News In Brief

WELL, YOU DID ASK

If the results of a new poll in Britain are accurate, more young people there believe in the existence of extraterrestrial beings and ghosts than in God. Of 1,000 males and females between 15 and 24 surveyed by the Roar market-research group, 70 percent said they accepted the possibility of ghosts and 61 percent of aliens. Only 39 percent had "any belief" in the Diety. A spokesman for the Church of England said the findings were not surprising.

THAT GOT 'EM STEAMED UP

As his nation's ex-ambassador to the European Union, Leonel Teller Sanchez knows all about chilly relations. The Nicaraguan was fired for complaining of the cold ... inside his embassy in Brussels. "They didn't send us money from Managua" to replair a faulty boiler, he said, so he sent his staff home. The government admitted to budgetary problems.

Magic Kingdom No. 1 again among theme parks in US

For the third year in a row, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., was the nation's best-attended park, according to estimates in the Dec. 27 issue of Amusement Business. The Nashville, Tenn.-based trade publication calculates attendance, based on inside sources and data from visitors and convention bureaus. The top 10 in attendance in 1998 (in millions, with percent change from 1997 in parentheses):

1. Magic Kingdom at Disney World (-3%) 15.2

2. Disneyland, Anaheim, Calif., (-5%) 13.4

3. Epcot at Disney World (-5%) 10.1

4. Disney-MGM Studios at Disney World (-8%) 8.7

5. Animal Kingdom at Disney World (+43%) 8.6

6. Universal Studios Florida, Orlando (-9%) 8.1

7. Universal Studios Hollywood, Calif. (no change) 5.1

8. SeaWorld Florida, Orlando (-4%) 4.7

9. Busch Gardens, Tampa, Fla., (-7%) 3.9

10. Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J. (+11%) 3.8

- Associated Press

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society