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Critic Ken Tucker reviews Dog in the Sand by Frank Black and the Catholics.

A paper in today's New England Journal of Medicine reports that treating Parkinson's disease patients by transplanting fetal cells into their brains produced severe side effects in some cases. NPR's Joe Palca looks at what this means for further research.

The BBC's Andrew Harding reports on a new novel by John LeCarre that has been banned by the Kenyan government. The book is set in that nation and describes deep corruption within the government.

NPR's Susan Stamberg talks with actor and director Ed Harris about his new film, Pollock, in which he portrays the enigmatic abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

Film director Rob Sitch. He and his creative team at Working Dog, got their start in morning radio, then switched to TV. They made their first feature film The Castle in 1997. Their newest film The Dish is based on the true story of how three Australian scientists made possible the worldwide broadcast of Neil Armstrongs first steps on the moon. The film stars Sam Neill and Patrick Warburton ("Puddy" on Seinfeld).

The cost of AIDS drugs keeps going down in the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. Yesterday, the giant pharmeceutical company Merck announced that it would lower prices for three important AIDS drugs, and just after that, two other companies that make generic AIDS drugs offered to sell their versions to the government of South Africa. There's a price war going on. NPR's Brenda Wilson in Johannesburg talks with host Robert Siegel about the issue.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem that Ariel Sharon took office as Israel's prime minister today. Security forces were deployed around the country to guard against bomb attacks during the annual Jewish holiday of Purim. The holiday is normally the most festive on Israel's calender, but the mood this year is somber.

In the second part of our series on the oil century, NPR's John Burnett reports on the environmental legacy of oil and gas production. For every barrel of oil and gas produced, some 50 barrels of salt water or brine are created. The salinity fouls the well and the land around it. A lot of big oil companies have sold their leases to smaller independent companies and many of them have decided not to take care of their wells, leaving a large number of orphan wells leaking brine. In Texas, both the government and the oil industry are in favor of plugging up these polluting wells. The state plugs 1300-1500 wells a year. The activists in this case are not environmentalists, but land-owners.

Writer DAGOBERTO GILB. His first book of short stories –The Magic of Blood— was published in 1993. Since then hes written a novel, –The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuna.— His new book is a collection of stories about women, –Woodcuts of Women.—

Book critic MAUREEN CORRIGAN reviews –My Dream of You— (Riverhead) by Irish writer Nuala OFaolain.