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President Bush today outlined his thoughts on trade in the Western Hemisphere at a meeting of the Organization of American States. The president said he hoped to see completion of a Free Trade Area of the Americas -- potentially the largest free trade zone in the world -- by the year 2005. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Robert Siegel speaks with Daoud Kuttab, director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University, and columnist for the Jordan Times and the Jerusalem Post. Also joining the conversation is David Landau, senior editor of Ha'aretz newspaper in Tel Aviv. They discuss how Israelis and Palestinians view the political stances of the two sides, and why there has been such a failure in negotiations.

NPR's Ivan Watson in the city of Cotonou in the West African country of Benin reports on the mystery of the whereabouts of nearly 200 slave children. They were thought to have been on board a cargo vessel. But when the ship docked at Benin's main port, there was no sign of the child slaves.

Jerome Vaughn of member station WDET reports on the surprise announcement today that Detroit's mayor Dennis Archer won't seek a third term. The popular Archer told reporters he won't seek re-election because of the demands of the office. "I have no life," he said.

Reviewer Alan Cheuse tells us about a new novel by Allegra Goodman: Paradise Park.

Grace Spruch has a thousand stories about the squirrels she's been inviting into her fifth floor Greenwich Village apartment. She shares some of those stories -- and squirrel time -- with NPR's Margot Adler. (6:00) Squirrels at My Window: Life With a Remarkable Gang of Urban Squirrels, by Grace Marmor Spruch, is published by Johnson Books. ISBN # 1555662579.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports there is growing concern about damage to Machu Picchu, the spectacular, 500-year-old Inca ruins perched on a high mountaintop in Peru. Custodians of Machu Picchu may be more interested in immediate profit than preserving the priceless collection of temples and dwellings.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Gaza reports on the Israeli army's thrust into Palestinian-ruled territory. Israeli forces withdrew Tuesday from small areas of the Gaza Strip they seized Monday after an attempt to end Palestinian mortar attacks on Israeli towns and settlements.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on today's oral arguments before the Supreme Court on mushroom ads. A mushroom grower is trying to get out of paying a share of the cost of a national ad campaign organized by the government. United Foods says it can promote its product better with its own ads.

NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports on the information war waged by the Pentagon since the collision between a U.S. Navy surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet. The Pentagon released video of previous reconnaissance craft encounters with Chinese fighters. In doing so, they've steered the discussion toward the cause of the crash -- rather than the right of the U.S. plane to conduct its surveillance.

Debbie Elliott reports that the trial of a former Ku Klux Klansman in the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham has stirred memories and resentments of that turbulent time, even as the city tries to project a new image. The Klansman's attorney says there is no way his client can get a fair trial in Birmingham, which is seeking redemption for its racist past.

Richard Nixon's White House tapes are now available for the public to copy. The National Archives is allowing people with their own tape recorders to make copies.

A new paper in the journal Science reports that families tend to grow and prosper when they're led by big old females who can hear trouble coming when it's still miles away. We're talking about elephants, of course. NPR's John Nielsen has more on a study with important conservation implications.

Commentator Stephen Kuusisto is a blind writer who was recently invited by a primate researcher to visit with a pair of young chimpanzees. The chimps, a boy and a girl, each about a year old, took instantly to the man with the white cane. They allowed him to touch and play with them, and he in turn allowed them to climb and jump from his cane. The experience has changed the way he feels about his cane.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from the city of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the secessionist moves by Croat nationalists. Tensions boiled over when SFOR peacekeepers raided a bank believed to be funding the Croat rebellion. International officials say they are facing their worst crisis since the end of the Bosnian war in 1995.

NPR's David Molpus reports on an alluring new book about getting the most out of your employees.

Lisa talks with reporter Jason Beaubien from Quebec City about protest demonstrations by groups opposed to the Summit of the Americas meeting.

Lisa speaks with NPR White House Correspondent Don Gonyea about the talks amongst world leaders at the Summit.

A private aircraft carrying American missionaries was shot down by the Peruvian air force yesterday when they mistook it for a drug smuggling plane. Host Lisa Simeone talks to freelance reporter Sharon Stevenson in Lima, Peru.

Lisa speaks with two former mayors of Cincinnati, Ohio: David Mann, who is white, and Dwight Tillery, who is black. They discuss the racial tensions that seem present in Cincinnati after the shooting death of an unarmed black citizen by a white police officer. Because of rioting and looting, a public curfew was imposed, which ended last week.

The Federal Reserve Board's interest rate cut this week was meant to stimulate investment. But as NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports, small businesses still need more help.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports from Guatemala, one of the world's leading centers for international adoptions. Americans are turning more often to Latin America to adopt, and most are arranged legally, but there are problems.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports on the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.

NPR's Emily Harris reports on today's rally by the National Organization for Women. Called Emergency Action for Women's Lives, the rally is targeting Senators who have the power to appoint Supreme Court Justices, and marks the beginning of a four-year campaign.

As part of NPR's ongoing series on how to get AIDS drugs to the developing world, NPR's Michael Sullivan reports on the AIDS situation in India. India has the world's largest number of people infected with the AIDS virus -- more than 4 million are infected by the most conservative estimates. But in a population of nearly 1 billion, AIDS takes a back seat to other pressing health concerns. Indeed, there is little discussion in India about how to get AIDS treatments to those who need them, unlike the current debates now going on in Africa. And in India, even basic prevention efforts face major cultural hurdles.