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Ed O'Loughlin reports from Johannesburg that crack cocaine, which has caused so much devastation in the United States, is gaining popularity in South Africa. Police say use of this highly addictive form of cocaine has surged significantly over the past couple of years. The end of apartheid helped pave the way for crack in South Africa, as the end of international trade sanctions made it much easier for drug traffickers to bring cocaine into the country.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports from Moscow that doctors want Russian President Boris Yeltsin to stay off the job for another three weeks. He'd only been back at work for three weeks following his heart surgery in November when he came down with pneumonia. Yeltsin's illness isn't bothering foreign investors. The Moscow stock market set new highs with record volume today. While Yeltsin's absence from work might not worry foreign investors, it's not playing very well in the Russian press.

Laura Sydell reports on a deal that's been struck between the famous Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the up-and-coming San Jose Museum of Art in California. The arrangement allows San Jose to rent high profile artworks from the Whitney. The result is that the San Jose Museum can entice more visitors with world-class exhibits, while the Whitney can simultaneously earn income and get some of its collection out of storage. The Whitney boasts the largest collection of American art in the world, ninety percent of which is in storage at any given time.

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.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Kinshasa on the surprisingly strong rebel movement which has emerged in eastern Zaire in the past two months. Led largely by ethnic Tutsis, the force is also made up of various Zairean tribes, and led by a Zairean opposition figure who helped lead a rebellion in the 1960's. The rebels have so far had a lot of success, easily capturing towns from the undisciplined Zairean army, which has devoted most of its time to retreating and pillaging.

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.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, is a model for the nation's magnet schools. It churns out record numbers of merit scholars by providing students with the best equipment and the best opportunities to succeed in science education. But as NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports, some educators wonder whether the school's open-minded attitude and lack of structure need to give way to a more disciplined atmosphere. They point to recent incidents of vandalism, saying that even the brightest kids need to learn basic rules of behavior.

Beth Fertig of member station WNYC in New York reports on a decision there that will greatly centralize decision-making authority in the city schools. The decision, made in Albany this week, will roll back nearly 3 decades of local control over key hiring and firing decisions. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says the shift will enable the school chancellor, Rudy Crew, to eliminate patronage and corruption in the local school boards, but many parents fear they will lose an important voice in the children's education.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports that severe budget cuts at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation have touched off a debate over what it means to be a Canadian. The CBC--Canada's public broadcasting system--has tried to produce Canadian programming to counter the flood of material coming over the airwaves from the United States. The cutbacks could make it harder to keep producing Canadian programs, which the CBC's defenders warn could lead to a national identity crisis.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports that Russian President Boris Yeltsin has announced today that he will undergo heart surgery at the end of this month. Yeltsin's announcement brings to an end two months of speculation concerning his health. It also ends the confusing stories coming from the Kremlin that Yeltsin was only suffering from fatigue. This is the first time a Russian leader has been so open about his health. Is is a far cry from the days of the Soviet Union, when the health of the leader was considered a state secret.