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NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports that a U.S. government agency has promised one-billion-dollars a year in loans to help countries in Sub-Saharan Africa buy AIDS treatments from U.S. companies. But AIDS experts say the money represents only a small step toward addressing the huge problem of HIV infection in Africa.

Negotiations in the strike between members of the Screen Actors' Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the advertisers who hire them for TV commercials resume tomorrow. Strikers claim they've disrupted the industry. Ad companies say everything is humming along fine with non-union actors, and commercial production has moved to Canada and abroad. NPR's Aaron Schachter reports.

Host Bob Edwards talks to Catherine Guilyardi about the actions of angry textile workers in France who poured sulfuric acid into the Meuse river near the Belgian border as part of a labor dispute. The workers were protesting the closing of a textile factory in the economically depressed region of northeastern France.

Robert talks with Frank Phillips, reporter for the Boston Globe, about Jack E. Robinson, who is running on the Republican ticket against Senator Edward Kennedy. Robinson is so controversial that not even his own party is supporting him.

Aileen Leblanc of member station WYSO reports on a controversy surrounding an outdoor drama that is performed every summer in Ohio. Tecumseh is about a Shawnee warrior chief's struggle to protect his land from white settlers, but critics say the play is marred by historical inaccuracies.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that the lower house of the Russian parliament, or Duma, approved legislation today giving the president more control over the country's powerful regional governors. Also today, tycoon Boris Berezovsky officially quit the Duma, to protest Kremlin moves to rein in the governors and big business.

Commentator Bailey White remarks on her niece's wedding. To get ready, the gal does a massive amount of cleaning, mending and building. This work strikes White as at odds with the bride dressed in innocent white.

Writer JOYCE JOHNSON, talks about her relationship to Beat icon Jack Kerouac, and her new book, –Door Wide Open : A Beat Love Affair in letters— (Viking). In 1957, JOHNSON started a relationship with the then little-known writer Kerouac. 9 months later, Kerouacs Beat classic –On the Road— was published. JOHNSON will talk about her two-year, tumultuous love affair with Kerouac, how the publication of –On the Road— changed Kerouac, and shell talk about what it was like being young and female and part of the Manhattan bohemian scene. –Door Wide Open— contains many letters sent to JOHNSON by Kerouac. In addition to –Doors Wide Open,— JOHNSON is also the author of 3 novels, including –In the Night Cafi.— Her memoir –Minor Characters— won the National Book Critics Circle award, and her work has been published in major magazines including the New Yorker and Harpers. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW.)12:28:30 FORWARD PROMO (:29)12:29:00 I.D. BREAK (:59)12:

Scott Horsley of member station KPBS reports on aggressive trial lawyers who've sued the tobacco and gun industries and are now considering class action lawsuits against health maintenance organizations, drug makers, and liquor distillers. One such attorney is Dick Scruggs from Mississippi, who led the suit that won a 246-billion-dollar settlement for the states against cigarette makers and a 400-million-dollar fee for himself. Supporters of such lawsuits say they help reduce corporate irresponsibility Some critics say they're motivated by greed; other critics say that legislatures, not courts, should make social policy

Host Bob Edwards talks to Washington lawyer Michael Hausfeld who led the class action lawsuit on behalf of survivors of Nazi slave labor. Under a settlement signed this week, a foundation set up by Germany will pay out five billion dollars in compensation. Jews who worked as slave laborers will receive 7,500 dollars each. Forced laborers, mostly East Europeans, who were treated less harshly, will receive 2,500. More than a million people will be eligible to receive payment.