Notebook: Feb. 16, 1998

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WINNERS & LOSERS SPANNING THE WORLD

[WINNERS]

TONY BLAIR Youthful Brit Prime Minister stands by his Clinton--and looks very presidential doing it

WINNIE THE POOH We'll agree to give back the bear when England agrees to take back the Spice Girls

NAGANO Much anticipated Olympic Games kick off with a bang

[& LOSERS]

BORIS YELTSIN What's all this weird talk about Iraq sparking World War III? You're scaring us--get some R&R fast

JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME Muscles from Brussels allegedly decked in a club. That never happens to Chow Yun-Fat

BAGHDAD Residents no doubt eyeing winter vacations in Nagano

VOX POP

In your view, is Bill Clinton's sexual behavior during his term as President relevant to how he should be judged in office, or isn't it relevant?

Relevant 35%

Not Relevant 63%

Suppose it turns out to be true that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky had a sexual relationship and that Lewinsky willingly consented to the relationship. Do you think this does or does not constitute sexual harassment on the part of Clinton?

TOTAL Men Women Yes 16% 17% 16% No 78% 77% 78%

In your view, are there circumstances when it is acceptable for a boss and an employee who works for that boss to become sexually involved, or is that always unacceptable?

TOTAL Men Women Acceptable in some circumstances 43% 45% 41% Always unacceptable 51% 50% 53%

Do you think it would be good for the country or bad for the country for Kenneth Starr to end his investigation of Clinton's sexual behavior?

Good for the country 60%

Bad for the country 30%

From a telephone poll of 1,023 adult Americans taken for TIME/CNN on Feb. 4-5 by Yankelovich Partners Inc. Margin of error is +-3.1%. "Not sures" omitted.

NUMBERS

2: Number of women executed in the U.S. since 1976

435: Number of men executed in the U.S. since 1976

31,000: Number of people who commit suicide annually

85+: Number of suicides that Dr. Jack Kevorkian has facilitated

186: Weeks that John Berendt's hardcover Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has been on the New York Times' nonfiction best-seller list, tying the longest-lasting title in history, the 1950s book The Power of Positive Thinking

741: Weeks that Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon was on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart starting in 1973

80: Pounds of Canadian bacon the 16-member U.S. ski team plans to eat at the Nagano Olympics

8,000: Servings of rattlesnake chili the U.S.O.C. is prepared to serve at the Olympics

Sources: Death Penalty Information Center; AP, Dr. Kevorkian; New York Times, Billboard; WSJ, AP

OLYMPIC TIMES

So you thought curling was a new Olympic sport? No, just a persistent one. It began in 1924 as an official event and was canceled in 1928. Since then it has languished as a demonstration event. Some other briefly seen sports:

SKIJORING was a Nordic Olympic sport performed once at the 1928 St. Moritz Games, with a person on skis pulled by a horse and rider.