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NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports on President Bush's White House meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Today, the president said he will not to try to "force peace," in the Middle East. Mr. Bush also said that America's role should be to facilitate talks and not dictate a timetable. For his part, Prime Minister Sharon said he wants an end to violence before he'll resume talks with the Palestinians.

How hot will the planet get? What nations negotiate at the international climate summit will help determine that. Here are 4 things to know about what's being decided.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on the first amendment to the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill that has passed the Senate. By a 70-30 vote, lawmakers approved a proposal that would help level the playing field for candidates who run against rich opponents who finance their own campaigns.

NPR's Steve Inskeep profiles Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. The first-term Republican, who is considered a close friend of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and endorsed him during last year's presidential primaries, is pushing a campaign-finance reform measure that has become the vehicle for those opposed to the McCain-Feingold bill. Hagel's measure, which limits -- but does not eliminate -- soft money contributions, is tacitly backed by President Bush. McCain calls Hagel's bill a "poison pill" that would not change the system in any meaningful way.

More than armed insurrections, kidnappings or plane crashes, it's the trip across town that often strikes fear in the hearts of foreign correspondents. This is especially true in Latin America, where creative driving is a way of life. But NPR's reporter in South America, Martin Kaste, says that Brazil has become the surprising exception.

Noah Adams speaks with Kathleen Cambor, author of In Sunlight, In a Beautiful Garden. Her book is a novel based on the events surrounding the Johnstown flood in 1889. The flood claimed 2,200 lives after a dam burst on Memorial Day weekend. The book traces some of the complex social tensions between the residents of Johnstown and the wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists who'd built country homes nearby and on whose land the defective dam stood. The book is published by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.

Commander Scott Waddle, skipper of the USS Greeneville, stunned a Navy court of inquiry in Hawaii today by taking the stand to testify without immunity. He is taking full responsibility for the sub's deadly collision with a Japanese fishing trawler. Waddle and his attorney had said he would not testify in the inquiry unless assured that his answers would not be used against him in a court martial or other criminal proceeding. But in a dramatic opening statement, Waddle said he wanted to be heard by the families of the nine killed in the Feb. 9 collision. Linda Wertheimer talks with NPR's Andy Bowers who's at the hearing in Pearl Harbor.

For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken blood samples from a cross-section of Americans to look for a number of toxic substances. These substances show up in pollutants from industry and in products like cigarettes. NPR's John Nielsen reports some good news; chemicals from second-hand smoke seems to be appearing in blood less frequently. There's worrisome news too; there are lots of other chemicals in our blood about which we know very little.

The Bush administration's decision to halt standards for arsenic levels in drinking water is giving local water companies a bit of a reprieve. Under the new standards a municpal water company would have to increase its standards from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. In most cases that would have meant building new water filtration systems. George Hansen is the general manager of Chesapeake Ranch Water Company in southern Calvert County, Md. Noah Adams speaks with him about the changes he would have to make under new standards and what they are doing now to treat arsenic.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on some of the amendments the Senate is considering as it debates the McCain-Feingold bill. The Senate is debating various ways of reforming the rules that govern money in political campaigns. (3:09) Check out more NPR News coverage of Power, Money & Influence.

Commentator Frank Deford says in a world with an increasingly destabilized economy, the choice between athletics as entertainment and more basic needs will mean tough times for major league sports.

"Ping-pong diplomacy" between the United States and China began 30 years ago. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is in Beijing to commemorate the event while Vice Premier Qian Qichen is in the United States. China warned the United States Tuesday not to sell arms to Taiwan and threaten 30 years of "ping-pong dimplomacy" that paved the way for formal bilateral ties between the United States and China.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from the Hague, where, for the first time today a high-level delegation from Yugoslavia visited the war crimes tribunal. The delegates tried to show that Belgrade is now cooperating with the court. They said they were prepared to send suspects to the tribunal who are not Yugoslav citizens, meaning Bosnian Serbs who have been living in Yugoslavia. The United States Congress has demanded that the new authorities in Belgrade cooperate with the war crimes tribunal by the end of this month or forfeit U.S. aid.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on Russia-Ukraine relations after the death of an opposition journalist. Ukraine is trying to lure investors from the West, but the country's reputation for corruption is not helping.

NPR's Margot Adler reports on what some are decrying as the "suburbanization" of New York City. She talks to one design critic who laments that national franchises are replacing the city's local greasy spoons, coffeehouses and boutiques, and taking over street-life. (6:40

The Bush administration's decision to throw out new rules limiting arsenic in drinking water has angered environmentalists. Industries that emit arsenic and small water suppliers who would have had to rebuild purifying plants are relieved. As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, the new rules were proposed by the Clinton administration. Now the EPA says the present limit is good enough and that better health research is needed before a new standard can be written.

On National Prayer Day, observed throughout the U.S. today, commentator Joseph Loconte analyzes the success of The Prayer of Jabez. It's a book by Bruce Wilkinson which has risen to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The book celebrates a little known character named Jabez who appears in the Old Testament. (3:30) The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson, is published by Multnomah, ISBN # 1576737330.

The Pentagon today was at pains to clarify its policy towards contacts with the Chinese military, saying they would continue but be evaluated case by case. Officials were also intent on dispelling the notion that yesterday's mixed messages on the subject indicated any breakdown in the department's internal lines of command and communication. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports from the Pentagon.

The United States Army will load its M-16 rifles with a new kind of ammunition -- bullets that are lead-free. Noah Adams talks with Michael Dette, chief of technology demonstration at the Army Environmental Center in Aberdeen, Maryland.

Most 30-year-olds grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons, and on ABC, Schoolhouse Rock.

For today's 30-year-olds, the music of the 1980s was the soundtrack of their teen years. Joshua Levs of WABE in Atlanta counts himself as a member of Generation X. He has this look at the music of the '80s.

Race relations loomed large in the news -- and in the lives of 30-year-olds. They talk about being bussed as children and valuing diversity as adults.

The state of California is waging a bitter battle against power generators that sell electricity to the state. Two lawmakers have filed lawsuits against five of the companies, accusing them of price gouging. Meanwhile, Gov. Gray Davis is preparing for a showdown with power generators next week. But representatives of the power producers say the aggressive tactics may backfire and discourage investors from building needed power plants in California. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Athens, where Pope John Paul begins a three-nation pilgrimage tomorrow following the journeys of St. Paul the Apostle. It will be the first visit to Greece by a pope since the Great Schism that split Christianity into eastern and western branches in the year 1054. The population of Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian. A spokesman says the Greek Orthodox Church wants the pope to make what he called a humble and bold gesture of love to help heal the deep distrust between the Orthodox world and Roman Catholic world. After Greece, the pontiff will visit Syria and Malta.

Thirty-year-olds talk about the television shows they remember best, including re-runs of The Brady Bunch.