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NPR's John Ydstie reports President Clinton addressed a gathering of finance ministers and central bankers today at the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The President announced the US will take steps to forgive the debt of some of the world's poorest countries. He said the money should instead be spent by poor countries on basic human needs.

Anne Sutton of member station KTOO in Juneau reports that Alaska's love affair with tourism is showing signs of strain. The seasonal influx of visitors has put wear and tear on the state's infrastructure, and residents aren't sure the tourist dollars that come with them are enough to offset the damage. So voters will go to polls October 5th to decide whether to level a per-head tax on out of state visitors.

Robert talks to Christopher Andrew, who collaborated with former KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin to write the book, The Sword and The Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. The book details how for 20 years Mitrokhin copied information from top secret documents in the KGB archives, and gives a rare inside view of the soviet spy operation. (7:45) The Sword and The Shield is published by Basic Books, September 1999.

NPR's Mara Liasson reports on today's news conference by Vice President Al Gore. Gore, whose contest for the Democratic presidential nomination with Bill Bradley has considerably tightened, announced he is moving his campaign to Tennessee, and challenged Bradley to "lots" of debates. While some see the move to Tennessee as merely symbolic, it does allow the Vice President to reduce the size of his staff, already thought to be too large and lacking cohesiveness.

The U.S. just backed calls by South Africa and India to waive intellectual property protection for COVID-19 vaccines, but that may not be enough to ramp up vaccine production.

Poet Kwame Alexander has created a poem from submissions about the challenges of the past year and our dreams for the future. It ends with: "For through the struggle, we may hope to become stronger."

When a brewery worker went to Instagram to complain about sexual harassment in her workplace, thousands of other women – and a few men – chimed in with their stories.

Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix over the weekend, but in a larger sense the winners were the race organizers. They managed to hold the race which was canceled last year by political unrest, which was part of the uprisings of the Arab Spring. Bill Law, of the British Broadcasting Corporation, talks to Steve Inskeep about the weekend's events in Bahrain.

U.S. and Afghan officials have finalized their partnership agreement, which sets up guidelines for U.S. involvement as American forces leave that country. Details have not been released, but both governments hope the agreement will put to rest doubts about a long term American commitment to support Afghanistan.

Activists in France say the lack of a clear definition of consent means few rapes are reported, and few prosecutions for the offense are successful.