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The Arabic-language television news network Al-Jazeera comes under fire from British and American military officials, as well as from some Arab viewers. Al-Jazeera is broadcasting graphic pictures of dead British and American soldiers and footage of American POWs being interrogated by Iraqis. NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

Austin, Texas, bills itself as the music capital of the world, and this is the week it earns that title. Austin hosts the 17th annual South by Southwest music festival. Every stage in the city is throbbing with live music, and artists are even playing on the street. Hear NPR's Rick Karr.

In an act of solidarity, New York actors join Broadway's musicians in a strike to keep live, pit orchestras playing in theaters. Following weeks of negotiations, the musicians' union and the League of American Theatres and Producers fail to reach an agreement over a new contract. Hear Jeff Lunden's report.

Paddy Keenan is an Irish musician descended from a long line of traveling pipers. In the 1970s, Keenan cofounded the influential group the Bothy Band. The group added driving rhythms to traditional Irish music. On the CD The Long Grazing Acre, Keenan plays the Irish bagpipes. Keenan discusses his music with NPR's Melissa Block.

Director Gurinder Chadha's hit British film Bend It Like Beckham is now attracting attention in the United States. It tells the story of Jess, a young Indian-British girl who wants to play soccer like her idol, sports celebrity David Beckham. NPR's Jacki Lyden reports.

Marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Washington's Folger Shakespeare Library puts on an exhibition to commemorate her reign. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports.

At eight-foot-two, he's easily the biggest star in children's television. But it's a small world inside the costume of Sesame Street's Big Bird. Caroll Spinney, who also performs Oscar the Grouch, discusses the evolution of Big Bird with NPR's Bob Edwards. See a video clip of Spinney's characters.

The latest action movie, Tears of the Sun, finds actor Bruce Willis portraying a veteran officer of a Navy SEAL unit in Africa who finds himself conflicted between following military orders and his own conscience. Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan says the film is actually a humanitarian action flick.

Director Federico Fellini called an interview he gave to filmmaker Damian Pettigrew, "the most detailed conversation ever... of my personal vision." That interview is now the basis of Fellini: I'm a Born Liar, a new film from Pettigrew. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

Poor CD sales and Internet theft of song files spell tough times for the mainstream music business, but it's a different story for musicians who reject the conventional "record label" business model. For these artists, the same trends that hurt the conventional recorded-music industry prove to be a boon for independent musicians and producers. Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers reports.