VERBATIM
"Happy solstice! It's a great day to be a pagan."
ROLLO MAUGHFLING, Archdruid, at the Druids' first midsummer ceremony at Stonehenge in a decade
"Over time, the more we bring China into the world, the more the world will bring freedom to China."
BILL CLINTON, en route to the People's Republic for his nine-day visit
"He has gone from being an idiot with a modem to an idiot with a modem and a television show."
KEITH OLBERMANN, talk show host for the MSNBC network, on his new rival, Internet gossip Matt Drudge
"How did Hillary miss Monica?...Why didn't she insist on only male interns? In my White House, all interns would look like James Carville."
BETTE MIDLER, performer, comparing Bill Clinton's alleged lover to his (less physically attractive) political adviser

[WINNERS]

BILL GATES
Much-pilloried $50-billion man wins a key court ruling just as Windows 98 hits U.S. shelves

JENNIFER CAPRIATI
With career at match point, she serves up needed first-round win before bowing out of Wimbledon

TURKISH WOMEN
Adultery had been legal only for men, but a Turkish court rules that gals can cheat, too

[& LOSERS]

TED KACZYNSKI
Publisher rejects Unabomber's offer to write a book, deciding that one manifesto is plenty

HASSANAL BOLKIAH
Sure, he's worth $36 billion, but Brunei's Sultan just got replaced (by Gates) as world's richest man

CHINESE GOVERNMENT
On eve of Clinton visit, officials round up several dissidents. What are they afraid of?

NUMBERS

150: The number of European wild flowers and herbs under threat from excessive harvesting for herbal medicines and alternative therapies.

117: The number of countries where security forces, police or state authorities torture or abuse prisoners, according to Amnesty International.

191.6: The annual number of deaths on roads in Ethiopia per 10,000 licensed vehicles, 100 times the number of fatalities in Japan and Australia.

44: The total of Asian billionaires remaining after economic crises, down from 56 last year and 119 in 1996.

90,000: The number of points from 481 Wimbledon tennis matches analyzed by Dutch statisticians, who contradict many cliched assertions by commentators on players' vulnerability to errors.

30,000: The number of illegal Indonesian immigrants expelled from Malaysia so far this year.

1.7: Percentage of the Netherlands' gross national product spent to compensate people unable to work because of severe back pain.

365: The average number of kilometers walked each year by Britons. The French promenade 212 kms while the Finnish complete 193 kms.

50,000: The number of Americans more than 100 years old.

Sources:World Wide Fund for Nature; Amnesty International; World Disasters Report; Forbes; New Scientist; Associated Press; Pain; U.K. Dept. of Transport; U.S. Census Bureau