February 6, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Starr Investigation Leaks -- All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer talks with Jeffrey Toobin, a staff writer for The New Yorker magzine, a legal analyst for ABC News, and a former federal prosecutor. They discuss the statute against revealing information under the seal of the court. Toobin also talks about the complicated relationship between the people who leak information and the press.

Olympic Preview -- The 18th Winter Olympics are about to begin in Nagano, Japan with the traditional opening ceremony. Twenty-four hundred athletes from a record 72 countries are gathered in the northern Japanese city for the 16 days of competition. Reporting from Nagano, NPR's Tom Goldman has a preview. (4:30)

NBA All-Star Weekend -- Linda talks with Stephen Fatsis, who writes about sports for the Wall Street Journal. They talk about the upcoming NBA All-Star Game this weekend. Fatsis says that a lot of attention is being focused on the game because it could be the last All Star Game in which Michael Jordan plays. (3:30)

New Unemployment Numbers -- NPR's John Ydstie reports the unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent in January, but businesses added 358,000 jobs to their payrolls -- far more than most analysts expected. Today's report from the Labor Department shows the overall labor force growing just as fast as the number of jobs in the economy. Financial markets reacted favorably with stock and bonds both showing gains. (3:00)

IMF in Asia -- Linda talks with Richard Neu, senior economist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California. They discuss dealing with the economic crisis in Asia, and the role of the International Monetary Fund in the recovery of the region. (5:00)

School Testing -- NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports that the agreement between Congress and the President to have national educational tests has suddenly gone sour. Republicans in Congress say the President over-stepped his bounds, the president says without tests, meaningful educational reform won't happen. (4:30)

Faster Data Transfer? -- NPR's Dan Charles reports on the potential profits in copper telephone wire owned by the nation's local phone companies. Analysts say that the copper wires currently installed in most homes could carry a hundred regular telephone conversations -- or a flood of data -- at once. (8:30)

Clinton’s Secretary Testifies -- NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports that an attorney for President Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie, denied reports that the President may have tried to influence her recollections about whether he was ever alone in the White House with former intern Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton was peppered with questions about the report at today's press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and he reiterated earlier statements that he had never asked anyone to lie. Meanwhile, independent counsel Kenneth Starr responded to the President's attorneys in a statement of his own, and the two parties continued to spar over granting Lewinsky immunity for her testimony before a grand jury. (4:30)

Clinton-Blair Press Conference: Excerpts -- We hear a portion of some questions and answers given at today's news conference held by President Clinton and visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair. (4:15)

Earthquake in Afghanistan -- There are reports of a devastating earthquake in a remote region of Northern Afghanistan. Reports of casualties and damage are just now reaching the media because of the extreme isolation of the region -- and some death toll estimates are in the thousands. The BBC's William Reeve reports from Kabul, Afghanistan.

California Storms -- NPR's Richard Gonzales reports that northern California may have dodged a bullet with the latest wave of a storm system that's hammered the state this week. The high winds and floods predicted for last night didn't materialize, but more bad weather is due to slam into the state over the weekend. (3:00)

Coastal Erosion -- All Things Considered host Noah Adams talks with Jane Smith, a coastal researcher at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina. They discuss beach erosion, and how this week's storms that have pounded the Eastern Seaboard have given the facility an opportunity to collect a lot of useful data on waves and erosion along the coast. (4:30)

Cohen Heads to Gulf -- As Secretary of Defense William Cohen follows Madeleine Albright to the Persian Gulf this weekend to discuss possible military action against Iraq, Arab governments remain skeptical about the value of such strikes. Though some governments may accept the strikes as inevitable, virtually all remain on record opposing such U.S. actions against an Arab State, even one ruled by a dictator such as Saddam Hussein. NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Amman. (4:30)

Turkey’s Welfare Party -- In Turkey, the official ban on the largest political party in the Turkish parliament should come within the next few days. The constitutional court ruled last month that the pro-Islamist Welfare Party was trying to undermine the secular state. Chris Morris reports from Ankara that even though the current version of the Welfare party is banned, supporters are signing up new members every month. If the successor of Welfare emerges stronger and more pro-Islamic, the Turkish government will be faced with some tough choices between democracy and preserving the secular state. (7:00)

Columbia HCA -- NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on the billion-dollar loss being reported by hospital giant Columbia HCA. The company has been in turmoil for more than year following allegations that officials had engaged in fraudulent billing of Medicare and other federal health programs. The company has completely changed its top management and is spinning off large portions of its hospital and home health-care businesses. (2:00)

Irish Folklore -- Noah talks with Padraig O'Healai, a lecturer in Irish folklore at University College Galway in the western part of Ireland. O'Healai published an academic paper this week that examines superstitions in Ireland -- some of which were extremely common up until as recently as 40 years ago. They talk about some of these superstitions and what they tell us about deep-rooted cultural fears. (6:00)