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The FCC reports that the market for fast Internet connections is growing rapidly, with the number of residential subscribers about tripling over the past year. But in its annual survey of access to broadband service, the agency says access is still expensive or not available for people in rural or inner city areas. The report adds that some areas might never get service with current technologies because it's simply too expensive.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from Paris that investigators say it's too early to tell what exactly brought down the Concorde supersonic jet that crashed last week. The Accident and Inquiry office says investigators have identified a fuel leak as one of a number of problems with the plane.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that mystery writers are making it big on the Russian literary scene. One author, who uses the pen name Boris Akunin, has achieved best-seller status by taking a high-brow approach to the detective novel, writing in the style of Dostoyevsky.

Kristian Foden-Vencil of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that a number of construction workers have filed suit against the US Army and the Raytheon Corporation over an alleged nerve gas leak at a chemical weapons depot in Oregon. Both the Army and Raytheon deny any leak occurred.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Berlin on Germany's centuries-old Meister system, which requires craftsmen to complete a lengthy training program before being licensed. German guilds are resisting pressure to relax their rules and conform to the standards of the European Community. EU rules say that a worker from one country should be free to practice his trade in another.

Linda Wertheimer talks by phone with three Republican voters about their reactions to what they've seen of the Republican National Convention on television so-far. She speaks first with Faye Schwartz, an independent financial advisor in Portland, Oregon. Then she talks to Betha Wade a retired teacher, who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Finally, Kate Fowler, a University of Colorado student who is living in Chicago for the summer.

David Greenberger reviews The Unaccompanied Voice, a collection of songs by two dozen performers singing a cappella.

NPR's Allison Aubrey reports that a new study on the long-term effects of inhaler use has some good news for asthmatics. The study, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, says regular use of asthma inhalers can significantly reduce the likelihood the disease will become fatal.

Host Alex Chadwick talks to Armando Alonzo, professor of history at Texas A&M about the verdict of a jury in Brownville, Texas. Six decades after a New York lawyer bought Padre Island from a Mexican-American family, the jury determined that he had swindled the family's impoverished descendants out of 1.1 million-dollars in oil and gas royalties.

Highlights from Republican vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia last night.