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Pope John Paul II begins his week-long tour of Latin America today. This trip includes stops in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Hopes run high that this visit will help shore up support for the Catholic church in a region that has traditionally been one of its strongholds. Emma Paterson reports from Guatemala on how increasingly popular evangelical churches are posing a threat to the dominance of the Catholic Church in Central America.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that Sen. William Cohen, a Republican from Maine, announced this morning that he will not seek re-election this year to a fourth term. Cohen's announcement brings to 13 the number of U.S. senators who have said they will be leaving the Senate, the largest number in one year ever. Cohen, a moderate who had been critical of other moderates bailing out of politics, cited frustration with the current budget stalemate for his decision.

NPR's Jon Greenberg reports that President Bill Clinton used his weekly radio address to begin making the case for deploying American troops in Bosnia. Clinton said a deployment is in the best interests of American security and in keeping with the country's national values. Clinton urged Americans to support his plan to send 20,000 U.S. soldiers as part of a 60,000-strong NATO force that will try to guarantee peace in a land torn by four years of bloodshed, atrocities and ethnic cleansing.

Noah Adams speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Kyle Pope about last week's IRA bombing in London. Pope says there is new evidence that the bombing was planned even before former Senator George Mitchell's peace plan was made public three weeks ago. -b- 14. THE PATRIOT - Alan Cheuse reviews a new novel by British writer Pier Paul Read. It's a thriller set in post Cold-War Berlin. The book is published by Random House.

NPR's David Welna reports on the scandal swirling around Colombian President Ernesto Samper, who has been indicted on charges he took millions of dollars from drug traffickers for his election campaign. The charges against Samper helped convince President Clinton to announce today that he will cut off most aid to Colombia because of its failure to do enough in the war against drugs. But while the scandal has caused outrage in Washington, most Colombians are not demanding that Samper resign.

In a straight party line vote the Senate Banking Committee today approved a measure to indefinitely extend the Whitewater committee. NPR'S Jon Greenberg reports Democrats argued that the further into this election year the committee hearings go, the greater the appearance of political motives. In vain, Democrats also appealed to Republicans' sense of history and fairness by pointing out that when Republicans asked for an early end date on the Iran/Contra investigation, Democrats agreed. Today, though, Republicans said too many questions remain and too many witnesses are unavailable until the conclusion of the McDougal-Tucker trial by the Independent Counsel.

By a vote of 74 to 22, the Senate today passed the Helms-Burton bill, which expands sanctions against Cuba. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. that the measure would require an act of Congress to loosen the current U.S. embargo of Cuba, and would permit the United States to aid pro-democracy movements there. It would also allow Cuban exiles whose property was confiscated by the Castro government to sue foreign companies who use that property. The House votes tomorrow.

NPR's Vicky Que reports on a study which shows that pregnancy and birth rates are up again among teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19, and even more dramatic increase occuring in younger teens. This reverses a trend of the early 1980s, when the rate of teen pregnancy and births to teen mothers began to level off. Some analysts thinks sex education needs to start earlier to correspond to the early onset of sexual activity and menarche in young girls in the U.S.

item veto bill today. It will allow a president to eliminate specific items in spending legislation, as well as very narrow tax loopholes and new entitlements. The new law, which presidents have called for for decades, goes into effect next January and will expire in eight years unless Congress extends it. Proponents say it will help cut the deficit. But NPR's Mara Liasson reports that many analysts are skeptical about the line-item veto's effectiveness.

NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on the diplomatic tangle with China over its failure to curb counterfeiting of American intellectual property. Computer software, CDs, and numerous other easily copied goods continue to pour out of China a year after the Chinese government agreed to crack down on this trade. American companies say they're losing billions, but they don't speak with one voice. Microsoft, for example, wants sanctions, but Boeing fears the Chinese will retaliate by buying planes elsewhere.