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NPR's Eric Weiner reports Australia is engaged in its largest peacetime security operation, in advance of the 2000 summer Olympics, in Sydney in two weeks. Australian security agencies are preparing for every possibility from hostage situations to biochemical warfare. Over the weekend, New Zealand police said they had uncovered a possible plot to target a nuclear plant near the Olympic site in Sydney. Australian officials are downplaying the incident as workers put finishing touches on the Olympic facilities. The government spent more than one-billion dollars on the construction. But Australians, known for their fierce enthusiasm for sports, are not complaining about footing the bill.

Bunny Austin, tennis star of the 1930's, has died at the age of 94. Austin -- teamed with Fred Perry -- won four Davis Cup finals in a row in the mid-30's. Austin was the first man to wear shorts at the All England Club at Wimbledon in 1934. Linda Wertheimer and Bud Collins, asports columnist for the Boston Globe and commentator for NBC, talk about Austin's career. (2:30) MUSIC HEARD AT ONE MINUTE BEFORE THE HOUR: Cut 2 from the CD "DJ Kicks" by the Thievery Corporation, from Studio K-7 Records.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on his way home tomorrow, President Clinton will stop off in Cairo for urgent talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the stalled Middle East peace process. Clinton is urging Mubarak to try to get his fellow Arabs to agree to continued Israeli sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem, something Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat refuses to accept.

Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that a fire raged for more than a day in the city's television tower, leaving at least two people dead. The blaze caused considerable damage to the structure -- the world's second tallest tower -- and nearly all television service to the capital has been cut. The fire -- coming just after a bomb blast in Moscow and the sinking of the submarine Kursk -- has prompted more talk about Russia's crumbling infrastructure.

Howard Berkes reports on the fires that continue torage in the western states. Millions of acres of forest and brush have been blackened, and politicians have begun pointing fingers at the Clinton Administration for failing to do enough to prevent the blazes.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu ruminates on pigeons, old women, gondolas, and the quest for romance by young women visiting Venice. (3:30) MUSIC FOLLOWING STORY: "A Vucchella", on the CD "La Musica from Italy", copyright 1990, Delta Music Inc.

Alan Cheuse reviews a new novel by T.C.Boyle called A Friend of the Earth. It's the story of an eco-terrorist andhis family. (1:45) The book is published by Viking Press.

New research shows exercise need not be done all at once to protect against heart disease. NPR's Richard Knox reports that two15-minute sessions are as good as one 30-minute session.

The soccer mom personified the swing voter in the last presidential election. This time everyone's talking about the "working waitress." Governor George W. Bush uses the example of the waitress to describe his tax cut. Vice President Al Gore attacks Bush's tax plan and recalls his own mother's working days as a waitress. Scott Horsley reports on how the candidates' competing tax plans would affect a real working waitress.

Robert talks to Richard Kroehling, creator andco-producer of the show Confessions, which debuts next month on Court TV.The show plans to play videotaped confessions of murders taken by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, without narration.