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After a five-day struggle to save it, a 40-story-high oil rig sank today off the coast of Brazil with 400,000 gallons of crude oil and diesel fuel on board. Last Thursday, 10 people died when gas explosions damaged the rig. Now officials are trying to prevent an environmental disaster. Noah Adams talks with reporter Tom Gibb.

American Lori Berenson begins her retrial on terrorism charges in connection with a leftist guerilla plot to seize Peru's Congress. Berenson was originally sentenced to life by a military tribunal five years ago. The retrial comes after the United States complained about a lack of due process in the first trial. Claire Marshall reports from Lima.

Commentator and high school junior Thessaly La Force says it's still pretty easy for a teenager to keep her life a secret from her parents. In addition to feeling she has too much independence, she thinks kids only tell other kids their closest secrets because it's too big a risk to tell an adult.

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.

NASA and its Russian counterpart have been quietly sparring over an American businessman named Dennis Tito. Tito is paying the Russians a reported $20 million for a ride into space. Russia plans to take him to the international space station. NASA doesn't like that idea. NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the first official response by NASA to Russian determination to send Tito to the station.

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.

Classical Music Critic LLOYD SCHWARTZ reviews a series of concerts by Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

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.

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.

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.

Vice Premier Qian Qichen is in Washington. He is the highest ranking Chinese official to visit since the Bush administration took office. Qian will meet with the president tomorrow at the White House. China's top concern right now is a decision Mr. Bush must soon make on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Taiwan wants to buy advanced anti-missile technology (Aegis destroyers) but China is adamantly opposed to such a sale. If the sale goes through, some analysts say China will drop the more moderate stance it has recently adopted toward Taiwan. Other analysts say China's views should not be a factor in any U.S. decision to sell weapons to Taiwan.