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Movie Critic Bob Mondello reviews a new feature film starring Joan Allen, as a vice-presidential nominee named in a sex scandal.

The price of a college education has tripled in the last two decades. It's harder for poor families to meet the rising costs. NPR'S Claudio Sanchez profiles one student at the University of Maryland and her attempts to make it through.

It's not the most orthodox of majors, but a small college in Vermont is now offering a degree in adventure recreation. With a boom in so-called adventure travel, the business of leading and outfitting demanding wilderness trips is among the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry. Some students want to make a career of it. Pippin Ross reports.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the state of affairs in Israel and the Palestinian territories after some two weeks of hostilities between the Israeli army and Palestinians.

Linda talks to Bashraheel Bashraheel, a reporter for the Al Ayyaam newspaper in Yemen, who saw the aftermath of the explosion that killed four American sailors aboard the U.S.S. Cole. The Navy destroyer was refueling in a Yemeni port when the explosion occurred this morning. Bashraheel describes the port, the ship, and the condition of the sailors aboard. And he fills us in on additional information about the investigation that is being conducted by the U.S. and Yemeni authorities.

Deborah Amos continues her series on the multi-billion-dollar illegal drug trade in America. Today's report focuses on controversial law enforcement practices, including the seizure of drug money and assets such as cars to help fund the war on drugs. In some cases undercover informers are paid with percentages of drug money that they help seize. Critics, including some law enforcement officers, say the procedures are ripe for corruption. There's more at http://www.npr.org/news/specials/drugwars/.

NPR's Ted Clark reports the foreign minister of Iran flew to arch-enemy Iraq today; the first such visit in a decade. The two countries are trying to reconcile some of their differences, but normalization appears a long way off.

Robert talks with Donald Oberdorfer, a Professor at Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and author of Two Koreas: A Contemporary History, about the Nobel Peace Prize awarded this year to the President of South Korea, Kim Dae-Jung. They discusses what the Nobel will mean for the continued talks between North and South Korea, as well as Secretary of State Madeline Albright's visit to North Korea. (4:00) Two Koreas: A Contemporary History is published by Basic Books, 1999.

NPR's Steve Inskeep at the Pentagon reports an explosion rocked a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Arabian port of Aden today, killing at least five sailors and wounding more than 30 others. Defense Department officials believe it was a terrorist attack.

Violence also erupted elsewhere in the Middle East today. Israeli helicopter gunships launched attacks against Palestinian targets. Among the targets: the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza City. Arafat was not injured. Israel says the attacks are in retaliation for the killing of Israeli soldiers. Three soldiers had made a wrong turn into Palestinian territory, and sought refuge at Palestinian police station. But a mob of hundreds of Palestinians surrounded the building, and beat at least two of the soldiers to death. Mike Shuster of NPR News talks to host Robert Siegel about the incidents.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports from Belgrade that Yugoslavia's new president Vojislav Kostunica met with a special U.S. envoy, James O'Brien, today and expressed hope for a normalization in relations. In Washington, President Clinton announced a lifting of sanctions against Serbia, including an oil embargo and flight ban. His moves were welcomed not only by president Kostunica but by ordinary Serbs, who will face a long, cold winter without help from the international community.

Lisa talks with Shibley Telhami, a Middle East scholar at the University of Maryland about the current prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. On Monday, Egypt is hosting an emergency summit designed to bring an end to recent violence that has taken scores of lives. Many high level diplomats will be on hand including President Clinton who will travel to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports from the port city Norfolk, Virginia in wake of a bombing attack Thursday in Yemen of the Navy destroyer, the U.S.S. Cole, which left 17 crew members dead or missing and 39 people injured.

Host Lisa Simeone visits Southway Bowling Lanes, a neighborhood duckpin bowling alley in South Baltimore, which closes later this month. Lisa talks to Southway manager Alva Brown, who's worked there for 42 years, and Pat Turner, the developer who will remodel the property after October 31st.

A former U.S. Army sergeant pleaded guilty today to conspiring with Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden to bomb two American embassies in Africa. Ali Mohamed, an Egyptian native, is among seventeen people indicted for the attacks on the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 220 people in 1998. Appearing in federal court in New York City, Mohamed admitted to working with the organization known as Islamic Jihad to attack Western targets. Mohamed left the U.S. Army in 1989.

Wade Goodwyn reports that in Arkansas' Fourth Congressional District -- Bill Clinton territory -- incumbent Republican Jay Dickey is fighting for his political life by attending almost every town or county festival, and even large family reunions. He's touting the millions he has brought to the district from his perch on the House Appropriations Committee. Challenger Mike Ross is running to the right of Gore and meeting bleary-eyed potential constituents at 7 a.m. in coffee shops across the district.

Robert talks with Roger Kahn, author of The Head Game: Baseball Seen From The Pitcher's Mound, about his book. They talk about Sandy Kofax and Johnny Sain. Kahn says Kofax was a wild pitcher in his early days, and had to learn control. (7:15) The Head Game: Baseball Seen From The Pitcher's Mound, by Roger Kahn, is published by Hook Slide, Inc., ISBN # 0-15-1004410-2.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from Paris that a French appeals court ruled today that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi can be prosecuted in France for complicity in the 1989 destruction of a French airliner over Niger. One-hundred-seventy people died in the terrorist attack. The ruling could expand the reach of international criminal law. The French state prosecutor had argued against this ruling, stating that Gaddafi enjoys what is known as "sovereign immunity," which protects a head of state from prosecution for acts performed while in office. But the French court -- citing as precedent the case of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in Britain -- ruled that the notion of sovereign immunity does not extend to charges of ordering the bombing of an airliner.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on the implications of Secretary of State Madeline Albright's planned trip to North Korea on Sunday. It is the latest indication that years of hostility and tension between Washington and Pyongyang are coming to an end. Fifty years ago yesterday, U.S. forces, under the auspices of the United Nations, briefly took control of the North Korean capital in a bloody three-year conflict that was a direct outgrowth of World War Two and Cold War attitudes.

Noah talks with Stephanie Hobbs, spokeswoman for Verizon Communications, about new telephone directories allowing customers to offer more information about themselves than just a name and address. Customers will now have the option of listing e-mail and Web page addresses too.