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The Europop band called Blur has been immensely popular in Britain for nearly seven years - yet the band can't seem to crack the U.S. market. Some say their music is too happy ...others say it's too snide. Rick Karr profiles the band and tries to find out just what it is.

SCOTT SPEAKS WITH ITALIAN PHARMACOLOGIST PIERO DOLARA WHO RECENTLY LEAD A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS IN A STUDY OF MYRRH (mer). IN THE BIBLE IT SAYS THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS OFFERED MYRRH BEFORE HIS CRUCIFIXION TO EASE HIS PAIN. THE SCIENTISTS WANTED TO FIND OUT IF MYRRH IN FACT HAS PAINKILLING PROPERTIES AND IF IT MIGHT BE USEFUL TODAY AS A PAIN REMEDY.

Using scrap tires as fill to build roads is becoming a popular way to solve the nationwide surfeit of used tires. But Jennie Schmidt of member station K-P-L-U in Seattle reports that two roads built with tire chips have been burning for months, and leaching noxious chemicals into nearby water. It could put an end to this novel form of recycling.

NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that foreign policy, once thought to be less imporant than domestic policy during a presidential election season, is fast becoming an issue with the recent crises in Cuba, Israel and Northern Ireland.

Photographer FAZAL SHEIKH. Since graduating from Princton University in 1987 he has won an impressive collection of awards including the Leica Medal of Excellence, The Ruttenberg Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His new book "A Sense of Common Ground," (Scalo) presents a series of photographs taken of African refugees from several different camps. The book was published along with a traveling exibition, opening at the International Center for Photography in New York City

Clinton about the start of the Middle East anti-terrorism summit.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports that Israelis are divided over how effective tomorrow's terrorism summit in Egypt will be. Supporters say that intelligence sharing will help Israel protect itself against acts of terrorism, while critics say the conference will do little except play into Prime Minister Shimon Peres' hands.

Linda speaks with Paul Burka, the executive editor of Texas Monthly, and John Pancake, campaign editor at the Miami Herald, about today's presidential primaries in their respective states. Burka says most candidates regarded Texas as belonging to Sen. Phil Gramm while he was still in the race, but now the state is solid Dole country. Pancake says Dole is clearly ahead in Florida as well, athough there is no particular enthusiasm for him. Statewide polls indicate Flordia will be competitive in November.

Commentator Paul Durrenberger says ours is a society that places a high premium on precision. We like our checkbooks balanced to the penny, and we wear digital watches that clock time to the hundreth of the second. But often, Durrenberger maintains, the precision implied by such authoritative numbers is largely a pretence.