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Reviewer Alan Cheuse comments on The Accidental Indies, a book by Robert Finley, about the epochal voyage by Christopher Columbus in 1492. (2:00) The Accidental Indies is published by McGill-Queen's University Press.

Host Mike Shuster talks to Daniel Koretz, a senior social scientist at the Rand Corporation about education.

Owen Bennett-Jones reports Floods in Vietnam over the past few weeks have killed more than one hundred people and caused millions of dollars in damage to property and farmland.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports on Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush's claim that America is 'suffering from an education recession.' Bush hopes to use his criticism of the Clinton-Gore administration education policies to win the support of female voters.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that the issue of drugs continues to overshadow the Summer Olympic games. Today, sixteen-year old Romanian Andreea Raducan was stripped of her all-round gold medal after she took a banned stimulant contained in two cold medicine pills that was given to her by the team doctor.

Commentator Diana Nyad says with the media and fan demand on high-profile sports superstars, staying at the Olympic Village isn't quite what it was intended to be.

Commentator David Weinberger realizes the current vogue in business to "multitask," but argues that few do it, and no one does it well. Slicing your attention, he says, is like slicing a plum -- you lose some of the juice.

Noah interviews Virginia State Trooper Mike Scott about a weekend assault on cars traveling down Interstate 95 by monkeys armed with pieces of fruit. Scott was hailed to the scene by a motorist who said a monkey had thrown a banana at her car. When they returned to the scene together, a trio of spider monkeys was tossing crab apples from an oak tree alongside the highway. Scott says he has no idea where they got the apples and bananas, nor where they came from.

In two of the most anticipated races of the Olympics, Michael Johnson and Cathy Freeman triumphed in the men's and women's 400 meters, fulfilling historic expectations. Freeman, the Australian who lit the Olympic cauldron, became the first Aboriginal athlete to win an individual medal. Johnson succeeded in defending his 400 meter title, the first male sprinter to do so. The win places him among the top runners in Olympic history. NPR's Howard Berkes reports.

The latest ad being run by the Republican National Committee accuses the current administration, including Democratic nominee Al Gore, of failing the nation by allowing school test scores to fall dangerously behind. The ad says American school children's math and science scores are now the lowest in the world. NPR's Steve Inskeep takes a look at the information behind the ad.