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Tamara Keith reports that potential California home-buyers have some new options to choose from. Increasing home prices in the Bay area have forced money-conscious shoppers to look elsewhere. Now, the once-rundown area of West Oakland is gaining the attention of some outside realtors.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports from Kabul on the plight of women in Afghanistan. Two weeks ago Taleban leaders in Afghanistan issued an edict banning women from working for foreign aid agencies. The ban is the latest action by the Taleban to curtail the activities of women under its interpretation of Islamic law.

Commentator Daniel Ferri gives a quick lesson in how be a teacher. Some of the basics: learn how to say "now" before you say anything else, wear dumb shoes, make dumb jokes and lie awake in bed all Sunday night.

NPR's Alex Chadwick concludes a two-part Radio Expedition series on Palmyra, a small, privately owned coral atoll a thousand miles south of Hawaii. The rainy island remains uninhabited by humans. It swarms with bird and animal life, and the lagoons are filled with schools of large tropical fish. The Nature Conservancy hopes to purchase Palmyra from the three American brothers who own it.

Steve Young of Vermont Public Radio reports on a new agricultural temp agency. It helps dairy farmers find workers when they need help, and allows them take vacations, which was impossible for farm families before.

Host Bob Edwards talks to NPR's Ted Clark about the status of the Middle East peace negotiations at Camp David. According to the White House, President Clinton will keep the two sides talking as long as there is a possibility of success.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the uproar over a FBI computer program that sifts through e-mail for evidence for investigations. Civil Liberty advocates say it's an unconstitutional loss of privacy, but the FBI argues it's no different from tapping phone lines.

Laura Womack reports from Albany, Georgia that Alabama and Georgia have both been declared agricultural disaster areas because of the southeastern drought, but that may not help some farmers survive. The disaster declaration means farmers can apply for federal assistance programs, but after being hammered by three successive years of drought conditions many farmers are so deeply in debt that they may not have the minimal assets necessary to qualify for the programs.

A note on some of the other stories we're following today.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports that a study released today by the RAND Corporation concludes that public school students have greatly improved their academic test scores since 1990. The study shows that one major reason for the gains is smaller class sizes.