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NPR's Chris Arnold reports on the new reality behind dot com companies. In the Internet's early days, being the first company to offer a service was thought to guarantee success. Now, competition means the best company will win. A large number of dot coms are expected to fold because investors have become more cautious over which company gets their investment.

Commentator John Ridley has an open pitch for a television show for the people who run the networks.

NPR's Kenneth Walker reports on the rehabilitation of the child soldiers of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Not only have the children witnessed and participated in atrocious violence, but many have become addicted to drugs as a way to deal with their experiences.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Berlin that former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl faced another day of testimony before the parliament today about illegal donations to his political party, the Christian Democratic Union. As before, Kohl refused to name the donors who gave the party some one million dollars in undeclared contributions. He says he promised the donors anonymity, and won't break his word. Kohl denies his government traded favors for the money, as well as allegations that his government accepted bribes from a French company to purchase a German oil refinery.

Toni Hasson reports from Tokyo on the first International Tribunal for crimes committed against women during the Second World War. Specifically, it will look into the allegations of so called Comfort Women-- women who were forced to have sex with members of the Japanese military during the war.

Brian Wright of member station WUKY reports on the exhibit, Imperial China: The Art of the Horse in Chinese History, currently showing at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The display features artifacts, such as chariots and harnesses, from eight dynasties, covering three thousand years. It traces the development of the horse and related artwork.

The National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers' union, today gave its presidential endorsement to Democratic Vice President Al Gore, who was on hand at the union's convention to accept. The nod was no surprise, as the NEA usually backs Democrats. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem on the vandalism of a reform Jewish center by apparent Orthodox Jews. The attack was the second in as many weeks on a non-Orthodox religious building in Israel.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem on Israeli reaction to a planned U.S.-Israeli-PLO summit next week. The National Religious Party and the immigrants party both oppose the far-reaching land concessions Prime Minister Ehud Barak is prepared to make, and they say they will leave his coalition government. The two ruling parties say Barak is circumventing his own government in order to negotiate a peace deal.

Host Bob Edwards talks to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the alarming spread of AIDS in parts of Asia and Africa. Dr. Fauci will be part of the American delegation to the 13th annual International AIDS Conference, which begins this weekend in Durban, South Africa. Dr. Fauci expresses particular concern about the increasing incidence of HIV infection on the subcontinent of India.

A note on the sale of the Website featuring a computer-generated newscaster named "Ananova." The British mobile phone company Orange bought the site from the UK's Press Association. The price for Ananova -- well over 100-million-dollars.

Host Bob Edwards talks with reporter Nick Thorpe in Budapest about efforts by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to change the country's constitution. This would allow him to run for re-election next year, which the constitution currently forbids, as well as change the balance of power in the parliament to give Serbia more control.

Tristan Clum of member station KNAU reports on documenting dendroglyphs...tree carvings...near Flagstaff, Arizona. Starting in the late 1800's, sheepherders, many of from the Basque region of Northern Spain, carved basic messages or elaborate images into the bark of aspen trees in this area. Now the trees are dying, and historians are trying to compile information before it's too late.

NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports the American Civil Liberties Union has released a report criticizing the way the Seattle police handled the World Trade Organization protests last fall. The report is being carefully studied by organizers of the Democratic and Republican conventions in anticipation of demonstrations at their events.

Speaking to the National Council of La Raza in San Diego, California, Wednesday, Texas Governor George W. Bush vowed to streamline the nation's immigration progress if elected president. He said he would spend more money to create "a new standard of service" in the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Noah speaks with Desiree Cooper about her column on the death of 32-year-old Frederick Finley. The column appears today in the Detroit Free Press. Finley was strangled to death in a confrontation with security guards outside the Lord & Taylor department store in Dearborn, Michigan, two weeks ago. The melee started when Finley and his companion were accused of shoplifting. Finley was black. So were three of the guards. But the incident sparked protests led by Rev. Al Sharpton, who says the death was the result of racial profiling. Cooper discusses the role of race and the overzealousness of the security guards. She suggests that those who think race was the motivator may not yet have all the facts.

Robert Siegel speaks with Bud Collins, sportswriter for the Boston Globe about the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, where the women's final is set. In the semi-finals, number five seed Venus Williams defeated her sister Serena, seeded 8th. This is the first time in over 100 years of Wimbledon that two sisters faced one another, the second time ever. Having defeated number-one seed Martina Hingis to get to this match, Venus may have been better prepared for the finals match than her sister, who advanced against minimal competition. Number-two seed Lindsay Davenport will play against Venus, having defeated unseeded Jelena Dokic.

Commentator Amy Dickinson writes about sibling rivalry. She knows that sisters are often rivals. But in the case of the Williams sisters, it is especially hard, because there is always a winner and a loser.

NPR's Richard Gonzales reports on Presidential candidate George W. Bush's appearance before La Raza. Bush told the Latino advocacy organization if he is elected president, he will reform the Immigration and Naturalization Service and set a standard for processing citiznship applications.

The BBC's Elaine Lester reports on the centuries-old conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. Against the backdrop of recent calm there, the yearly march of the Orange Order seems more heated than in years past.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports economic growth is slowing which means that bond prices are on the rise. Economists believe that growth will slow down during the later half of the year.

Democrats charged with writing a platform for their party and their presidential nominee met in St. Louis today to hear ideas and discuss policy. The platform committee is led by elected officials known as centrists within the party, and their mission is to craft a document that Vice President Al Gore will be comfortable talking about. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports on Mexican president-elect Vicente Fox's plans for restructuring key government ministers in an effort to fight endemic corruption. Fox is stripping the all-powerful Interior Ministry of much of its duties, and creating a new ministry in charge of federal police and intelligence services. He's also taking some powers away from the attorney general's office.

NPR's Brenda Wilson has a special report on South Africa's explosive AIDS epidemic. The crisis is rooted in South Africa's history and the movement of its people. Labor migrations have occurred in South Africa since the beginning of the century. In the decade of the 1970's, under Apartheid, three-and-a-half-million black South Africans were forcibly relocated to rural homelands. The number of men who moved to industrial centers for work, living away from their wives and families for months at a time, significantly increased. Then, in the late 1980's, as white South Africans were being forced to relinquish political power, AIDS hit the country. Greater freedom for blacks brought an increase in travel between homelands and industrial centers and the AIDS epidemic moved with the people. Dependence on cheap, black labor and the removal of black South Africans to the homelands is continuing to drive the epidemic. A tenth of the population of South Africa is now infected with the AIDS virus.

Scott Horsley of member station KPBS in San Diego reports the first region in California to completely deregulate its electric industry is now facing sky-rocketing electricity bills. Consumer advocates in San Diego have asked state officials to re-impose price controls after the price of electricity more than tripled this year.