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NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that some customers of Avis say the company wouldn't rent them cars because they're black. A class action suit was filed against a North Carolina franchise of Avis for racial discrimination. Some former employees have also joined the suit.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that Western powers are getting closer to agreeing on the creation of a multinational force to provide security for the delivery of aid to a million refugees in eastern Zaire. Canada has apparently offered to lead such a force. The Clinton administration agrees that some sort of military intervention will be necessary, but it won't participate until numerous details about the size and mandate of the force are worked out. Some countries, notably France, have sharply criticized the US go-slow attitude, accusing Washington of dragging its feet.

Robert talks to Jan Vansina, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, about possible political ends to the crisis in Zaire. Vansina says that the difficult problem to resolve is how to return Hutu refugees to a Rwanda ruled by Tutsis...who may very well exact some kind of retribution agains the returning refugees.

The Democratic National Committee today announced new procedures to screen campaign contributions and to help it comply with federal election law. The DNC was criticized during the election for accepting contributions from foreigners and foreign companies and for dismantling similar screening procedures in 1994 for budgetary reasons. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

FBI Director Louis Freeh says the investigation continues into who leaked the name of security guard Richard Jewell as a suspect in the Atlanta Olympics bombing. Freeh said at a Senate hearing today that no progress has been made in finding the source of the leak to the news media. NPR's Paul Miller reports that Freeh said at least 500 people in law enforcement knew that Jewell was a suspect. Jewell was investigated by federal authorities for months, and was scrutinized by the news media after the leak, but ultimately was cleared of suspicion.

Roving correspondent Bob Garfield puzzles over a newspaper advertisement for a Leica 35mm camera said to be one of a limited stock of "Anton Bruckner Centennial" models. There is, in fact, just one .. and the connection to the composer is non-existent.

NPR's Mandalit DelBarco talks to high school students and admissions officials at the University of California system, which has dumped its affirmative action program, or at least the parts of it that gave special status to applicants based on race, ethnicity or gender.

Robert talks with former Central Intelligence Agency director Robert Gates, about the recent arrest of CIA agent Harold Nicholson, on charges of counter-espionage for Russia. Gates says there were significant reforms at the CIA after Aldrich Ames was caught spying for the Soviet Union, making it faster and easier to catch spies. Gates was director of the CIA from November 1991 to January 1993.

The BBC's Julian Isherwood reports from Denmark that six members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang have gone to trial, charged with the murder of a member of a rival gang. The killing is part of a feud between motorcycle gangs that has been plaguing all of Scandinavia for the last two years.

The government has charged a veteran CIA agent with spying for Russia over the past two years. The suspect is Harold Nicholson, who has served as a station chief abroad and as a trainer of new agents... but most recently worked in counterterrorism at CIA headquarters. The US Attorney in charge of the case says Nicholson was motivated by greed, not ideology. He is accused of selling Russia information in exchange for more than 100-thousand dollars. The FBI says Nicholson may have revealed to the Russians the identities of all new CIA agents trained during the last two years. NPR's Martha Raddatz has a report.

Commentator Elissa Ely is very pregnant, and living in terror of labor...thanks to all the words of wisdom she's gotten from women who've gone through the experience.

Noah talks to Esquire contributing editor Martha Sherrill about the cover story she wrote for the November issue of the magazine. It is called "DREAM GIRL: The Allegra Coleman that Nobody Knows." It is a parody of the intimate actor interview genre. Sherrill created a profile of a starlet on the cusp of a meteoric rise in Hollywood...but the actor she "interviewed" - Allegra Coleman - doesn't really exist.

The victims of the Oklahoma bombing last year are eager to attend the trials of the two men accused of the crime. But the judge, citing federal rules of evidence, has barred them from attending because they may be witnesses in the sentencing phase of the trial. The victims and their families have filed suit to overturn the judge's ruling. NPR's Mark Roberts reports.

Robert talks with Robert Uhlig, the Technology Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in London. They talk about today's revelations that computer hackers had intercepted electronic pager messages between Labor Party leader Tony Blair and his advisors, and discuss questions about privacy, national security, and electronic communications.

Carrie Kahn of member station K-P-B-S reports on the escalating drug-related violence in Tijuana, just twenty miles from San Diego, California. Seven Mexican federal law enforcement officials who worked in Tijuana have been murdered this year. Officials suspect the drug cartel run by the three Arellano Felix (ah-ray-YAH-no FAY-lix) brothers was behind the killings. Experts say the murders--along with a general rise in drug violence in Tijuana--are evidence that a power struggle is underway for control of the area's lucrative narcotics trade.

When they took over Congress, Republicans pledged to cut out "pork barrel" spending -- federal funds that target particular districts and regions. But as even some GOP critics point out, it was easier to make the pledge than to keep it. NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports.

NPR's David Baron reports that wild turkeys, once endangered, are now making a comeback in the nation's forests. Unregulated hunting and the widespread clearing of land for farming had made the turkeys rare...but now, after careful monitoring and preservation efforts, the birds are staging a remarkable recovery.

NPR's Richard Harris reports that scientists have located a gene that could influence anxiety. The discovery is the latest in a series of recent genetics advances that may lead to the identification of the genes that help shape personality.

All Things Considered continues its annual Thanksgiving tradition of inviting Bailey White to share a story with us. This story, which takes place nearly 100 years ago, is about a middle aged schoolteacher and the Jersey bull she won in a raffle.

Harry the country dog goes to explore New York City with his owner, commentator Donald McCaig. The dog apparently was glad it was only a visit.