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NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that officials in Poland are trying to come to terms with the truths of their Communist past. The moves come years after Czechoslovakia and Germany barred former high level Communist officials from holding office and opened secret police files to the public.

In Angola, Sierra Leone, and the Congo, the diamond trade has provided insurgent movements with billions of dollars worth of wealth and arms to continue their murderous campaigns. The United Nations has taken unprecedented steps to cut off the illicit diamond trade. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that the tragedies of the gulag archipelago still haunt the Siberian mining city of Norilsk. Stalin deported prisoners to this frozen region in Russia's far north to mine some of the world's richest deposits of nickel, palladium and platinum. Today, construction crews plough up miners' bones from mass graves in the industrial wasteland.

Charlotte Renner reports that a pharmaceutical industry trade group is suing the State of Maine over a new drug pricing law. The law enables the state to negotiate lower prices for Maine residents who do not have insurance coverage for perscription drugs. Maine's law has attracted the interest of other states that are also looking to reduce drug prices.

Quinn Klinefelter of member station WDET reports that the big three American automakers, Ford, GM and Daimler-Chrysler sold fewer cars in July of this year than July of last year. In contrast, foreign automakers like Honda, BMW and Volkswagen posted gains of at least 10-percent in their US sales.

There have been many political dynasties in the United States, but only two presidential sons have risen to be nominated for president in their own right. John Quincy Adams... and George W. Bush. The Bush clan never uses the word dynasty, of course, but it's hard to miss the importance of family in this political year. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports on the importance of being a Bush.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports that a traditional form of Cuban music and dance that is rarely heard on the island is thriving in one part of Mexico. In the streets of the port city of Veracruz, you can often find live danzon concerts, and dozens of couples dancing to the melody. Even young people have fallen in love with the danzon. A local danzon troupe has toured the US, Canada and Europe.

Recent Republican conventions have given new visibility to religious conservatives, who were finding a home and a power base as never before in the GOP. The role of religious activists has been far less prominent in Philadelphia this week. But that does not mean the Christian right has disappeared. NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

Claire Doole reports from Geneva that the World Health Organization has accused the tobacco industry of waging a dirty tricks campaign to undermine global efforts to curb smoking. A study released today concluded that tobacco companies paid WHO scientists for provide information and pose, falsely, as independent consultants.

President Clinton spent the weekend in Los Angeles hobnobbing with celebrities and raising money for his Presidential Library, as well as appearing at functions that raised money for wife Hillary's Senate campaign. NPR's Brian Naylor reports from Los Angeles on whether the President is stealing thunder from Gore's impending arrival at this week's Democratic National Convention.