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NPR's Brian Naylor reports a commission headed by former housing secretary Jack Kemp is recommending the current income tax system be replaced with a single rate system -- the so-called flat tax. The panel's recommendations come as the flat tax issue is a major topic of debate in the Republican presidential campaign.

NPR's Joe Palca reports that astronomers have found evidence for the existence of two new planets outside our solar system. Both putative planets are about 35 light years from Earth, and are orbiting stars at a distance that would allow water to exist on them. One appears to be orbiting a sun in the constellation Virgo, while the other appears to be orbiting a sun in the Big Dipper.

FEBRUARY 11,

This is a poem by Mark O'Brien called "Object of Desire". It is read by Tom Cole and Deborah Williams because O'Brien's vocal capabilities are restricted due to his reliance on an iron lung.

and ways in which some in Congress intend to address the problem. But while advocates of reform try to build support, some of the nations most powerful interest groups threaten the movement.

that their party's anti-regulatory position on environmental issues is going to cost them dearly in this year's elections. Major revisions in the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other environmental protection laws have been a top legislative priority for the new Republican majority.

of a bill to overhaul the nation's telecommunications law. The overwhelming votes in the House and Senate came after months of lobbying and after Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole gave up his opposition.

France's President Jacques Chirac on a state visit to Washington addressed a joint session of Congress and got his loudest applause when he spoke of his decision just this week to cease his nation's nuclear testing. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Hapa [HAH-puh] is the name of a band from Hawaii. It's made up of native Hawaiian who's part Chinese and a native New Yorker who's all Irish Catholic. Together they make music that ranges from traditional Hawaiian slack-key guitar to acoustic pop. Heidi Chang reports. There are two Hapa CD's available on the Coconut Grove label.

NPR's Michael Skoler reports that as the first southern African nation to go from white minority rule to black majority rule, Zimbabwe could be a model for South Africa in the areas of political and social reform. In the area of land reform, Zimbabwe's policy has been to placate the former rulers: the government has left most of the country's good land in the hands of the small white minority.

President Clinton today announced a bi-partisan campaign to reduce teen pregnancies in the U.S. He named Dr. Henry Foster, his failed nominee for surgeon general, to head the campaign. We'll hear some of President Clinton's statement, in which he calls for an end to "children having children."

Robert speaks with Ian Lesser, an expert on Greek-Turkish relations at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California. Lesser explains the events leading up to the current tensions between Greece and Turkey over another disputed island -- in addition to Cyprus -- and the wider ramifications for security in the eastern Mediterranean.