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Each night this week on All Things Considered, reporter Deborah Amos examines the sixty billion dollar illegal drug trade in this country. Today in the first report from her series, Amos covers the status of America's war on drugs, and the effects on people on both sides of that war. There's more at http://www.npr.org/news/specials/drugwars/.

Why is the sound in cinemas overwhelming these days? Commentator Lenore Skenazy believes it is because digital technology now allows high volume without distortion. She thinks our ears are imperiled by the 110 decibels that can come from movie theaters

John Burnett reports on Mexican billionaire Carlos Hank Rhon. The Fed holds a hearing on Oct. 23 to remove Hank Rhon as the major shareholder in Laredo National Bank in Texas, saying he lied to bank regulators when he acquired majority stock. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration suspects that Hank Rhon is connected to Mexican drug cartels and uses the Texas bank to launder money. Hank Rhon and bank president Gary G. Jacobs deny all wrongdoing. Jacobs is a friend of George W. Bush and has had coffee at the White House with Bill Clinton.

Campaign financing is a big issue in this year's elections, but the biggest spending story isn't coming from the special interests. Jon Corzine, the Democratic senate candidate in New Jersey, is setting new records for spending in a senate race, but most of the money he's using is his own. NPR's Peter Overby reports. (

(Update) Host Bob Edwards talks with NPR's Michael Sullivan in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, about what hope is left for a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestians. Middle Eastern leaders are still meeting with President Clinton at the resort, but no accord has yet been reached.

In part two of our series on the "Megatransect", an attempt by wildlife biologist Mike Fay to walk from the center of Africa to its eastern coast, Fay describes his journey through the Congo Basin. The region is filled with dense jungles and swaps. And it harbors some of the deadliest diseases known to man. Through his recorded field diary, Fay relates the difficulty his team faced as it trekked through a part of the world no human has seen in more than a century. (8:49

NPR's Elaine Korry reports on the proposed merger of the second and third largest U.S. oil companies, Chevron and Texaco. Some analysts say ChevronTexaco will be better able to compete with other oil giants, but others say it's hard to predict how profitable the new company will be.

(Update) Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan died last night in a plane crash that also killed his son and a senior aide. Carnahan had served two terms as governor and was locked in a close Senate race with freshman Republican John Ashcroft. Host Bob Edwards talks with NPR's David Welna in St. Louis.

NPR's Michelle Kelemen reports that Russian officials, desperate to end rampant tax evasion, created a special police force to combat the problem. And in order to ensure future candidates will be ready to take on the roll of "tax police", they've begun training teens, at a cadet school in Moscow.

In the third part of a month-long series on leadership, NPR Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg talks to Academy Award winning movie director Sydney Pollack, who reveals his leadership secrets. Pollack talks about what he's learned from other directors and actors. He says a leader should be knowledgeable, trustworthy, truthful, authentic, patient, persistent, and be able to live with frustration.