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NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from Paris on the Chinese-born writer Gao Xingjian, who was honored today with the Nobel Prize for Literature. Gao -- the first Chinese writer ever to win the literature prize -- has been living in self-imposed exile in France since 1987. The Swedish Academy honored him for his novels and plays about the struggle for individuality in mass culture.

The second debate between Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore was more polite than the first, but there were contentious moments. Gore criticized the Texas governor's record on health care and hate crime legislation, citing statistics from Bush's home state. Robert talks to Dave McNeely, political columnist for the Austin American Statesman. He joins us by phone from Austin, Texas.

NPR's Richard Knox reports on clues to the earth's formation that are falling from the sky. Last January, a real estate agent in Canada witnessed the crash of a meteorite he described as a gigantic white light from the sky. A week later an amateur scientist discovered pieces of the meteorite, collected and preserved them in the freezer. Scientists now say it's the best sample they have yet to study how the earth was formed.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that two of the nation's largest oil companies are merging. Chevron is acquiring Texaco in a stock swap valued at more than 35-billion dollars. The deal announced today is seen as an answer to other recent mergers in the oil industry, including the mergers of Exxon and Mobil and British Petroleum with Amoco. The new company will be called Chevron Texaco and will be headquartered in San Francisco.

Thousands of people responded to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan's call to the Million Family March today on the National Mall in Washington. The gathering marks the fifth anniversary of the Million Man March. Unlike the previous event, organizers invited women, as well as people of all races and religions. The audience listened to speakers address the glories of family life and the dangers to families, including drug abuse and racism.

(Update) NPR's Anthony Brooks reports from St. Louis, the site of tonight's third and final Presidential debate. Despite the informal "town hall" style, the stakes are again high, with Vice President Al Gore and Governor George Bush still in a statistical dead heat with only three weeks left until the election.

Like many states, California is turning up the heat on its public schools with tough new policies designed to force them to improve. In the first of a series of stories, Richard Gonzales looks at one San Francisco Bay-area school's struggle to turn itself around.

In the Port of Aden, Yemen, divers are searching water-filled areas of the U.S.S. Cole for bodies of the crew members caught in last week's explosion. They're using metal cutters to clear their way through the wreckage. The Defense Department says a small boat armed with explosives rammed the side of the Navy Destroyer in a terrorist attack, killing 17 sailors. Noah talks to John Burns of The New York Times, who is stationed in Yemen, about the ongoing search for victims, the investigation into the attack, and the cooperation of the Yemeni government.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports from the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, where the Israeli and Palestinian leaders are meeting with President Clinton and other world leaders in a bid to halt the continuing violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

The "NPR Players" react to the constant stream of mergers in our society. In a series of commercial spoofs, they attempt to capture the constant transformations of companies and company names.