Starting Time

NT COLOR="#CC0000">Person of the Week
As Chinese President, Jiang Zemin has seen relations with the U.S. rise and fall and rise again. Now, after a triumphant visit to George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Jiang seems ready to ride off into the sunset with a diplomatic coup in his saddlebag. He is expected to hand over his reins to a new posse of leaders this month

Verbatim
"This is the world's safest island."
APIRAK HONGTHONG,
police colonel and head of Phuket's immigration office, responding to Danish warnings of an attack on Thailand's popular getaway

"We are really cold out here, but this is nothing compared to what the animals go through."
KAYLA WORDEN,
nude, American anti-fur demonstrator in a Beijing shopping district before she was arrested last week

"It will ... turn public opinion against polygamy."
ZAINI ANUAR,
Malaysian businessman, on fears that the second wife of a Malaysian prince was murdered by his first wife

"Nowadays they bring along a plastic bag with their underwear in it. It has nothing to do with enthusiasm anymore."
TOM JONES,
singer, complaining that female fans no longer remove their panties to toss on stage

Trick Or Trichinosis
By HARRIET BAROVICK

Pampering pet owners have long doted on their critters with gourmet food, fine bedding and even massages. Now a growing number are dressing them up in pet costumes for Halloween trick or treating and pet parades. American pet stores and online costume retailers—several with formidable animal sections—are seeing a surge this year in requests for such costumes as Superman, Giddyup Cowgirl, Top Dog Tuxedo, 1960s Hippie, and Hell's Angels Biker. Why the new market? Explains Shari Maxwell, owner of the online AnniesCostumes.com, whose pet business doubled in the last year: "Now when parents go out to dress the family for trick or treat-ting, they feel bad if they leave out the pooch." Not only that, it's the only time of the year you can let your animal foul a neighbor's lawn and claim it's in the spirit of the holiday. Usually ranging from around $10 to $20, the getups are at least a little cheaper than dressing up Billy as Spider-man, although you may pay more later should Rex require deworming after gob-bling a dodgy pumpkin. If you can't prepare your pet for Halloween, there are other holiday dress up opportunities. They include Shalom Pup (blue Star of David scarf and hat) and Santa Claws.

Numbers
3 weeks of proper diet and exercise is all it takes to significantly reduce the risk of heart disease for men, according to a new U.S. study

15 years is how long, on average, captive elephants in European zoos live; their wild cousins enjoy 60 to 65 years

6% of men have an irrational fear of public urinals, according to a German psychologist

250,000 is how many times smaller a new molecule-based simple computer developed by IBM is compared to conventional logic circuits

$150 is how much a German condom company will pay 100 British students each to field test their wares for a semester

4,500 miles is how far a Frenchman rowed in his successful three-month bid to cross the Atlantic solo

32 days is how long a Thai woman, trying to beat a world record, spent in a room with 3,400 scorpions

9 is how many times the scorpions stung her

Omen
Scientists studying soil deposits have found that periods of intense rainfall follow 3,000-year cycles; they expect heavy rains for the next few centuries and warn that global warming may speed up the cycles