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NPR's Martin Kaste reports on the success of Brazil's AIDS program. Alone among developing nations, Brazil has provided AIDS drugs to nearly all who need them. That's cut the death rate from AIDS in half. The success is due to the country's aggressive policies on allowing generic copies of expensive brand name drugs. The international pharmaceutical industry has tolerated the situation until recently. Now the country faces a major trade dispute over its policy on AIDS drugs.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports from Kiev that Ukraine is going through its worst political crisis since the break-up of the Soviet Union. The now independent country has long been mired in corruption and economic hardship. But with revelations that President Leonid Kuchma may have rigged elections and ordered the disappearance of a murdered journalist, more and more Ukrainians are calling for his ouster. Despite a series of demonstrations in recent months, however, the opposition remains fractured and leaderless.

President Bush visited Florida for the first time as president today, speaking at Tyndall Air Force Base and addressing a joint meeting of the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce in Panama City. The president was greeted by his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, upon his arrival. But some local Democrats are still nursing wounds from the state's five-week vote-counting debacle last year, and they had a greeting for the president today, too. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

NPR's Mara Liasson reports on how Republicans and Democrats raise campaign money. Because Republicans have success raising "hard" money in small donations, while Democrats do better with "soft" money from large donations, they would be affected differently by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, which the Senate is debating for the second week. (8:43) Check out NPR News coverage of Power, Money and Influence

NPR's Emily Harris reports on a new Federal Trade Commission study into the responsibility of oil companies for the exceptionally high Midwestern gasoline prices last summer. The FTC concludes that the oil industry did not take illegal collective action to drive gasoline prices upward, but that individual companies did limit refinery production to maximize prices. In Chicago, Milwaukee, and other parts of the Midwest, prices at the pump exceeded $2 a gallon.

As U.S. leaders struggle to communicate with people in the Middle East, they might look to musician Lionel Richie for inspiration. In the current issue of GQ magazine, writer Andrew Corsello reports that Richie has become a musical phenomenon in the Arab world. Host Mike Pesca speaks with him about Richie's appeal in that region.

In a series of reports for Morning Edition, NPR Beijing correspondent Rob Gifford profiles five people from across China who symbolize the massive changes the country is undergoing as it makes its transition away from communism. The latest segment features Wu Dongmei, a young woman who, in search of a better life, migrated 1,000 miles from her village to work at a clothing factory.

West Nile virus has hit Louisiana hard this summer. Nearly 90 people there have contracted the mosquito-borne fever, and seven are dead. It's the largest outbreak in the United States yet, and with three more months of warm weather ahead, local health officials fear it will only get worse. NPR's John Nielsen reports for All Things Considered.

NPR's Richard Knox spent a year with Phil Simmons and his family to chronicle his long struggle with Lou Gehrig's disease -- and to report on how an extraordinarily dedicated group of friends banded together to help take care of Simmons. He died last weekend at his home in the New Hampshire woods. For All Things Considered, NPR's Richard Knox reflects on Simmons' life.

Music commentator Marika Partridge reports on singer Pat Humphries and an extraordinary song. Humphries isn't well-known outside folk music circles, but "Swimming to the Other Side" is becoming something of an underground anthem. Listen to three versions of the song online, and hear what Humphries fan Pete Seeger has to say about it. (10:00) The song is on a CD called Hands, and Pat's website is www.pathumphries.com.