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NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the status of permanent trade relations for China. Some Senators are wary of passing the bill, which they say would allow China to escape annual review of its human rights issues. Several lawmakers have proposed amendments to the bill, including Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Robert Torricelli of New Jersey.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that China's largest corruption trial begins today in four cities in the southeastern province of Fujian. President Jiang Zemin, who heads the 61 million-member Communist Party, has declared clean government a goal of his rule. But the Fujian scandal has tainted members of the elite ruling circle, among them one of Jiang's proteges.

NPR's Jack Speer reports the Federal Trade Commission has given the auto industry a green light on its plan to set up a massive online marketplace for buying auto parts. DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, and Nissan as well as more than a dozen parts suppliers are involved. The FTC had been concerned that such an alliance among competitors could lead to collusion and price signaling, but approved the plan in a unanimous vote.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports that President Clinton and Congressional leaders met yesterday at the White House for one of their first serious talks on this year's budget. The meeting produced little substantive progress.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that Iraq appears to be violating a United Nations program that allows it to sell oil and buy food and medicine for needy citizens. There's evidence that Iraq is re-exporting some of the food and medicine to other countries. Iraq refuses to allow UN inspectors to evaluate living conditions 10 years after the UN imposed economic sanctions. And it refuses to allow UN weapons inspectors into the country.

NPR's Chris Arnold reports on the high cost of rental property in the San Francisco Bay area. One Internet company that is laying off workers and planning to move out of Silicon Valley to escape the high cost of doing business there.

NPR's Alex Chadwick reports that marine explorer Bob Ballard has found evidence of a 7000 year old human settlement under 300 feet of water in the Black Sea. Ballard believes the civilization was flooded after melting ice age glaciers caused the Mediterranean to surge over its banks and flow into what was then a shallower lake. The discovery could shed light on the biblical story of the great flood.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports on the decision by the European Union to lift diplomatic sanction against Austria. Austria's 14 EU partners imposed the sanctions seven months ago, after conservative Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel formed a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party then led by Joerg Haider.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on the controversy surrounding a GOP commercial that subtly flashes the word "RATS" across the screen. Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush noted that the word appears only fleetingly - for a tiny fraction of a second. Played at full speed, it's barely noticeable, particularly if the viewer isn't looking for the word.

Meredith Ochs reviews The Best of Broadside a collection of five compact discs filled with 89 songs from folk music legends like Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Janis Ian and Phil Ochs. The CD's are contained in a spiral-bound book based on the bi-weekly folk music journal of the 1960's, Broadside magazine. (8:00) The Best of Broadside five CD set is from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, catalog number SFW CD 40130.

The Monarch is arguably America's favorite insect. It's also in danger of losing its principle resting place. NPR's John Nielsen reports satellite photos reveal a recent and rapid disappearance of the mountainside forests in Mexico that serve as the roosting place for migrating Monarchs.

Linda talks with Scott McGraw, a physical anthropologist, about the extinction of a monkey called Miss Waldron's Red Colobus, whose native habitat is West Africa. The last documented sighting of the red colobus was 20 years ago. McGraw says the monkey was hunted and eaten which is one reason for its decline. Also, there is so little of the West African rain forest left, that there's not enough habitat to support the red colobus. McGraw is an assistant professor of anthropology at Ohio State University. He specializes in West African monkeys.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on the relationship between the auto industry and the government. Much has changed from the early 1950's, when auto companies could be antagonistic in their dealings with Washington over safety issues. Today, they're operating a more flexible way of lobbying.

Steve Young of Vermont Public Radio reports four state legislators lost their seats yesterday when they lost the primary election. The lawmakers were republicans that voted for a controversial law granting gay couples almost all the rights of marriage. After the bill passed a number of groups mobilized to repeal it...and to encourage voters to remove those who supported the measure.

NPR's Debbie Elliott reports that voters in Selma, Alabama elected their first black mayor yesterday. Businessman James Perkins defeated Joe Smitherman, a former segregationist who took office about six months before the bloody voting rights marches that eventually led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports that gasoline prices in the Midwest have dropped dramatically this month. In June, prices in Chicago and throughout the Midwest skyrocketed past $2 per gallon. Now, costs have dropped to as low as $1.27 in Indiana, and other states are close behind. Last month's rise led to investigations into claims of price fixing and the 0suspensions of gas taxes in several states. Oil producers attribute the drop in gas prices to fixing a pipeline problem that had limited its ability to deliver the fuel.

Negotiations in the strike between members of the Screen Actors' Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the advertisers who hire them for TV commercials resume tomorrow. Strikers claim they've disrupted the industry. Ad companies say everything is humming along fine with non-union actors, and commercial production has moved to Canada and abroad. NPR's Aaron Schachter reports.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that at the heart of the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians is insistence on ruling the tiny, one-mile-square old city of Jerusalem, a site sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians. Since its conquest of the city in the 1967 war, Israel has ruled the old city insisting that it must remain the undivided capital of the state of Israel. Palestinians are demanding sovereignty over, at least, the areas of old Jerusalem where Arabs are a majority.

The House of Representatives today approved a bill that would raise the amount that certain savers can contribute to their tax-deferred retirement accounts. The current annual limit on these contributions is $2,000 but the new legislation, if passed by the Senate and signed by President Clinton, would raise that limit to $5,000. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

Scott Horsley of member station KPBS reports on aggressive trial lawyers who've sued the tobacco and gun industries and are now considering class action lawsuits against health maintenance organizations, drug makers, and liquor distillers. One such attorney is Dick Scruggs from Mississippi, who led the suit that won a 246-billion-dollar settlement for the states against cigarette makers and a 400-million-dollar fee for himself. Supporters of such lawsuits say they help reduce corporate irresponsibility Some critics say they're motivated by greed; other critics say that legislatures, not courts, should make social policy

NPR's Martin Kaste reports on a toxic oil spill that has poisoned a river in southwest Brazil, threatening wildlife and potentially ruining one of Brazil's most famous natural wonders, the Iguazu Falls.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports the Greek National Theater will perform Oedipus Rex tonight at the Coliseum in Rome. It's the first public performance at the Coliseum in 1,500 years.

Commentator Bailey White remarks on her niece's wedding. To get ready, the gal does a massive amount of cleaning, mending and building. This work strikes White as at odds with the bride dressed in innocent white.

Linda talks to Bill Buckholz, owner of Goodman Vending Service in Reading Pennsylvania, about problems the new five and ten dollar bills are causing for vending machine owners.

Charlotte Renner of Maine Public Radio reports that although their numbers are dwindling, classic lakeside camps continue to be a favorite way for kids to spend their summer vacations. Still, many camps say it's hard to stay in business because of rising costs.