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Music critic Banning Eyre has a review of the latest CD from African superstar Youssou N'Dour. It's called Egypt, and Eyre says it's very different than anything N'Dour has done in the past, and calls it "a work of grandeur and conviction."

Iowa's Maytag Farms is a small producer of gourmet-caliber blue cheese. Experts say it's a good example of "place-based" food, a movement emerging as a viable alternative to commodity farming. Hear NPR's Greg Allen.

The Museum of Modern Art is opposing a Jewish family and the U.S. government over a painting seized by the Nazis in 1939. MOMA wants the work by Austrian painter Egon Schiele sent back to the Austrian foundation that lent it for a show. But under U.S. law, "Portrait of Wally" could be stolen property that should be returned to the family. David D'Arcy reports.

Earlier this month, President Bush appointed Kansas City, Mo. attorney Gerald Reynolds to take over as chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The advisory panel had been led for more than half its 47-year existence by Mary Frances Berry, an activist who became a polarizing figure. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

One week after a tsunami killed tens of thousands in coastal areas of Indonesia's northern Aceh province, relief workers are only beginning to make headway. The scale of the disaster, and the need for aid, is staggering -- there are no vehicles to carrying needed supplies, and aid workers fear mass starvation if food supplies aren't distributed in the next several days. NPR's Adam Davidson reports.

President Bush's plan to allow private accounts for Social Security may send a lot of business to Wall Street; but lobbyists for reform say the returns for financial firms are not necessarily so great. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

Michael Chertoff, President Bush's nominee to head Homeland Security, has worked for both Republicans and Democrats. And he's been both lauded and criticized by civil libertarians. NPR's Robert Smith reports.

Meredith Ochs reviews a new music CD by Capt. James T. Kirk, also known as William Shatner. The album, Has Been, is a funny and philosophical collaboration between the former Star Trek star and musician Ben Folds, among others.

Critic David Edelstein reviews The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, now in theaters. He calls the TV cartoon that spawned the animated film "a joyful spasm of whacked-out surrealism," but says the film has a much more straightforward plot and some pedestrian characters.

Growing up in a racially segregated neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa, Neal Petersen overcame both physical disability and apartheid to become the first man of African heritage to race solo around the globe in a sailboat. He shares his incredible story with NPR's Tony Cox — a story detailed in his autobiography Journey of a Hope Merchant.