August 31, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

DOW PLUNGE -- Noah talks with Jeremy Siegel, a professor of finance at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss the day on Wall Street, where all the year's stock market gains were wiped out in trading today. (3:30)

DUMA VOTE -- NPR's Anne Garrels reports from Moscow that as President Clinton flies to Moscow for a summit with President Boris Yeltsin, Russia's political and economic crisis is deepening. The lower house of parliament, or Duma, resoundingly rejected Yeltsin's nomination of Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Yeltsin promptly re-submitted the nomination, but it was not immediately clear when the Duma would vote again. The lawmakers have a week to consider the appointment. Meanwhile, nothing is being done to halt the slide of the ruble and the collapse of Russia's banking industry. (4:00)

WHAT THE COMMUNISTS WANT -- Robert talks with Michael McFaul, a professor of political science at Stanford University, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. They discuss what the Communist members of the Duma are hoping to implement with a new cabinet. (4:30)

NORTH KOREA MISSILES -- NPR's Mike Shuster reports that one stage of a new long-range missile launched today by North Korea ended up in the Pacific ocean near Japan's coast. The test of the North Korean missile, the first with the capability to reach Japan, has upset the government in Tokyo and undoubtedly will outrage members of Congress who already question whether the US should continue to work with North Korea on food aid and a nuclear freeze agreement. (3:30)

AUNT FRIEDA -- Commentator Donald McCaig tells the story of his delusional Aunt Frieda, who, at the age of 84, went to Hollywood thinking actress Julie Harris has requested her to audition for a play. Of course Julie Harris was dead, but nonetheless, Frieda looked forward to moving in with her. (4:00)

MILITARY RECRUITMENT -- In the first of a three-part series, NPR's Martha Raddatz reports on the difficulties the military services are having in recruiting qualified men and women. For the first time, the Navy missed its recruiting goal for the year, while the Army and Air Force barely made theirs. This first report focuses on some of the reasons behind this recruiting slump. (12:30)

NORTHWEST STRIKE -- Elizabeth Stawicki of Minnesota Public Radio updates the strike by more than 6-thousand Northwest Airlines pilots. Negotiations are on hold as cancellations by the nation's 4th largest airline make traveling especially chaotic in its hub cities of Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis. Meanwhile, some politicians on Capitol Hill are asking Janet Reno to start an anti-trust investigation of Northwest business practices. (4:00)

LITTLE LEAGUE CHAMPIONS -- Robert talks with Harold Reynolds, a baseball analyst for the ESPN cable network. They discuss the differences between doing color commentary for Little League and Major League Baseball. Reynolds called the Little League Championship this weekend, which a team from Toms River, New Jersey won, defeating a team from Kashima, Japan. (4:30)

DOW PLUMMETS -- NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that concern about emerging markets created another rough day for US stocks. The Dow Industrials were down more than 500 points, the second biggest point drop in the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A broader measure, the S&P 500 fell 6.7% and the technology-laden NASDAQ composite lost more than 8% on one of the market's worst days ever. The massive selloff left the major indexes in negative territory for the year. (3:00)

GLOBAL ECONOMIC MELTDOWN? -- NPR's John Ydstie reports that even with the turmoil abroad and a global selloff in stocks, the US economy remains strong. The question, though, for many economic observers is how long overall investor and consumer confidence can hold up under an assault of negative economic developments abroad. (4:00)

LATIN AMERICAN MARKETS -- Noah talks with Jeffrey Garten, dean of the Yale School of Management. Garten was undersecretary of trade at the US Commerce Department under Ron Brown. They discuss what effect the shakiness of some Latin American economies could have on the global markets. Garten says Latin America provides oil and copper to Asia; and as demand has sunk for those raw materials, there is a ripple effect expected. When that ripple hits South America, the profits by US banks investing the

MANAGED CARE REFORM -- Both sides of the debate over legislation to regulate managed health care plans are trying to figure out the impact of President Clinton's personal problems on the bill's outlook this fall. Reform of managed care plans is high on the administration's agenda and Democrats hoped the issue would resonate with voters. But with the Monica Lewinsky scandal taking attention away from issues such as health care reform, prospects for passage of a bill appear weaker. Some proponents hope, however, that President Clinton will more actively push for a bill to divert attention away from his problems. NPR's Julie Rovner reports. (5:00)

MASSACHUSETTS & TOBACCO TALKS -- Member station WBUR's Monica Brady reports that the attorney general of Massachusetts pulled out of talks with the tobacco industry over the weekend. Scott Harshbarger was one of the attorneys general trying to negotiate a nationwide settlement in the states' suits against cigarette makers. States are trying to recover the costs of treating sick smokers. (3:00)

COLON CANCER DRUGS -- NPR's Richard Harris reports that a drug used to treat diabetes may also have an influence on cancer. Researchers are puzzled to discover that the drug appears to rein in tumor cells in some animals while it promotes cancerous growth in other experiments. Some experts say people with a severe family history of colon cancer should avoid taking the drug, Rezulin. But the animal results are otherwise too uncertain to change recommendations for most people who use the drug. The study appears in tomorrow's issue of Nature Medicine. (4:15)

NEW STRAIN OF HIV -- NPR's Brenda Wilson reports on a new form of the AIDS virus discovered in West Africa. The disease that it produces is similar to that caused by other strains of the AIDS virus and it is very closely related to a virus found in chimpanzees. Some say it's the strongest evidence yet that HIV originated in animals. The study appears in tomorrow's issue of Nature Medicine. (4:15)

VOLKSWAGEN & SLAVE LABOR -- Survivors of the Holocaust say that Volkswagen, BMW, and other companies convinced Nazis to steer Jews out of concentration camps to work in their factories - rather than face death in the camps. NPR's Margot Adler reports on the latest legal effort to elicit reparations and damages from businesses and institutions that survivors and their lawyers say profited from Hitler's regime. (3:30)

DEPRESSION & THE NET -- Noah talks with Bill Scherlis, the director of the Information Technology Center at Carnegie-Mellon University. He is the co-author of a study called "Internet Paradox." Scherlis found that spending a lot of time on the Internet led to small increases in depression and loneliness, mostly because they're taking time away from their families and friends. (3:45)

DIANA SATIRE -- Satirist Harry Shearer plays three parts in a spoof on what he considers the excessive coverage of the anniversary of Princess Diana's death. On a mock MSNBC show, Shearer(playing Tom Brokaw), interviews a pair of stereotypical upper-crust British citizens about the occasion. (4:00)