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Bob Edwards talks with Andrew Chaiken , editor of Space Illustrated Magazine, about NASA's decision to cancel development of a spacecraft known as the X-33. It was intended to be a replacement for the space shuttle.

Student Christina Appleberry argues that standardized tests are good for her. She doesn't get very good grades because she doesn't do her homework, but she is smart and always does well on tests.

Commentator Paul Podolsky says the dive in the stock market is a small hurdle for the savvy new breed of new economy traders.

Host Bob Edwards talks with NPR's Tom Gjelten about the U.S. Navy's accidental bombing of observers during training exercises in Kuwait.

It's been a rough month for organized labor, as Congress repealed workplace rules on repetitive stress and the Bush administration intervened to forestall threatened strikes against airlines. In the months ahead, congressional leaders are promising more hard looks at laws and regulations favored by the unions. Labor weighed in heavily during the election campaign on behalf of Democratic candidates, but union leaders still seem stunned at how far and how fast their standing in Washington has fallen. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

China is in the final stage of wrapping up its 14-year bid to join the World Trade Organization. In his annual news conference at the National People's Congress, China's Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng told reporters today that the outcome of final negotiations was a foregone conclusion, but he shied away from setting a specific date for Beijing joining the world body. NPR's Rob Gifford reports from Beijing.

Tania Garcia, a high school student in Oakland, Calif., says that standardized tests are a waste of her time. She spends lots of time studying to make sure that she really understands her subjects, and the tests only measure how many facts she knows.

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.

Allison Aubrey reports that Coca-Cola made a very public announcement today that it is changing the way its flagship product is marketed in the nation's schools. The Atlanta-based company says it will urge its bottlers to end the practice of negotiating "exclusive" contracts with school districts. The company also promised to give school kids more choice by stocking vending machines with healthier options. Many parent groups have criticized the exclusive contract arrangement.

NPR's Richard Knox reports from Boston on two new medical studies of AIDS treatment in the United States. In today's New England Journal of Medicine the studies conclude that AIDS drugs in the U.S. are cost effective, but many who need the drugs, are not getting them. Knox's report is a follow-up to the NPR series on AIDS drugs in developing nations that ran last week.

NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports on the Bush administration's warning to Russia not to resume selling weapons to Iran. Secretary of State Colin Powell met yesterday with Sergay Ivanov, Secretary of Russia's Security Council. He said Russia is only selling 'defensive' weapons -- those may be considered 'destabilizing' by the U.S.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that the U.S. Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces is visiting China. The communist country is warning the U.S. not to develop its planned national missile defense program, or to sell arms to Taiwan.