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A rice enriched with beta-carotene promises to boost the health of poor children around the world. But critics say golden rice is also a clever PR move for a biotech industry driven by profits, not humanitarianism.

In Russia, a prominent dancer with the fabled Bolshoi Ballet has confessed to ordering an attack on the company's director. The director suffered third degree burns after acid was thrown onto his face. For more on the scandals at the Bolshoi, Renee Montagne talks to writer Christina Ezrahi, author of Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia.

The newest movie version of The Wizard of Oz, opens this weekend. Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco as the wizard. The movie goes beyond the Technicolor wonder of the famous MGM film to a full-blown 2013 treatment with 3D and surround sound.

Also: Self-portraits of famous authors; why two major spring novels have the same title; and literary statues from around the world.

Also: Obama looks for "spring thaw" with Congress; Chávez's final words; Berlusconi's conviction; and winter storm moves into New England.

The grill "is the one and only male-dominated appliance in America," says a researcher who recently crunched the numbers. He found that men are more than twice as likely as women to be the primary grillers at home. One reason? Grilling can feel like a form of recreation.

Nearly 18 million tourists descend on our nation's capitol every year, and most of them are keen to spend time at the many free museums in Washington, D.C. But only about 100,000 people take the trip across the river to a museum of a different sort: the Pentagon. The Pentagon's exhaustive historical displays offer fresh insight into the range of the Defense Department's activities.

NPR's Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read Snowflake by Winona Wendth of Lancaster, Mass., and Geometry by Eugenie Montague of Los Angeles.

Host Scott Simon catches up on the week's sports with NPR's Tom Goldman.

The complex identities navigated by black Puerto Ricans play out in the music of hip-hop artist Tego Calderón and one of his inspirations, Ismael Rivera.