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NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that American Edmond Pope went on trial in a Moscow court today, accused of trying to buy Russian military secrets. Pope's supporters deny he's a spy, insisting he's a businessman who was buying declassified Russian technology. Members of the U.S. Congress have urged the Clinton administration to hold up aid to Russia if Pope is convicted. The trial is expected to last several weeks.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports that prosecutors in Argentina are trying to bring to trial members of the former military government who participated in kidnapping the children of "the disappeared." The disappeared were political dissidents who were taken away and later killed during the era known as the "dirty war." Grandmothers of the kidnapped children have conducted an exhaustive campaign to identify kidnap victims and re-unite them with their blood relatives. Prosecutors cannot file murder charges against former military leaders because of a general amnesty, but the amnesty does not cover wide-scale kidnapping of children.

All Things Considered Host Linda Wertheimer traveled to Missouri to talk to voters about their views on the candidates. Today she talks to a group of older white men about their thoughts on the last debate. The encounter doesn't seem to have swayed their support for George W. Bush.

Kentucky's governor has declared a state of emergency in the eastern part of the state, where sludge from a coal mine spilled into two streams last week. Two-hundred-million gallons of toxic slurry -- a byproduct of coal washing with the consistency of wet cement -- have made the usual sources of drinking water in ten county area unfit for use. Noah interviews Larry Priest, a resident of Martin County, Kentucky, with a mobile home next to Cold Water Creek. Priest calls the spill the biggest black milkshake you've ever seen in your life.

Satirist Harry Shearer was recently struck by a thought about the A & E program Biography. What would happen if the show ran out of famous people to profile?

NPR's Ted Clark reports the Clinton Administration is disputing assertions that the 7-year-old framework for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is no longer viable. But a growing number of Palestinians and some Israelis say the violence of the past three weeks has irrevocably altered the situation.

Researchers from Yale and Brown Universities report in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association that they have measured the actual brain volume of children who were born prematurely, using M.R.I. scans once the children reached eight years of age. They found that the earlier the premature birth, the more insult to the brain, resulting in a related decrease in I.Q. test scores. It's a first step towards quantifying how much delayed brain development affects intelligence. NPR's Michelle Trudeau has the story.

NPR's Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem reports there were sporadic clashes in the West Bank and Gaza today, the day after the Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to work toward ending the violence. But in a development that could re-ignite the unrest, Israel Radio reports security forces have arrested some of the Palestinians suspected of taking part in the mob killing of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah last week.

In the third and final debate last night, presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore presented radically different cures for the issues that ail America. For Democrat Gore, the answers lie in policy, and on issue after issue Gore said he disagreed with his opponent. Republican George W. Bush took different tack. He argued that the real difference was who could be trusted, who could get things done, and he pointed to his record in Texas. In marshalling evidence to support their divergent views, both candidates occasionally stretched the truth. NPR's Peter Kenyon sets the record straight.

The major party candidates for president returned to campaigning in swing states today after holding their third and final debate last night in St. Louis. Both camps treated today's events as victory rallies, claiming their man had the upper hand last night. NPR's Anthony Brooks has the latest on the Gore camp, and NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on the Bush campaign.