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NPR's David Welna reports on the partisan debate raging on Capitol Hill over the turmoil in the stock market and what that could mean for President Bush's tax reduction program. Republicans insist that if the economy is faltering, tax cuts need to be implemented without delay. Democrats argue that the falling stock prices mean it would be too risky to pass a 10-year tax cut plan, given the fact that there is no way to know whether the administration's long-range projections on the economy are accurate.

The captain of the Japanese fishing trawler that sank after a collision with a U.S. submarine took the stand today in the Navy's court of inquiry into the accident. What followed were the most moving and emotional hours yet in the dramatic proceeding. NPR's Andy Bowers reports from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

W.G. Snuffy Walden's new CD is called music by.... It's a collection of themes and incidental music that he's written for television. Walden's music has appeared on Felicity, Rosanne, Once and Again and Thirtysomething. His latest score is the theme to NBC's The West Wing. Noah Adams talks with Walden about how he writes music for TV and the concept behind the West Wing theme.

As part of NPR's ongoing series on how to get AIDS drugs to the developing world, NPR's Michael Sullivan reports on the AIDS situation in India. India has the world's largest number of people infected with the AIDS virus -- more than 4 million are infected by the most conservative estimates. But in a population of nearly 1 billion, AIDS takes a back seat to other pressing health concerns. Indeed, there is little discussion in India about how to get AIDS treatments to those who need them, unlike the current debates now going on in Africa. And in India, even basic prevention efforts face major cultural hurdles.

As the debate over campaign finance reform begins, we spend some time examining some of the key provisions of the debate. NPR's Peter Overby reports that the McCain-Feingold bill takes aim at two categories of political money -- soft money and issue ads. Soft money is the unregulated money that citizens and groups can raise for their party. Issue ads are communications with votes that do everything but tell people who to vote for or against. Reformers say banning soft money is essential because of the amount of money has gone from zero to $250 million for each party in the past 20 years. Reformers oppose any restrictions on soft money saying it would be an infringement on free speech.

NPR's Peter Overby picks up the story explaining the high stakes for politicians over this debate -- for senators its their careers, for interest groups its their clout, and for President Bush it is his image as someone who can change Washington. There is likely to be many amendments and many changes as campaign finance reform is debated over these two weeks.

Noah Adams speaks with Don Simon, outside counsel to Common Cause, which supports reform, and James Bopp, general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech, about campaign finance reform legislation and how best to balance the need to protect the government from corruption and the individual's right to free speech. Each side sees this debate as protecting fundamental constitutional rights and needs.

With fighting continuing for a sixth day around the town of Tetovo in Macedonia, we examine how and why this fighting began. Linda Wertheimer talks with Steven Burg, professor of politics at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., about the relations between Macedonia's government and the country's large ethnic Albanian minority, and about the rebels' demands.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports the Bush administration is determined to maintain Washington's decades-old isolation of Cuba. Secretary of State Colin Powell has told the Congress that despite some softening of U.S. policy towards Cuba under the Clinton administration, President Bush was committed to maintaining trade sanctions against Cuba as long as Fidel Castro remains in power.

NPR's Guy Raz reports that fighting abated today around the northwest Macedonian city of Tetovo. The Macedonian army had deployed tanks and sent in infantry to put down ethnic Albanian rebels in the hills above the city. NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson warned the rebels that the international community will not allow the break-up of Macedonia by violent insurrection.