking around the house at night, with the lights of his electronic appliances all around him. He says they're a comforting reminder of living in the modern age, and guide him around the darkened rooms like small beacons.

Former diplomat Alger Hiss, accused of having been part of a communist espionage ring in the 1930's, died today at a New York Hospital at the age of 92. Robert talks about the Hiss case and its influence on American politics in this obituary. Hiss maintained his innocence up through the end of his life.

Linda talks with a series of people about what their expectations are for the next four years, in light of yesterday's election. Some say it will be a turbulent time for the President, who will have to undergo tremendous scrutiny by a Republican-controlled Congress; others think that the President and the Congress will work together well and get a lot accomplished. There is concern about a potential downturn in the economy and that the federal deficit will increase again.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports on a controversial National Park Service project to remove wild ponies from the outer banks of North Carolina. The Park Service says the ponies are destroying the island's natural vegetation; animal rights activists are worried about the ponies' precarious futures.

Critic Bob Mondello has a review of the latest Barbra Streisand movie, "The Mirror Has Two Faces." He says that Streisand is sticking with a role she's played in several movies, that of ugly-duckling-turns-to-swan, and to be honest, it's getting a little tiresome.

NPR's Brian Naylor talks to Republican and Democratic consultants for an national overview of House races. In recent weeks, Republicans in a number of close races seem to have pulled ahead, and some political observers say the anti-incumbent sentiment that marked the 1992 election seems much-diminished this year.

NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on what appears to be a split vote on six Congressional House seats up for grabs this election. The state was seen as a bellwether for the conservative shift in 1994, when six seats flipped from Democratic to Republican. The margin was narrow in 1994, however, and this year's readjustment may indicate that 1994 wasn't such a strong rightward swing.

- In the Hague, the international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has sentenced a low-ranking soldier to 10 years in jail for his role in the massacre of 1,200 people and finished the trial of another defendent. Gillian Sharpe reports the second trial is far more complex, with questions of guilt and innocence clouded by emotional testimony and circumstantial evidence.

Robert talks with Binjamin Wilkomirski about the Holocaust. Wilkomirski's book, Fragments, is an account of his childhood experiences. The book has been translated into nine languages and has been published in eleven countries. As a very young child, Wilkomirski was taken to a Nazi concentration camp. He lived in barracks with other children. The language that he learned was a combination of the many languages to which he was exposed. He had no native tongue. He has no recollection of his mother... only of a woman he was brought to one day at the camp and was told was his mother. Wilkomirski tells Robert about the effect all of these experiences have had on his life, and his outlook on the world.

Commentator Elissa Ely tells the story of a patient who reliably appeared for every appointment... her monthly chart notes showed she was doing very well and the medication seemed to be keeping things stable. As it turns out, she never was taking the medication, but fooled all her doctors.