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Signs of slowdown are everywhere after huge increases in vacation bookings, traveling and eating out earlier this year. Southwest Airlines, Airbnb and restaurants are starting to see a pullback.

About a quarter of U.S. health care workers have refused the COVID-19 vaccine as of July. They share demographic traits with other unvaccinated people and are putting hospitals in a tough spot.

A lawyer who lost her job. A single mom with HIV. A grandmother who thought she had enough money to get by. A onetime golf coach. They're among the millions now struggling to put meals on the table.

France said it was "unacceptable behavior" for Australia to abruptly drop a $40 billion submarine purchasing agreement with France in favor of a new deal with the U.S. and U.K.

Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush have been all but bumper-to-bumper on the campaign trail this week as they concentrate on Midwestern swing states. Yesterday, Bush addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Milwaukee, Wisconsin before heading to Illinois. Today, Gore spoke to the same VFW meeting before making his way to Chicago. Bush told the veterans that the Clinton-Gore administration had allowed U-S military readiness to deteriorate. Gore today enlisted the help of former Defense Secretary William Perry to rebut those charges. NPR's Melissa Block reports from Milwaukee.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome that Pope John Paul the Second plans to beatify two of his predecessors next month. The two popes who will be elevated on the ladder toward sainthood influenced the Roman Catholic Church in very different ways. Pope Pius the Ninth is regarded by many as an arch-conservative, known for promulgating the doctrine of papal infallibility. He's also known as the pope who insisted a Jewish boy in Rome be raised a Catholic, against the wishes of the boy's parents. Pope John the Twenty-third, by contrast, is renowned for liberalizing the Church with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Alex Van Oss visits the nation's oldest lending library, the 250-year-old Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, Rhode Island. Still in its original neo-classical building, the Redwood is steeped in history and contains numerous antique books. Heirloom portraits and Greek sculptures adorn the hallways. Thomas Jefferson was an early visitor. Henry and William James were regular brousers, as were Edith Wharton, Emma Lazarus, and Julia Ward Howe.

President Clinton's legal defense fund released its semi-annual report today showing the same friends of the White House contributing as in past years. The fund was established when the president began accumulating big legal bills to deal with investigations by Congress and a series of independent counsels. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that President Vladimir Putin said today he feels guilty and responsible for the sinking of submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea. He said Russia's defense minister, navy chief and commander of the Northern Fleet had all offered to resign, but he did not accept their resignations. Putin said there would be no rush to assign guilt until the facts of the accident are known. Yesterday, family members of the 118 sailors who died on the Kursk grilled Putin for hours about his handling of the crisis. Little of the meeting was shown on television. Lawyers for the Kursk families are threatening legal action against the government over the Kursk disaster.

Barbara Bradley reports on today's announcement that Attorney General Janet Reno will not appoint a special counsel to investigate Vice President Gore's 1996 campaign fundraising. Reno says further investigation would not result in a prosecutable case, so a special counsel is not warranted. Gore's campaign spokesman says the vice president is pleased with the announcement. His opponent, Texas Governor George W. Bush, says he understands the American people are tired of investigations, but also says Gore engaged in questionable fundraising activities.