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NPR's Vicki O'Hara reports that African nations have apparently given up trying to win a second term for United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt. African diplomats met in New York today to discuss a possible successor...trying to ensure that the position goes to another African. The United States has used its veto in the UN Security Council to block a second term for Boutros-Ghali, saying he has not done enough to reform the world body.

Carolyn Jack reports from Toronto that the beleaguered chief of Canada's armed forces resigned today....amid widespread calls for General Jean (JAHN) Boyle's removal over his alleged involvement in a coverup of the 1993 torture and murder of a Somali civilian by Canadian peacekeepers. Boyle's decision to step down follows the resignation last week of Canada's defense minister. An official inquiry is continuing into what Canadians call the "Somalia affair."

This month's Teen Diary is from 18 year-old Melissa Rodriguez. Melissa grew up in foster care. Now she lives with her infant son in New Haven, Connecticut. Through a state-run program, Melissa is able to go to school, hold a part time job and live semi-independently.

From Los Angeles, NPR's Mandalit Del Barco reports on an unusual American success story in cracking the Japanese automobile market: Latino business people are exporting to Japan the American automotive icon known as the low-rider -- those souped-up hot rods with hydraulic suspensions and low-riding profiles. Del Barco reports that the low-riders, immortalized in films and rap music, have captured the imaginations of the Japanese, who are willing to pay big bucks for the customized cars.

Federal officials have determined that poverty isn't the only reason why many public housing projects in the United States have deteriorated into virtual war zones where drugs and crime plague residents. They believe that the architectural structure of the complexes may have something to do with it. NPR's Barbara Bradley reports that government architects are exploring new designs for public housing to make them safer places to live.

We hear excerpts from the ceremony at which President Clinton presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to astronaut Shannon Lucid today. Lucid holds the American record for spending the most time in space. She stayed in space for 188 days earlier this year.

NPR's Vicki O'Hara reports that a global survey of human rights practices amounts to an indictment of the major powers--especially the United States-- for their policies toward China, Bosnia and other nations. The report by Human Rights Watch concludes that the big powers today put economic considerations ahead of human rights.

Phyllis Joffe reports on a program that has been teaching children in impoverished neighborhoods in Pittsburgh how to work with ceramics. The program, now thirty years old, has grown to beome one of the country's most successful art centers and a model for community development. (12:00) (S

Jeff Barry of member station KCLU in Thousand Oaks, California, reports on the giant wildfire in Big Sur. While the fire is mostly contained, authorities say they expect it to consume at least twenty thousand acres before it's completely extinguished.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that King Hussein of Jordan and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat toured the West Bank today in a show of solidarity. The king's visit to the West Bank was his first since Israel captured the territory during the Six-Day War twenty-nine years ago.

Commentator Reynolds Price remarks on his obsession with time and his constant fear that he will be late and hold someone up. He traces this back to his childhood. He adored his travelling salesman father, but when he would drive around with him, his father often would leave him waiting in the car for endless stratches of time.

Jackie talks to Zia Jaffrey about her new book The Invisibles, A Tale of the Eunuchs of India. The history of the Eunuchs or `hijras' as they are called in India, has never been documented. Jaffrey gives readers a glimpse into the culture of these castrated, cross-dressing men. She says even though she spent many months in India interviewing them and collecting information on this closed group of people, Jaffrey says much about the Hijras remains as mystery.

Noah speaks with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of "Certain Poor Shepherds", a fictional account of the first Christmas and the travels of a dog and goat drawn by the star over Bethlehem. The question, "Do animals have a sense of divinity?" was raised, and Thomas, who also wrote "The Hidden Life of Dogs", says they do.

Critic Bob Mondello sings the praises of Woody Allen's first musical "Everyone Says I Love You." It's a throwback to musicals of the 1930's.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology is located in Los Angeles. It is the creation of a visionary named David Wilson---who for the past decade has been displaying exhibits that stretch the boundaries of imagination and reality--the horn of a woman from the year 1688, a bat which can supposedly pass clean through solid objects, microminiature sculptures...including Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs on the shaft of a needle. Each exhibit is documented---and Wilson appears to believe that all of it is absolutely genuine and the stories surrounding them are true. Our guide through the museum is New Yorker Magazine writer Lawrence Weschler (WESH-lurr)---who chronicled this museum in his book Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders ---his audio portrait is produced by David Isay.

Robert talks with NPR's Ann Cooper, who's in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, about the uncertainty surrounding the number and whereabouts of the refugees who remain stranded in Zaire. Relief groups generally agree that there are several hundred thousand people still in need of food and water, but they don't really know how many there are, or where they are. One United Nations agency today said it has information that at least one hundred thousand refugees are on the move towards Goma, Zaire, the site of last weekend's mass return to Rwanda of approximately a half-million people.

General Motors reports that its profits for the third quarter of 1996 are double what they were for the same quarter last year. NPR's Don Gonyea reports that despite the good financial news, more than ten thousand auto workers have been laid off from GM plants in the US and in Mexico due to the Canadian Auto Workers' strike against GM.

Commentator Donald McCaig tells the story of "Uncle Peewee" - a 97 year old man - who died recently. For the people of Williamsville, West Virginia, it was the loss of their last nineteenth-century man.

Commentator Elissa Ely tells the story of a psychiatric patient whom she was asked to assess, in order to see if he was competent to make decisions. His loving children thought he was not; his social worker thought he was. This man spoke only one word-- but with the help of his social worker, Ely learned volumes about the man's capacity to make his own decisions.

Noah talks with Charlie Louvin, longtime Grand Old Opry star, known both for his solo work and his duet singing with his older brother Ira. The Louvins were from Sand Mountain, Alabama, and began as a gospel duo...although they turned to country music in the 1950's. Their harmonies have been an inspiration to many modern country and rock singers, including Emmylou Harris and The Byrds. Ira Louvin died in a car crash in 1965, and Charlie has auditioned many singers over the years, not finding a single one who could sing the high parts of harmonies as well as Ira. Charlie has always used the song "If We Forget God," arranged in the key of E, as a test. Mr. Louvin has a new recording, titled "The Longest Train."