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Retailers and manufacturers of computer software have turned their attention to girls this year. NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on what parents can expect to find on the market this holiday season. Little girls can direct their own animated Barbie movie...join a virtual clique to talk about dating; creat invoices for their babysitting businesses; or find out "the hows and whys" of their developing bodies.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports from Buenos Aires that though its Jewish community is one of the largest outside of Israel, it continues to live in fear of anti-Semitism. Twice in the past five years, Jewish institutions have been the targets of bloody attacks and none of these crimes has ever been solved. Argentina's Jews maintain that the local police fail to protect their community.

They were designed to let drivers avoid accidents...but a new study shows that fatality rates are actually higher for autos equipped with anti-lock brakes. For instance, the study, conducted by a insurance industry group, found that passengers were more likely to die in single-car crashes in cars with anti-lock brakes. As NPR's Don Gonyea reports, the experts say they're not yet sure what accounts for the loss in safety benefits.

While many efforts to use the Internet for commerce have proved disappointing, there are a few web-based businesses that appear to have the right formula. One such company is Tunes.com...the company runs a web site that allows you to listen to a little bit of every track from a cd. Tunes.com already has more than 200,000 music tracks available. NPR's John McChesney reports on how the company has managed to combine novelty and profitability.

Robert talks to Roger Wilkins, a history professor at George Mason University, about the two trials of OJ Simpson. Wilkins says that Blacks and whites view the trials very differently.

Commentator David Greenberger thinks the phrase "no problem" is a bad substitute for "you're welcome." It emphasizes the negative -- saying "this kindness I showed you could have resulted in discomfort to me, but lucky for you, it didn't."

NPR'S Kathleen Schalch reports that Washington D.C. has played host this week to a gathering of micro-lending organizations from around the world. Lending very small amounts of money directly to the poor has shown great success in the developing world...and conference organizers want to dramatically increase the number of people such programs reach.

NPR's Edward Lifson reports from Germany on a ground-breaking ceremony that brings a little closer the government move from Bonn to Berlin. Despite opposition, the German government is plowing ahead. It has persuaded some ministries to move into existing buildings, but is also proceeding with new construction. Today, Chancellor Kohl broke ground for a new chancellory building. The target date for the government move is the end of 1999.

Linda talks with Matthew Wald, a Washington correspondent for the New York Times, about today's near-miss between four F-16 fighter jets and a commuter aircraft. This incident comes on the heels of yesterday's similar problem off the New Jersey coast in which two F-16 jets swooped in on a civilian passenger flight. Investigators are now concerned with who should take the blame for these near-tragedies.

- As the military downsizes and defense spending decreases, many defense contractors are looking for ways to use their technology for non-military uses. NPR's Richard Harris visits one company that is applying its research to resolve a religious issue.

NPR's Barbara Bradley joins Congress incoming freshman class at their orientation. This is when the new legislators learn how to organize their offices and become familiar with the nuts-and-bolts details of their next two years. And, as Bradley reports, this class is different from its predecessors: they're already talking compromise.

Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that the nation's capital has become the battleground for competing political scandals.

Gene Johnson of member station WNYC reports on today's verdict in the Crown Heights federal civil rights trial. A jury in New York convicted two men for violating the civil rights of Yankel Rosenbaum, who was killed during what police call a 'race riot' in 1991.

NPR science correspondent Joe Palca visits with zookeepers at Washington's National Zoo to find out the answer to a listener's question -- why are flamingos pink?

Commentator Fawn Fitzgibbon has been a home hospice nurse for 7 years. In that time she has learned that death comes relentlessly. Cutting a life short by suicide is to surrender, she says. To live each moment, despite the limits that an illness brings, is more than to shake a fist at death; it gives meaning to the life itself, she says.

Robert speaks with Willi Korte (KOR-tay), a lawyer and World War II historian, about the announcement that Switzerland's three largest banks are setting up a fund in memory of Holocaust victims. Korte discusses the nature of Switzerland's neutrality during the war - Switzerland sheltered some Jewish refugees, but turned away others. It also accommodated offices for both the OSS and German intelligence agencies. Korte says the big question is how much of the billions of dollars worth of gold and art that flowed through Switzerland during the war is still there.

President Clinton made a rare trip to Capitol Hill today to begin the budget negotiation process. He and congressional leaders came out of a meeting saying they had agreed to try to balance the budget by 2002. They also agreed to work on improving education, cutting taxes, and other items, although they still need to resolve their disparate approaches. NPR's Brian Naylor has a report.

The huge waves that pound northern California beaches in the off-season are known to surfers as "the dogs of winter." A new psychological thriller called "The Dogs of Winter," by Kem Nunn, follows a surfer-photographer on what may be his last assignment. Alan Cheuse has the review. (STATIONS: "The Dogs of Winter" is published by Scribner's. "Kem" in author name is cq.)

Robert talks with NPR's Martha Raddatz about the possible new commitment of U.S. troops in Bosnia. They discuss how the mission will be defined, what its goals and objectives will be, and how the troops will operate on the ground in Bosnia. Also, they'll talk about the foreign policy credibility of the Clinton Administration and the Pentagon and what each hopes to accomplish with this new deployment of troops.

Commentator Iain Guest - of the United States Institute of Peace - says what happened in Rwanda in 1994 was genocide, and we are facing a catastrophe in Zaire because we didn't take action then. He says this shows us why a policy to fight genocide...whenever and wherever it occurs...must be in place.