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Religion scholar Karen Armstrong. The best-selling author of The History of God, and The Battle for God, has a new book about the life of Buddha. From North India, Sidhatta Gotama, renounced normal life, leaving his wife and child to live alone and attain enlightenment. He found it through his own experiences, did not rely on a supernatural God, and fought against the cult of personality that would turn him into a leader. Instead the Buddha taught his disciples to discover the truth within themselves. His teachings flourished in India for 1500 years and then spread to Tibet, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Armstrong's book Buddha is published by Penguin Lives.

FBI agent Robert Hannsen is accused of 15 years of spying for Russia. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says Hannsen may have held America in contempt, but his main motive for spying appears to be plain greed.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that Pope John Paul the Second formally inducted 44 prelates into the College of Cardinals today.

Robert Siegel speaks with Imam Kamad Ahmad Chebly. Chebly is an American Muslim cleric who is now in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, preparing for the Islamic pilgrimage, the Hajj. The Hajj officially begins tomorrow.

In January, a federal circuit court in Washington, D.C., ruled that a Federal Communications Commission order requiring broadcasters to conduct broad community outreach before making hiring decisions was unconsitutional race discrimination. Today the FCC decided to rehear the case, and commentator David Cole says this is a good thing.

NPR's Guy Raz in Ankara reports on the financial crisis that has gripped Turkey ever since a public spat between the president and the prime minister sparked fears of a government collapse. Underlying the crisis is Turkey's endemic corruption.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has granted asylum to a severely disabled boy from Pakistan on grounds he would face persecution because of his autism if he returned home. NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports that some say this Chicago case will not ease asylum claims for other disabled people.

Alix Spiegel reports on a phenomenon happening in the backyards of teenage boys around the country -- wrestling. They are re-enacting the wrestling they see on TV, that strange mix of violence and theatre and sport. Spiegel visits Littleferry, N.J., where a group of high school students have put together a backyard stage with rope and plywood and mattresses. They videotape the event, where they kick, slam and bruise each other; occasionally they draw blood. The boys say most matches are choreographed so no one gets seriously hurt, but they say the pain they inflict actually bonds them to one another.

Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Chris Arnold, who's in the courtroom in San Francisco where a judge is hearing arguments on whether the online music service Napster should be shut down. A lawyer for Napster said today that the company will voluntarily introduce a screening system this weekend, which could block Napster users from trading nearly a million titles of pirated music. The company says instead of being forced to shut down, it should be allowed to police its system -- and it offered the screening method today as a way in which it will do that.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told lawmakers today that inflation is still well-contained and that recent increases in wholesale and consumer prices are mere blips on the screen. Greenspan was asked whether the Fed had waited too long before moving to cut interest rates in late January. Greenspan defended the central bank's actions and said the answer to the question is "No."

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from London that new cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been reported throughout Britain. Ireland is throwing up its defense against the spread, deploying troops along the border with Northern Ireland, where cases have turned up.

Linda Wertheimer speaks with Stefan Fatsis of the Wall Street Journal about the financial juggling that takes place every year in the National Football League. NFL payrolls are subject to mandated salary caps, resulting -- this year -- in a purge of veteran football stars. They also discuss how pro-baseball player salaries have become the story at this year's spring training.