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Anthony Kuhn reports there was no progress in the first day of U.S./Chinese talks to resolve disputes left over from the April 1 collision of an American surveillance plane and Chinese jet fighter. Beijing wants U.S. surveillance flights in the area to end. Washington says they will not end. Meanwhile, the damaged U.S. plane is still in Chinese hands.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports volunteers have returned to Japan's western coast to resume efforts to clean up one of the country's worst oil spills. Bad weather kept people out of the area for most of the last week. The volunteers are critical of the Japanese governmment's handling of the crisis, and residents of coastal communities are worried about their ability to make a living in the future.

The Conoco Oil company says it wants to drill two oil wells in the middle of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The government said it would honor existing development leases when it created the monument last year and Conoco has held leases in the area for nearly a decade. Environmental groups say they will fight. NPR's Howard Berkes reports.

Gary Scott of member station WKMS in Murray, Kentucky reports that fall is the mating season for elk and that the mating call, known as bugling is an important part of the ritual. At Land Between the Lakes a recreation area in Western Kentucky, the bull elk create quite a racket as they bugle to attract female elk, or establish their own dominance and warn away potential competitors.

A new study indicates that kids who get special emphasis on music and arts classes also do well in other areas, such as math and reading. In the study, elementary school students who were given more music and arts classes that encouraged active participation tended to score better on subsequent math and reading tests. Michelle Trudeau reports.

A massive irrigation and hydropower project in Turkey is alarming Syria and Iraq. They fear that around half their current supply of fresh water could be cut off by their neighbor. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Turkey that its plan to build 22 dams has the region realizing that water is as strategic a resource as oil has been to the area's politics and economies.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Macedonia that ethnic Albanian guerrillas today announced an unlimited, unilateral cease-fire to allow for negotiations with the government. The guerrillas made the offer just hours before a government ultimatum was to run out. The government ordered the rebels to surrender or withdraw from the areas they hold around the city of Tetovo or face an all-out assault.

The U.S. military continues its advance toward Baghdad, despite resistance in some areas. The Army's 3rd Infrantry Division makes it within 100 miles of the capital city, but encounters Iraqi troops near the Muslim holy city of Najaf. And ground fighting intensifies in the port city of Umm Qasr. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep.

Robert talks with NPR's Martha Raddatz about the future of U.S. involvement in Bosnia, and the possible expansion of the role of the U.S. military in tracking down war criminals in that area. Balkan leaders have agreed to hold elections in Bosnia by September 14th, but there are no guarantees that the guidelines established in the Dayton Peace Accords will have any effect on the process.

Today marked the closing of four days of peace talks being held in South Africa between the Zaire government and rebels seeking to overthrow President Mobutu Sese Seko. No ceasefire decision was reached, but there were areas of common agreement over the need for a ceasefire and democratic elections. It's not known when further meetings will be held. The BBC's Richard Downes reports.

Sad accounts of babies being dumped to die prompted many areas of the country to designate places where parents could safely abandon their newborns and escape prosecution. However, hardly any infants have been turned in this way. NPR's Jerome Vaughn reports from Detroit that supporters of the idea say they just need to back their good intentions with publicity.

Republican senators fall well short of the votes needed to keep alive a proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska. Thursday's vote all but assures that ANWR oil exploration won't be a part of the energy bill sent to President Bush. View a map of the area and a photo gallery of some wild ANWR inhabitants.

The Environmental Protection Agency tells officials in 31 states that new air-pollution controls are needed to control smog in counties containing more than 150 million people. The EPA, acting under court order, said 474 counties have air that fails federal standards or contributes to pollution in a neighboring area. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.

A suicide car bombing near a U.S. base in Baqubah kills one U.S. soldier and several Iraqis. In Mosul, a car bomb aimed at the area's provincial council kills several Iraqi bystanders. South of Baghdad, six soldiers from Poland, Latvia and Slovakia are killed while defusing mines. Hear NPR's Emily Harris.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Adeed Dawisha, professor of political science at Miami University, Ohio, about the region in Iraq commonly referred to as the Sunni triangle. Dawisha says the area, which more closely resembles a rectangle, is home to only 2% of the Iraqi population, but roughly two-thirds of all attacks on U.S. troops occur there.

It's been a year since the priest abuse scandal broke in the Roman Catholic church, and for some of the hundreds of victims in the Boston area this has been one of the most painful of their lives. Others say that seeking justice and talking about what happened to them has marked the first steps toward healing. NPR's Tovia Smith spoke with some of these victims.

President Bush makes his first public remarks concerning the recent surge of casualties in Iraq as he toured fire-ravaged areas of Southern California Tuesday. The president expressed his sadness and concern for the families of the dead and wounded but said the United States was protecting its national security by its presence in Iraq. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

A boat carrying two Palestinians explodes, killing both men and wounding four members of an Israeli naval patrol off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Israel bans Palestinian boat traffic in the area. And an army probe of a U.N. aid worker's death on the West Bank is blamed on an accidental shooting by an Israeli soldier. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Israel continues to pound Lebanon with bombs for a 10th day, primarily targeting Shiite areas in the south and east of the country. An Israeli general has warned that Israel could expand ground operations in southern Lebanon, where there have been fierce clashes between its troops and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, civilians in Lebanon continue to seek shelter from the fighting.

Pentagon officials now say Abu Musab al-Zarqawi briefly survived the U.S. air strike that flattened his hideout. Briefing reporters from Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell said that Iraqi police reached Zarqawi after the attack. When U.S. forces entered the area, they found that Zarqawi was on a makeshift stretcher.