One night in steaming, gamboling Lagos, a young Nigerian poet leaned forward and whispered, "Nigeria is made up of a caste of corruption on the top and a caste of grumblers on the bottom." A friend joined in. "The grumblers are angry." "No," the poet disagreed. "They are not angry yet. They still have too much." These words caught the mood of a generation in Africa...

This article focuses on the Medicare bill that has been proposed in the U.S. Congress. Medicare - as passed by the House - would discourage hospitals from making arrangements that would draw specialists into a comprehensive medical center. Every hospital under Medicare would have to follow the lead of the most progressive hospitals, and appoint a committee to review cases periodically, to see that no doctor was keeping his patient in the hospital too long. Another provision on the bill allows federal pressure on medical practices.

Reviews the book "Haile Selassie: The Conquering Lion," by Leonard Mosley.

In 1963, during a Security Council debate on apartheid, politician Adlai Stevenson announced dramatically that the U.S. had banned all sale of arms to the Republic of South Africa. The step had been taken, he said, to show U.S. government's deep concern that South Africa refused to abandon its racist policies. In March 1963, a reactor went critical at a research center near Pretoria, and South Africa joined the nuclear age. The feat was made possible by the firm that designed and built the equipment: Allis-Chalmers of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Reviews the book "Africa from Independence to Tomorrow," by David Hapgood.