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President Biden's meeting with the pope is a fairly recent tradition for U.S. presidents. His meeting will mark the 31st time a U.S. president has met with the leader of the Catholic Church.

Critic Tom Manoff reviews Mikhail Pletnev, Live at Carnegie Hall. Manoff says Pletnev looks for the musical essence in every piece he plays, and probes the piano for every inch of sound and color, as if it were an orchestra. The electricity of the concert hall that night is very present on the recording. The audience responded with five encores, which are included on an extra disc with this release. The label is Deutsche Grammophon, copyright 2001.

Host Bob Edwards talks with NPR's Andy Bowers about the testimony of Captain Scott Waddle of the USS Greeneville. The Naval Court of Inquiry into the fatal submarine accident with a Japanese fishing boat ended yesterday.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that the Chinese government has arrested a computer analyst who is based in the U.S. The Chinese-born professor at the American University in Washington, D.C., who was traveling in China, is being charged with endangering national security.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports on the newly appointed Argentine Economics Minister, Domingo Cavallo. Cavallo gave the Argentine economy a much-needed boost ten years ago when inflation rates were sky-high. Many hope he'll do the same for the struggling economy this time around.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on the reaction among investors to the FederalReserve's cut of interest rates by only a half of a percentage point. Some had expected a more aggressive, three-quarter percent cut.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez continues the series on literacy on Morning Edition with a visit to an Ohio school where students and teachers take standardized tests this month. Some educators complain that classroom curriculum focuses entirely on preparing students for performance tests, rather than developing critical thinking skills.

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.

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 president of the International Flat Earth Society has died in Lancaster, Calif. Charles Johnson believed the Earth is actually as flat and circular as a phonograph record, with the North Pole right in the middle. Johnson and his fellow believers have rejected NASA and space exploration as an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the government. He was 76 years old.