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NPR's Diplomatic Correspondent Ted Clark reports on the closing stages of the Millennium Summit at the United Nations. Capping today's schedule — a signing by more than 150 world leaders of a final declaration in which they vow to spare no effort to end war, poverty and environmental degradation.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports from Philadelphia that newly unsealed police documents show that Pennsylvania State troopers posed as union carpenters to infiltrate groups of protesters at last month's Republican National Convention. During the convention, Philadelphia police repeatedly denied any such infiltration. But city and state police worked together to contain the protests, so it's improbable that city police didn't know what the state police were doing.

In the second part of a two-part series on images of the President in film, Pat Dowell reports on how show business and politics have become intertwined. The movies treat the president's role with a high degree of symbolism...from a wise, almost divine figure during the thirties and forties, to a mythical hero and tough guy in the movies of today. Meanwhile, the real executive office has learned how to use the tricks of Hollywood to its advantage.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu speaks about his girlfriend's love of dogs, and his own dog experience.

NPR's Barbara Bradley reviews possible criminal and civil court actions that could be taken in relation to the Firestone tire failures. Both federal and state criminal charges seem unlikely. But several southern states are investigating possible civil suits, saying the tire maker should have reported tire failures and suspicions that the products might be defective.

We hear about the reaction in Japan to the Firestone hearings in Congress. Firestone is only one of several Japanese companies whose business practices are under scrutiny. Noah talks with LA Times Tokyo Correspondent Sonni Efron about how Japanese companies are dealing with the recalls within their corporate culture.

Cuban President Fidel Castro, in the United States for the first time since his last U.N. visit in 1995, has kept a generally low profile. Five years ago, he was wined and dined by the business, media, and foreign policy elite in New York. This year has been different. Castro will be the guest of honor this evening at a church reception, but media and business leaders have shown little interest in seeing him. Tom Gjelten reports that the growing U.S. interest in Cuba does not translate into greater eagerness to deal with Fidel Castro, who is increasingly seen as irrelevant to Cuba's future.

Noah talks to Dr. Charles Yesalis, an epidemiologist and expert on performance enhancing drugs at Penn State University, about drug use among the Olympic athletes. Yesalis says the new I.O.C. test for EPO won't detect use by athletes who quit taking the drug a week or so before the games. (5:00) >>> Anabolic Steroids in Sport and Exercise, by Dr. Charles Yesalis, is published by Human Kinetics Publishing, Jan. 2000.

Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that Russia's FSB intelligence service is actively pursuing a growing number of espionage cases, now that its former boss, Vladimir Putin, is president. Journalists, former military officers and defense analysts are held for months, and sometimes years, before going to trial behind closed doors. At least one prominent defense attorney notes, however, that the FSB does not exercise the same unbridled power as its Soviet-era predecessor, the KGB.

Brigham Young University's athletic teams are training with a new kind of sports drink: pickle juice. Some claim that pickle juice reduces cramps and benefits athletes during play. George Curtis is the head athletic trainer for BYU. He joins Linda from Provo, Utah to talk about the virtues of pickle juice.