News In Brief

I JUST WANTED TO KEEP BUSY

There are people who relax for a while before starting a new job, and then there's Jonathan Blair-Sloan. The $232,000-a-year stockbroker is waiting for a few formalities to be taken care of before he completes a transfer from Warsaw to Tokyo. So, did he head for a tropical beach? Maybe check a few books out of the library to do some reading for pleasure? Nah. Instead, he went home to Dorchester, England, and hired on at West Dorset Services as a temporary trash collector - at $5.80 an hour. Said Blair-Sloan: "I'm the sort of person who cannot stand to be out of work."

LET'S PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Meanwhile, only 7 percent of Britons responding to a recent survey said they believe in love at first sight - such as when two pairs of eyes meet across a crowded room. The survey sampled the views of 1,000 people. By comparison, 45 percent of Italians (who also were queried) endorsed the concept as a solid basis for a lasting relationship.

Online queries about Bush, Gore ... are in a virtual tie

Election 2000 and Halloween are currently big topics on the Internet, according to Lycos, an Internet search engine and provider of other Web services. Its compilation of the 50 most popular user searches last week had at least five entries related to Halloween, including pumpkin carving. Meanwhile, presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush climbed to their highest spots yet on the Lycos list - and were practically tied, similar to perceptions of their real-life race. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader also made the list, at No. 40, his first ranking to date. The top 10 search terms on Lycos for the week ending Oct. 28:

1. Halloween

2. Dragonball

3. Halloween costumes

4. PlayStation 2

5. Britney Spears

6. Al Gore

7. George W. Bush

8. Paula Jones

9. Elizabeth Hurley

10. Pokemon

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