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Host John Ydstie talks to alternative country musician Jimmie Dale Gilmore about his new album, One Endless Night. The Texas singer/songwriter's been a tough artist to categorize: country music stations are not likely to put him in heavy rotation, but stations with American roots-type shows have been interested in Gilmore's twangy take on several non-country tunes, including Mac the Knife and the Grateful Dead's Ripple.

In the second part of her month-long series on celebrity gardens, NPR's Ketzel Levine visits the home of T. Coragghesen Boyle in Montecito, California. Boyle is the author of eight novels and several short story collections. Levine describes his work as 'dark and quirky,' and says, He's not so much a gardener as a referee among the thousands of plants in his jungle."

On the final day of the International AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, former president Nelson Mandela urged scientists and political leaders to set aside their differences about whether HIV causes AIDS. As NPR's Brenda Wilson reports, Mandela said the dispute was distracting from efforts to help people who have AIDS.

The Department of Justice is investigating whether baseball's Baltimore Orioles have illegally refused to sign players who defect from Cuba. Senator Jesse Helms claims team owner Peter Angelos instituted the policy to maintain good relations with Fidel Castro. But some baseball insiders say another factor may be at work: Cuban defectors quickly find agents and don't come cheap. NPR's Tom Goldman has the story.

NPR's Brenda Wilson reports from the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa on advancements in caring for newborn babies infected with HIV.

Host John Ydstie talks with Pamela Haag about spawning new interest in technology among women and girls. While the number of technology jobs is skyrocketing, the number of women interested in those jobs is on the decline.

Linda speaks with two people who participated in this year's world conference on AIDS in Durban, South Africa. Geeta Rao Gupta is from the International Center for Research on Women in Washington, DC. Natal Ngubane is a 27-year-old man who works with the Department of Health as well as with The AIDS Foundation in South Africa. He tested positive for HIV in 1996. Among the big issues at this year's conference were the effect of the disease on women, and the lack of available medicine for HIV infected people in developing nations. Geeta Rao Gupta says women in many parts of the word are vulnerable because they lack the power and status to resist unwanted sex with infected partners, or to ask for treatment. Transmission to children through pregnancy is also a big problem. Natal Ngubane is working on a grass roots level -- talking with people one on one about the necessity to practice safe sex and not spread the disease. Both Gupta and Ngubane say the conference provided an important opportunity to hear about scientific progress, and to meet other people struggling to fight the spread of HIV.

Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan reviews the movie X-Men, which opens nationally in theaters today. Based on the popular Marvel comic book series, the cast includes Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Francis Xavier and Anna Paquin as Rogue. The film is directed by Bryan Singer the man behind the 1995 movie The Usual Suspects.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports from Raleigh, North Carolina on how the $145 billion tobacco settlement will likely shake out. Cigarette companies will embark on a lengthy series of appeals, and the huge judgement could be reduced, in light of a Florida law that prohibits judgements large enough to bankrupt defendants.

NPR's Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that, when it comes to taking action, state governments, rather than the federal government, are being much more decisive. Shorr says that Washington seems almost paralyzed, at this point, by special interests and lobbying money.