Etc...

KEEP IT? WHY? IT WASN'T MINE

There are people who have so much money they don't know what to do with it all. Then there's the object of a manhunt in Munich, Germany, who knew exactly what to do. As we pick up the story, our guy has found, on a train, a briefcase left behind by a fellow passenger. Inside: almost $47,000 in cash, gold, and jewelry, plus passbooks for still more in savings accounts. Police think the mystery man must have known about the contents but handed in the case anyway. It belongs to a retiree who was en route to a nursing home that will be his new residence. By law, the finder is entitled to 3 percent of his discovery, if he wants it. But at last report, he hadn't identified himself.

Being civic-minded, residents of Junin, Argentina, are doing their part to help the nation out of its almost four-year-long financial crisis. They're donating to a fund to buy fuel for the cash-strapped city's police cruisers. And, in some cases, they're loaning their own cars.

Political violence, economic deprivation, and repressive regimes in various parts of the world drove refugee numbers to a six-year high of 14.9 million last year, according to an annual survey. At the same time, the US Committee for Refugees (USCR) noted, the plight of such displaced persons was made more challenging because the US, Canada, and several European states tightened admission rules for would-be immigrants of all types, partly in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The top 10 sources of refugees, according to the USCR:

1. Afghanistan 4.5 million
2. Palestinians 4.1 million
3. Myanmar (Burma) 450,000
4. Angola 445,000
5. Sudan 440,000
6. Burundi 375,000
7. Congo (formerly Zaire) 355,000
8. Eritrea 305,000
9. Iraq 300,000
(tie) Somalia 300,000
– Wire services