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We note the publication today of the 116th Statistical Abstract of the United States. The 1,000-plus page book is a listing of numbers about births, deaths, the use of automatic teller machines ... just about everything measurable in American life.

The Justice Department has turned down a third request for an independent counsel to investigate possible campaign finance violations involving former Democratic fundraiser John Huang. But NPR's Barbara Bradley reports that the Attorney General is referring the case to an internal Justice Department campaign finance task force. The Justice Department says the case does not meet the criteria of the Independent Counsel Act: It doesn't involve high administration officials and it doesn't create a conflict of interest for the Justice Department. Senator John McCain made the request, and says the decision not to appoint an independent counsel may make congressional hearings necessary.

Alan Cheuse reviews the translation of Jules Verne's lost manuscript Paris in the 20th Century, which has just been published in the U-S. The story was written over one hundred and thirty years ago, and describes what Paris might be like in the 1960's. It would be a city in which art is consumed by science and business and which people communicate by a machine eerily similiar to a fax machine. Paris in the 20th Century is published by Random House.

Linda talks with NPR's Howard Berkes about the defense and prosecution strategies in the Unabomber case. Kaczynski's lawyer has been trying to delay the trial as long as possible, and the prosecution may be trying to outflank him by trying to have his New Jersey trial take place before his trial for killing two people with explosives in California.

to require more stringent standards for reducing air pollution from ozone and tiny particles of soot. The EPA announced the proposals yesterday.

Classical music critic LLOYD SCHWARTZ reviews "Chant d''amour" the new CD by mezzo-soprano CECILIA BARTOLI and pianist Myung-Whun Chang. . . of French songs from the 19th & 20th century. (London

NPR's Sunni Khalid reports on changes in the economy of Syria. The country has been governed by President Hafez al-Assad since 1970, and for most of that time the economy has been under his tight controls as well. But five years ago, the government enacted Public Law Number 10, which relaxed the government's control of production and trade. Since that time, Syrian consumers have had access to more foreign goods, and more Syrian-made products are for sale in the rest of the world.

of Arthur Miller's " >The Crucible."

NPR's Tovia Smith reports that John Salvi, convicted of killing two health clinic workers in 1994, was found dead in his Walpole, Massachusetts prison cell today, the victim of an apparent suicide. Salvi killed the two people and wounded five others in the most serious anti-abortion violence in US history when he fired shots at 3 different abortion clinics. He claimed he was combatting an anti-Catholic conspiracy.

NPR's Richard Harris reports that two mathematicians have independently arrived at conclusions that show that the inclusion of wild cards in poker games upsets the balance of five-card poker. When wild cards are included, the hand that's technically the hardest to achieve does not always win the game.

Gillian Sharpe reports on the first sentence to be handed down by the United Nations' Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal. A young Croat was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he had participated in one of the worst massacres in the former Yugoslavia... the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, a U.N.-designated safe area.

Outdoor sculpture is part of the visible history of a town or city. Since 1991, a group called "Save Outdoor Sculpture" (S.O.S) has made its mission the conservation of this history -- from the effects of acid rain, pigeons, and graffiti artists. NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg spoke with members of S.O.S. when they met in Washington DC recently. Members from Philadelphia; Astoria, Oregon; and Washington, DC, say the conservation efforts have produced beautiful results. And the Mayor of Rock Hill, South Carolina, says the city ended up saving itself by saving its sculpture.