etc...

NAH, YOU KEEP IT

From Jalam Air Itam, Malaysia, comes word of a businessman who wandered into his bank one afternoon last week with an envelope containing more than $2,500 in cash that he planned to deposit. His timing couldn't have been worse. A robbery was in progress. Other customers had been herded into a corner and were being guarded at gunpoint. Our man had visions of being subjected to physical harm. The badly frightened fellow offered his money to the gunmen - and was more than a little surprised when they turned it down, reportedly telling him, "We're here to rob the bank, not the customers." Minutes later, they fled on motorbikes with $44,730 from the vault.

Just in time for college students' annual spring break, the Travel Channel, a cable TV service of Discovery Communications Inc., named its picks for the best beaches in the US (and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico). Beaches were ranked by the quality of sand and water as well as their social scenes. The Travel Channel's top 10:

1. Poipu Beach, Kuai, Hawaii

2. Coronado Beach, Calif.

3. Culebra Island, Puerto Rico

4. Sconset Beach, Nantucket, Mass.

5. South Beach, Miami

6. Duck (Outer Banks), N.C.

7. Southampton, N.Y.

8. Palm Beach, Fla.

9. Kiawah Island, S.C.

10. Newport Beach, Calif.

- PR Newswire