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Linda Wertheimer talks with David Richardson, a farmer from County Carlow, Ireland, about the measures being taken to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease. There has been only one case of foot and mouth disease in Ireland.

NPR's Ivan Watson reports on vigilante justice in southeastern Nigeria. A provincial government has hired a machete-toting militia called "The Bakassi Boys" to deal with a spate of armed robberies. The results have been bloody but immensely popular, and the crime rate has dropped sharply.

Taliban leaders recently ordered the destruction of two ancient statues of Buddha, carved into a mountain in the third and fifth centuries. The monuments are considered offensive to Islam. But commentator Andrew Lam knows smashing a physical statue will not erase the spiritual message of Buddhism.

In the third part of his series on the oil century, John Burnett reports that high technology has reinvented the oil and gas industries. Companies can now find oil in places once considered impossible, such as deep beneath the ocean. They also can use high-tech instruments to find oil in spent and all but forgotten places, such as the Spindletop oil field. The new wildcatters say oil supplies may be finite, but the reach of knowledge is infinite. (12:30) More information and previous audio segments can be found on our Spindletop feature page, which accompanies this series on the oil and gas industry.

Phillip Davis reports that 14 year old Lionel Tate was sentenced today to life in prison without parole. Lionel was convicted in January of first degree murder in the 1999 death of a playmate, who died as Lionel imitated the violent wrestling shows he liked to watch. Broward County judge Joel Lazarus imposed the mandatory sentence after refusing to reduce the verdict to a lesser charge. He described the murder of 6 year old Tiffany Eunick as "callous and indescribably cruel." Defense attorneys said they would ask Gov. Jeb Bush to commute the sentence.

Commentator Judith Rich Harris says at times there isn't much a parent can do to prevent a child from using a gun at school and that signs are often not obvious. She says the best preventive measure is simply not to own guns.

NPR's Ketzel Levine explores the natural beauty of wildflowers in Arizona. Last fall the area got about 4 inches of rain, which made for an early-blooming, and record-setting wildflower season this year. (6:10-6:35) For more, check out Talking Plants.

As the global economy knits countries closer together, it becomes easier for diseases to spread through states, over borders and across oceans doing serious damage to vulnerable populations. American RadioWorks and NPR News present a series on this lethal side effect of globalization.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the latest findings by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding the voting problems that occurred in Florida during last year's election. The Commission announced that it would be monitoring the Florida legislature to see what reforms come out of Tallahassee. In the meantime, there will be hearings held in Florida this spring to see if any change has been implemented since last fall's debacle.

Hockey is a rough sport, but it's proving to be an effective form of therapy for some recent amputees who grew up playing the game. Hockey therapy started in Russia, with soldiers who lost limbs in wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Now it's taking hold in Canada and the U.S. Teams of amputee players will compete in a tournament this weekend in support of a ban on landmines. Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio reports.