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NPR's Rob Gifford reports that Secretary of State Madeline Albright made a historic trip to the capital of North Korea today. She met for three hours with the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il. Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have been decreasing steadily, especially since North and South Korean leaders met in June for their first summit. U.S. officials say if the talks today and tomorrow produce progress on issues such as North Korea's missile program, President Clinton could visit North Korea before he leaves office.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen have been battling on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Israel says it will seal off the village of Beit Jala from where Palestinians have repeatedly opened fire on a nearby Jewish neighborhood.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan said today that surging oil prices bear close attention because they have the potential to disrupt the nation's longest ever economic expansion. As NPR's John Ydstie reports, Greenspan said higher oil prices have not sparked a new round of inflation, but that possibility still exists, especially given low inventories and tensions in the Middle East. He noted that federal budget surpluses have aided the expansion, but added that government's propensity to spend may mean smaller surpluses in years to come.

In the beachside condominiums of Florida's politically fertile 22nd district, state Representative Elaine Bloom is giving longtime House GOP incumbent E. Clay Shaw a run for his money. They've both raised more than $2 million and the race has taken on a decidedly negative tone.

Playwright Arthur Miller talks about his book Echoes Down the Corridor, a collection of his essays ranging from autobiography to commentary. The book spans nearly six decades of writing.

In a video posted to Instagram Monday, Dave Chappelle says he's willing to meet with Netflix employees who are upset over his comedy special, which has come under fire for transphobic material.

NPR's Mike Shuster in Jerusalem reports the outburst of violence in the West Bank and Gaza over the past few weeks has shocked many people. It came just two months after the Camp David summit talks where Israel and the Palestinians seemed closer than ever before to a final peace settlement. At Camp David, the fate of Jerusalem's holy places was on the table for the first time in the negotiations. The issue proved traumatic, and a catalyst for violence.

An FAA radar computer system failed today, forcing air traffic controllers to ground hundreds of flights heading into California and Las Vegas. As NPR's Chris Arnold reports, the FAA stopped all flights coming into the region after the computer system failed for a second time. The breakdown was the result of a computer software upgrade Wednesday night.

The growth of the "New Economy" has led to a new debate over how the internet is affecting power consumption in the U.S. Some researchers say there's a growing demand for electricity that threatens to outstrip our supply. Most experts disagree and say the Internet is actually reducing power consumption by making businesses more energy efficient. As Larry Abramson reports, both sides of the debate are finding a home in the current political campaign.

Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush is in New York tonight for a political dinner where the guests will also include his rival, Democrat Al Gore. He will also tape an appearance with late night comedian David Letterman. But this morning Bush began his day in Michigan, a key swing state where he talked to workers at an engineering plant. He told them Gore represented old style thinking about economics and government. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

Commentator Jeffrey Tayler visited a friend in Russia, and agreed to get a lock on her door fixed while she was away. He took the lock to a local shop, but was laughed out of the store. Men in small Russian towns fix their own locks. They don't have a repairman do it for them.

Laura Haydon reports that as Ireland has been transformed from an impoverished rural society to a booming information economy, the Irish are attending church less and sending fewer young men into the priesthood. This apparent decline in religious devotion is reflected in the falling numbers of pilgrims to Lough Derg, a remote outpost in northwest Ireland, where Saint Patrick is believed to have had a vision of heaven and hell. To draw worshippers back, the Church is now offering pilgrims the option of attending a one-day retreat, rather than the traditional arduous three days of fasting, walking barefoot and going without sleep.

Commentator Marion Roach thought she'd be fearful, but found beauty in the experience of watching an autopsy. She was allowed into the room as a journalist working on a book.

With less than three weeks to go until Election Day, the economy is emerging as the centerpiece of Democrat Al Gore's campaign. He laid out his agenda to continue the nation's current prosperity in a formal address today at Columbia University, and again in a series of interviews with Regis Philbin and Rosie O'Donnell to be broadcast tomorrow. NPR's Anthony Brooks is with the Gore campaign in New York City.

With the early resignation last week of Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic, former-Yugoslavia has now seen the departure of the three major nationalist figures of the nineteen nineties. NPR's Tom Gjelten looks at prospects for the Balkans without Izetbegovic, the late Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic -- the men who led their nations in the wars that accompanied the break-up of the Yugoslav Federation.

Noah and Robert read this week's letters from All Things Considered listeners. The show received a lot of feedback on the documentary Witness to an Execution, as well as this week's feature on colon cancer screening. (4:00) Send letters to Letters, All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC, 20001. Or send e-mail to atc@npr.org.

Host Bob Edwards talks with NPR's Michael Sullivan in Cairo, where Arab foreign ministers have been meeting prior to this week's Arab heads-of-state summit, the first since 1996.

NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports on Al Gore's tough battle in his home state. Though he's a favorite son, many Tennessee voters consider Gore an outsider. Polls show a tight race between the former Tennessee Senator and George W. Bush.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports on one of the ballot questions facing the people of Massachusetts this election: whether incarcerated felons should be allowed to vote. Inmate advocates say taking the vote away from incarcerated felons is excessively punitive and racially discriminatory.

Commentator David Shenk says a major study released today from the University of California in Berkeley aims for the impossible: to quantify how much information the world produces each year. That includes everything in a year's worth of e-mails, phone calls, radio and television broadcasts, Websites, office documents, newspapers, memos, etc. The number is so big that U.C. is coming close to the extreme end of terms that have been invented to measure such volume. (3:00) See the study at http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/how-much-info/

After overthrowing dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudan's joint civilian-military transitional government seemed to be stabilizing the nation. Monday's coup took American officials by surprise.

NPR's Michele Kelemen takes a tour of Moscow's newest cultural attraction, the Outsider Art Museum. The collection features the works of self-taught artists, many of whom suffer from mental illness or are homeless.

Commentator Russell Roberts tries his hand at translating the economic mumbo-jumbo which both candidates are using.

There were toes tapping and heads nodding in Louisville, Kentucky, last night when the city played host to the Bluegrass music awards. The Del McCoury Band and Dolly Parton both took home top awards. The event isn't televised, but is broadcast live in more than 3,000 U.S. radio markets.

All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer traveled to Michigan to attend a campaign rally for George W. Bush. She talked to the people in the crowd about what they were expecting when they came, and what they're taking away from the event.