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NPR's Joe Palca reports that scientists have found evidence that competition between the sexes could have a basis in evolution. Studies of fruit flies being released today found that successive generations of males evolved superior ability to pass on their genes. But it came at the expense of females -- the male fruit flies' sperm became toxic.

NPR's John Neilsen reports that Marion Barry, mayor of the District of Columbia, returned after a two week sabbatical for spiritual and physical rejuvenation. While the mayor was away, rumours swept the city that Barry had had a relapse into drug or alcohol abuse. Today, Barry says he may not have explained his absence in the clearests terms, and blamed the media for overplaying the story.

NPR's Peter Overby reports that the Democratic National Committee today filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, charging that Bob Dole's presidential campaign has exceeded its limits on campaign spending. Dole denies he has violated campaign spending laws and countered that President Clinton's campaign should return $11 million it has received in public funding for the Democratic primary because he had no challenger.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on what led to today's trade agreement between the U.S. and China over piracy of intellectual property rights. The U.S. had threatened to impose two billion dollars in sanctions against Beijing if certain demands were not met, and the Chinese had threatened to retaliate with sanctions of their own against the United States.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Florence, Italy, where an international conference is reviewing the progress of peace in the former Yugoslavia. The fighting has stopped, the armies are separated and the one-year-long NATO mission is nearly half over. Two important issues are on the agenda in Florence: finding a solution to re-settling an estimated two-million people uprooted by the war, and deciding whether the elections scheduled for September should be held.

NPR's Ina Jaffe reports on an industrial-environmental deal that could only have been made in California. After a beach eroded to expose oil pipelines, Chevron replaced it with new sand. But that ruined the surfing, and Chevron had to fix it. The company employed a surf engineer who's building a unique breakwater to create new but gnarly waves. It's the first such project anyone's heard of, but probably not the last.

Jacki speaks with reporter Denise Hamilton of Wired Magazine about the problem of computer software copyright infringement in the United States. This week, the US announced that it would impose trade sanctions on China because illegal reproductions of computer software are being sold there for a fraction of the price of authentic software. Hamilton says that the problem is serious WITHIN our borders as software bootleggers are becoming ever-more sophisticated.

NPR's Richard Harris reports that an Italian researcher has calculated that a huge asteroid could, theoretically, be knocked off its orbit and eventually collide with Earth. But, according to a paper being published in the journal Nature, the asteroid, called Eros, would not hit for at least 100,000, and there's only a 50-50 chance it would hit Earth in the next 100 million years.

LEBANON - NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Jerusalem that Israel regretted mistakenly shelling a United Nations base which was sheltering Lebanese civilians. But Prime Minister Shimon Peres and other officials defended their right to fire artillery shells at positions of the Hizbollah guerrillas. They pointed out that Hezbollah had fired Katyusha rockets toward Israel from a position just three hundred meters from the U-N base.

NPR's Dan Charles reports on the work of a handful of researchers who believe in something called Cold Fusion. It's a complicated idea...involving the fusion of atoms and the subsequent release of enormous amounts of energy...all accomplished in a controlled and friendly environment. And it's controversial -- SO controversial that most scientists don't even think cold fusion is possible. Despite the sceptics, the search for cold fusion goes on.