VERBATIM
"A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband."
SOUTHERN BAPTIST AMENDMENT, adopted by the American religious group at last week's annual convention
"The West is screwing it up again."
MARSHALL FREEMAN HARRIS, ex-State Department official, on how U.S. inaction in Kosovo mirrors its earlier mistakes in Bosnia
"If I had never ventured beyond being a stand-up comic, then I would be sitting in my house today working on my Leonardo DiCaprio impression."
JIM CARREY, red-hot American film actor
"The government wants us to further tighten our belts. Surely we will do that, but only around our necks."
FEROZ DIN, Pakistani construction worker, commenting on the state's recent appeal for national austerity

WINNERS    &   LOSERS
ELIZABETH DOLE First Man Bob? Poll suggests Mrs. Dole could beat Al Gore in a head-to-head presidential race CASEY MARTIN He won the right to use a golf cart. Now disabled pro scores bigger win: qualifying for U.S. Open BRITISH BEEF Much-maligned meat may get reprieve, as European Commission proposes to lift ban	DANIEL ORTEGA Sandanista icon lands in court on charges that he raped and abused his stepdaughter MITSUBISHI MOTORS Automaker shells out record $34 million to settle U.S. sex-harassment suit and apologizes to 300 women BRITISH HEREDITARY PEERS Labour reform will deprive the titled gentry of their centuries-old vote in the House of Lords

By JANICE M. HOROWITZ

KILLER VIRUS IN TAIWAN

A deadly intestinal virus is causing alarm in Taiwan and around the region. The enterovirus strain, which attacks mainly children below the age of five, has spread quickly this month. An estimated 7,000 children have fallen ill in the past two weeks alone. Nearly 200 have been hospitalized for serious complications, and 34 have died. Health authorities in Taiwan say they are bringing the virus under control, and the number of new infections is falling. The strain--enterovirus Type-71--is believed to be a mutated, more virulent form of a virus that often appears in Taiwan during the summer months. Symptoms include fever, rash and ulcers in the mouth and on the feet and palms. American epidemiologists have been working with Taiwan medical researchers to identify and control the virus.

GOOD NEWS FOR EARS

Have a child with an ear infection? Five days on antibiotics instead of the customary 10 may be all that's needed to clear up uncomplicated cases. A new study that looked at 20 years of data on 3,000 kids concludes that with either regimen, pain and fever usually subside within three days, and the odds of a relapse are about the same.

BAD NEWS FOR SMOKERS

Snuff it out already! If the threat of lung cancer and heart disease isn't reason enough, listen to this: less than a pack a day can increase your risk of hearing loss. Smoking may damage the arteries that supply blood to the inner ear.

Sources: Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine; FDA; Journal of the American Medical Association

15: The number of passengers at London's Heathrow Airport questioned in the past two years by police about in-flight sexual transgressions.

1,057: The number of Russian servicemen who died in 1997--20 more than the year before, when the army was fighting in Chechnya.

300,000 sq m: The area of sewage along Antarctica's shoreline produced by the U.S. McMurdo Station.

10,000: The number of lobbyists at the European Commission in Brussels--twice the number of Senior Commission administrative staff.

141: The number of cotton farmers in two Indian states driven to suicide by losses incurred when pesticides failed to control the bollworm caterpillars that attacked their crops.

400: The number of years it takes for a plastic bottle to biodegrade in the sea.

16: The number of men who have died after using the impotence drug, Viagra. Seven of them died of cardiovascular events during or after sex.

102: The number of new galaxies, occupying an area of more than 300 million light years, discovered by University of New Mexico astronomers.

26: The number of journalists killed in the course of their work in 1997.

Sources: Wall Street Journal; Associated Press; New Scientist; Demos; Financial Times; G Magazine; A.P.; American Astronomical Society; Index on Censorship