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NPR's Kenneth Walker reports from Pretoria on the intense disappointment and anger that spread across South Africa today when the governing body for international soccer named Germany as the host of the 2006 World Cup. Many had expected South Africa to be selected, and South Africans were prepared for the country's largest celebrations since Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994. South Africa would have been the first African nation to host the Cup. Winning that honor would have also been a huge financial and political boost for the country.

NPR's John Burnett reports on the case of Cesar Fierro, a Mexican national who is on death row for killing an El Paso taxi driver. Fierro confessed to the crime - but now, even the prosecutor in the case admits that the confession was coerced. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the error was harmless, and Fierro's chances at a new trial are remote.

NPR's Ted Clark examines the emerging relationship between the United States and North Korea. During the last six years, North Korea has gradually ended its isolation and moderated its confrontational approach toward the US and American allies. In return, the United States has supplied food aid. South Korea also has provided incentives to draw the North out of its isolation.

NPR's Howard Berkes reports that staffing problems with the U-S Geological Survey could leave the agency unable to properly respond to volcanic eruptions. Many experienced geologists are retiring after long tenures, and few replacements are ready to take their place.

Weekend Edition commentator Al Lubrano has been spending his weekends hanging out in the Pennsylvania countryside with would-be cowboys.

Scott with some thoughts about an international panel's report asking the world not to forget the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

NPR's senior news analyst Dan Schorr reviews the week's news.

After months of controversy, Rome authorities will allow today's gay pride marchers to go all the way to the Coliseum. The week-long, world gay pride event had angered the Vatican. But NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that the event has triggered an unprecedented public discussion of homosexuality in the Italian media and in the streets of Rome.

Venus Williams beat defending champion Lindsay Davenport on Centre Court at Wimbledon today, to become the first black female to win there since 1958. Host Jacki Lyden talks to Robin Roberts of ABC News and ESPN about Venus' game and the significance of her win to young black athletes. Tomorrow, Williams joins younger sister Serena in Wimbledon's Doubles Championship match. Jacki also talks to 27 year-old Carla Perona of Compton, California, about her memories of watching the Williams sisters learn their game on the city's public courts.

Karen Schaefer of member station WCPN (Cleveland) reports from Sandusky, Ohio that this summer many seasonal jobs in the nation's resorts and tourist attractions are being filled, not by U.S. students, but by students from other countries.

Jacki talks to NPR's Philip Martin from Baltimore, where the NAACP opened its 91st National Convention today. Delegates are calling for more attention to criminal justice issues, racial profiling and economic inequality. Outside the convention, protesters demonstrated over the NAACP's support for removing the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina Statehouse.

In the first of two reports on the current Supreme Court, NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on the Justices' increased propensity to strike down federal laws. This past term, the Supreme Court issued numerous rulings that affected the other two branches of the federal government. It struck down several major federal laws and invalidated the FDA's attempt to regulate tobacco as a drug. Some legal scholars see this as a return to earlier periods in the Court's history, when it more aggressively scrutinized federal laws and policies.