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NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Maidstone, England, that a jury found Dutch truck driver Perry Wacker guilty of manslaughter today in the deaths of 58 illegal Chinese migrants. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Wacker transported the Chinese migrants in his truck on a ferry from Belgium to Dover last year.

NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on a new trend in medicine -- using extreme treatments for diseases that aren't immediately life-threatening. We look at how doctors are using bone-marrow transplants and other treatments traditionally reserved for severe cancer cases in patients with diseases like arthritis and multiple sclerosis. It's a controversial approach and effectiveness studies are only now getting started. But it's helping some people return to normal, disease-free lives.

Alchemy in outer space? Not exactly. But a new theory about gold -- and some other heavy metals -- suggests they're created when two specific types of stars collide. Linda Wertheimer talks Stephen Rosswog, research associate in physics and astronomy at the University of Leicester, England.

Today, President Bush expressed his own regrets about Sunday's collision between an American reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter jet. And he shrugged off the budget setback dealt by the Senate yesterday. The budget process is a long and winding road, the president said. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from the White House.

As the reconnaissance plane standoff continues, the Chinese government must take into account the opinions of its own people, even though the political voice of the masses is muted. The public mood is one of anger and disappointment at the United States. NPR's Rob Gifford samples opinion outside the U.S. embassy and in McDonalds in Beijing.

As the U.S. works to figure out how the collision between an American reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter jet took place, talks between the two nations are intensifying. China is still holding the 24 crew of the EP-3, which also remains in China's custody. The U.S. is trying to win their release and the plane's return. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

Robert Siegel talks with retired Lt. Gen. William E. Odom about how pilots are trained to behave when they are in the custody of another nation. Odom is former head of the National Security Agency, director of National Security Studies at the Hudson Institute, and adjunct professor of political science at Yale University.

The California utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric, has filed for bankruptcy. NPR's Larry Abramson reports on difficulties this bankruptcy presents for California consumers and for the courts.

Lisa talks with NPR's White House correspondent Don Gonyea about the continuing diplomatic stand-off with China over the collision between a U.S. military spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter. Twenty-four American military personnel remain detained on the Chinese island of Hainan.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Richmond about the Virginia General Assembly trying to re-shape it's political districts after the 2000 census results. This is the first time that the GOP is the dominant party in the Virginia Assembly, and they may inflict some payback for years of Democratic control.

Commentator Joel Achenbach says everyone needs to wander a bit more.

Host Bob Edwards takes a look at a new book about the singer and actor Paul Robeson. The Undiscovered Paul Robeson was written by his son, Paul Robeson Jr.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports President Bush publicly warned China that Sino-American relations could be damaged if the EP-3 crew remains in detention. The administration and Congress face several key decisions on China and Taiwan in the next few months.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports the president of Taiwan has urged the United States to use wisdom in ending its standoff with China over the detained American crew. Taiwan could well be affected by the outcome of this crisis. The island wants to make a major arms purchase from the United States. Beijing opposes the sale.

NPR's Michelle Kelemen reports that thousands of supporters of Russia's independent NTV television channel rallied in St. Petersburg yesterday, backing what the station's journalists call a fight against the Kremlin to save free media.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on the crash landing of the movie theater industry, which was weighed-down by too many giant theater complexes. The industry overbuilt, and now some companies are going bankrupt.

NPR film critic Bob Mondello used to be in the movie business as a publicist for a regional chain of movie theaters in the Mid-Atlantic states. He explains how the streamlining of the theater business could affect what you see.

NPR's Richard Harris reports on new findings that the world's oceans are warming. Heretofore there has been strong evidence showing a warming of the atmosphere and land, probably in large part due to industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. The ocean was something of a mystery -- was it a heat sink or heat emitter? Evidence suggests human activity is warming it.

Noah Adams talks with 78-year Arthur Rodder of Montevideo, Minn., about the rising water in his town. The Chippewa and Minnesota rivers are expected to crest this Saturday -- reaching levels seen in 1997 when much of the region was flooded. Four years ago, Mr. Rodder lost the gas station he had owned for 52 years. This time he says he and his family are better prepared.

NPR's Robert Smith reports the crew of the EP-3 reconnaissance plane is back on American soil. The crew was welcomed to Hawaii in a simple arrival ceremony outside Honolulu. To many of the onlookers, members of the crew are heroes. The pilot, who landed the damaged plane safely in southern China, reassure family members that the crew was well and anxious to see them.

Linda Wertheimer and Noah Adams read from this week's listener letters. (4:00) To contact All Things Considered, write to "Letters," All Things Considered, 635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20001. The e-mail address is atc@npr.org.

The only video of the Navy crew boarding the plane that took them off Hainan Island last night was on CNN. The video crew sent its pictures using a videophone together with a satellite phone powered by a car battery. Linda Wertheimer talks with Eason Jordan, chief news executive and newsgathering president for CNN in Atlanta.

President Bush, speaking on March 29th, explains why he decided the United States should not ratify the 1997 Kyoto treaty on Global Warming. Host Bob Edwards discusses the Global Warming Treaty with David Victory, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and author of the book, The Collapse of the Kyoto Protocol and the Struggle to Slow Global Warming.

Host Bob Edwards describes two new studies out today in the journal Science. They conclude that global warming over the last fifty years is due to human-released greenhouse gasses.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports that the cell phone industry is jockeying for radio frequency space long held by the U.S. military and by educational broadcasters. Providers say they want more frequencies to create a new generation of wireless Internet devices.