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It now appears there will be two Reform Party conventions getting underway tomorrow in Long Beach, California. The party had planned to nominate its presidential candidate this week, but a preliminary meeting on delegate selection deteriorated, leaving a deep division among party activists. Noah talks to NPR's Andy Bowers.

NPR's Kenneth Walker reports on a new struggle between black and white South Africans over land both claim as their own.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid handed over the daily running of the government to his deputy Megawati Sukarnoputri. Wahid made the change in an effort to appease top legislature who accuses him of failure to lead the country out of years of economic and social crisis.

Host Howard Berkes talks to Historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, about her research into the countries of origin of African-Americans. While preparing her 1992 book, Africans in Colonial America, Hall discovered court documents that indicated where enslaved Africans said they came from. The information was overlooked for more than 200 years, largely because the documents were in French or Spanish. Hall's findings are of particular interest to African Americans who want to trace their ancestry.

From his childhood in Carthage, Tennessee and Washington D.C., Al Gore was raised not just to be a politician but to be a Democratic presidential candidate. Next week in Los Angeles, Al Gore will take the penultimate step toward fulfilling his lifelong goal when he becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for the White House. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.

Christine Arrasmith from member station KPLU reports that officials in Washington state are trying to get rid of a loophole that allows naturally occurring radioactive waste to be stored at a private facility in the state. The discovery of waste from foreign countries like Spain being stored in eastern Washington has state officials concerned the state will turn into a dump for imported nuclear waste.

Commentator Elissa Ely goes with her little girl to buy underpants. The three-year-old knows exactly what she wants. Dwarf underpants. Grumpy specifically. She has made her choice, and there is no changing her mind.

Jacki talks with George Hudler, professor of Plant Pathology at Cornell University, about a giant fungus. The fungus, which looks like a giant mushroom, is spreading across a forest in Eastern Oregon. It is thought to be the largest living organism in the world.

A note on a lawsuit stemming from the use of a picture of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara in a vodka advertising campaign. Alberto Diaz Gutierrez, who took the photo in 1965, still lives in Cuba, and has filed suit against the British ad company representing Smirnoff Vodka for the use of the picture.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem on the uproar caused by an orthodox rabbi's derogatory remarks about Arabs, and about Jews who died in the Holocaust. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party , has been busily trying to backtrack on his charges over the weekend that Arabs were unfit to live with or near and that the Jews who died in the holocaust were "reincarnated sinners," or Jews whose secular ways had offended God. In one single sermon he offended both Israelis and Arabs. Yosef's part was until recently a part of the governing coalition.

Beth Fertig of member station WNYC reports on New Jersey's new law regulating Halal foods - that is, foods that are lawful according to Islamic tradition. The law reflects a growing Muslim population in New Jersey and throughout the U.S.

Linda talks to Abe Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), in New York City, about Al Gore's choice of Senator Joseph Lieberman for the Vice Presidential slot on the Democratic presidential ticket. Lieberman is an orthodox Jew, and Foxman discusses what this choice means for the American Jewish community.

Linda talks with Bill Kristol, editor at the Weekly Standard, about what Joseph Lieberman brings to the Democratic ticket in terms of "family values."

NPR's Martin Kaste reports that in addition to all of the usual problems associated with illegal drug production, the drug trade in Colombia is causing environmental problems. Chemicals such as ammonia and sulfuric acid, used in the production of cocaine, end up in rivers that flow through sensitive ecosystems such as the country's rain forest. Colombian officials have used the environmental argument to obtain a billion dollars of U-S aid money to fight the cocaine industry. They say their efforts to eradicate illegal drug production will save vast areas of rain forest.

Host Howard Berkes talks to NPR's Eric Weiner about Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid's State of the Union address delivered today before the country's parliament. Wahid asked for more time to get his violence-torn and near bankrupt nation back on its feet, pledging to crush separatists and to revamp his discredited cabinet.

NPR's Anthony Brooks reports on the surprise selection of Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as Vice President Al Gore's running mate. Lieberman, the first Jew on a major-party national ticket, is well regarded for his integrity. And he was a strong critic of President Clinton's behavior during the Monica Lewinsky affair. Polls indicate that morality and family values rank high on a list of voter concerns. But Lieberman also parts company with Gore on some issues, such as school vouchers.

Jacky Rowland reports from Belgrade that the Yugoslav Army said today it will file terrorism charges against two British policemen and two Canadians arrested in Montenegro last week. The two Britons were serving in Kosovo, helping train a new police force. The Canadians were also working in Kosovo, for a construction company. The four say they were just taking a holiday break in Montenegro. The Yugoslav government is exploiting the case politically, ahead of next month's presidential election.

In the first of a three-part series on the Mafia, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that a courageous new generation of magistrates and politicians has dealt serious blows to the Sicilian mob, also known as the Cosa Nostra. But anti-Mafia crusaders worry that the Cosa Nostra is quietly re-emerging under new guises.

Denis Johnson is a writer best known for his quirky stories about the drug life in the collection titled, Jesus' Son, which opened as a movie this summer. Now he's published a new novel called, The Name of the World. Alan Cheuse reviews it. (1:45) Please Note: Jesus' Son, and The Name of the World, both by Denis Johnson, are published by Harper Collins.

NPR's Tovia Smith profiles the man Al Gore has asked to join him on the Democratic ticket. Joseph Lieberman began life as the son of a liquor store owner who never went to college. But he studied hard, got a scholarship to Yale and then attended law school there. After that it was the state legislature, the state attorney general's office and an upset win over a senior Republican senator in 1988. Now, thanks to his reputation for religious commitment and moral fiber, Lieberman suddenly finds himself on the national stage.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that the President of Indonesia used his state-of-the nation speech today to apologize for his performance in his first 10 months in office. Abdul Rahman Wahid has been under intense criticism for failure to cope with the country's severe economic problems, ethnic and religious violence, and corruption at a level that frightens away foreign investment. Some lawmakers have talked of impeachment, but the general consensus seems to be that Indonesia has spent the last few years in political turmoil and that the new president should be given more time to solve problems.

Janet Heimlich reports on the flaws in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. She examines the role of DNA testing in the case of a Texas man who was convicted of rape ten years ago.

One of the last surviving members of Britain's greatest generation of actors has died. Sir Alec Guinness the man of a thousand faces, died at the age of 86 after a career that spanned more than 60 years.

In the first part of a series on female vocalists, NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg profiles singer Stacey Kent. Kent's, new album was inspired by the singing and dancing of Fred Astaire. It's called, Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire. (6:42) Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire by Stacey Kent is available on Candid-Navarre; ASIN: B0000

NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr takes a look at Al Gore's unorthodox choice for a running mate, orthodox Jew Jospeh Lieberman.