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The Bush administration issues long-awaited revisions to clean-air regulations, allowing utilities, refineries and manufacturers to avoid having to install expensive new anti-pollution equipment when modernizing plants. NPR's John Nielsen reports.

David Rockefeller, grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller and a chief architect of the family's philanthropic efforts, has published his memoirs at age 87. He speaks with NPR's Scott Simon.

Chris Baty believes everybody has a novel within them. Some people simply still need to get it down on paper. He's organized National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, to try to encourage that. John Ydstie talks with Chris Baty about NaNoWriMo.

NPR's John McChesney reports that Visa and Mastercard have agreed on a single technical standard that they say will allow for secure purchases over the Internet. The two credit card giants had been pursuing different systems with conflicting security specifications. Today's announcement means banks and consumers will not have to worry about choosing one system over the other.

NPR's John Ydstie reports the Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates by a quarter-point today. Policymakers at the Fed cut the Fed Funds rate -- the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans -- to 5.25 percent. It was the third time in the last six months the Fed has moved to lower rates over concern about weakness in the economy.

Five years ago this weekend, the U.S. was about to go to war with Iraq. For the record, we play excerpts from the Congressional debate that preceded a vote authorizing President George Bush to use force. We hear from republican Robert Michel, who was Senate Minority Leader; and from Congressman John Lewis, a democrat from Georgia.

NPR's John McChesney reports the online service Compuserve says it plans to reopen access to nearly 200 sexually-oriented discussion groups to all but its German customers by the end of the month. Compuserve closed the forums after prosecutors in Germany said some of the material in the groups violated German obscenity laws.

Medical ethicist ART CAPLAN. Director of the Center for Bioethics and Trustee Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. This is a continuation of yesterday's interview with CAPLAN. His most recent book is "Moral Matters: Ethical Issues in Medicine and the Life Sciences." (John Wiley & Sons). (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW

Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary apologized today for mismanaging her expensive overseas official travel. But she also defended the trips, in her testimony before the House Commerce investigations subcommittee. O'Leary said her missions abroad generated business for American firms and benefitted U-S foreign policy. NPR's John Nielsen reports.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that Iraq's acceptance of a U.N. plan that would allow Iraqi oil producers to export 2 billion dollars' worth of oil likely won't bring an immediate drop in the world's oil prices. But experts say U.S. consumers can expect to see lower prices at the gasoline pump in coming months as a result of the plan.

NPR's Deidre Berger reports from Berlin where Pope John Paul the Second celebrated mass yesterday in the stadium Adolf Hitler built for the Olympics of 1936. The Pope beatified two German priests for their resistance to the Third Reich. The Pope omitted some phrases of his prepared speech that claimed the "entire" Roman Catholic church had fought against the tyranny of the Nazis.

The U.S. trade deficit increased to its highest level in eight years as imports increased and exports failed to keep pace. NPR's John Ydstie talks with Robert about whether the widening of the nation's trade deficit is a good or a bad thing and what the prospects are for the future.

- President Clinton announced today he is convening a summit of Middle Eastern leaders in Washington early this week to calm the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting and to put the Middle East peace process back on track. NPR's John Neilsen reports on the political sensitivities surrounding the summit and the rival Israeli and Palestinian concepts of what conssitutes peace.

NPR's John Ydstie reports on a volatile day of trading on Wall Street, but the selloff that started in Asia and spread to Europe did not have much effect in New York today. Markets around the world saw stock values plunge on remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that hinted at Federal Reserve concern about "irrationally exuberant" markets.

NPR's John Ydstie reports the unemployment rate edged slightly higher in September...and now stands at 5.2%. Labor Department figures released this morning show an economy that's cooled considerably since June. Wall Street was surprised by a decline in business payrolls, which declined by 40,000 in September.

There's a new cd by the Hilliard Ensemble, singing a compostition by Estonian-born composer Arvo Part. The music is based on a series of 24 prayers...one for each hour of the day...written by St. John Chrysostom. Music critic Tom Manoff says there is magic buried deep in the music. (3:30) (S

NPR's John McChesney reports Intel, the world's largest computer-chip maker, is unveling a new generation of its popular pentium processor. The MMX chip will improve the way a computer handles video, audio and graphics, according to Intel officials. The new chip is said to be fully compatible with earlier chip designs and operating systems.

NPR's John Burnett joins host Steve Inskeep from the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, where NASA missions are directed and its people are considered to be friends and family.

Something was "fishy" at last summer's bass tournament in Monticello, Ind. Would-be champion angler Danny Engleking pleaded guilty this past week to using substitute fish from an underwater cage. Host Steve Inskeep speaks with environmental officer John Raines, who hooked Engleking in a videotaped sting operation.

NPR's John Nielsen reports on the long-awaited new rules from Environmental Protection Agency that will significantly reduce pollutants from diesel fuel. The EPA says the limits will save lives and millions of cases of respiratory disease. Oil refiners will have to modify the way they make diesel, and engine manufacturers will have to add pollution control devices--changes they say will cost the consumer.