Etc...

Don't make me chase you

There are imaginative ideas for fighting crime, and then there's the one scheduled to debut tonight in Tokyo. Beginning at midnight, the neighborhood around their academy will be patrolled by ... sumo wrestlers. The powerful but flabby fellows won't be armed - except with whistles to alert law-abiding citizens to the presence of characters who may be up to no good. Still, said the master of the Edogawa-ku stable: "Anybody thinking of committing a crime would run away if ... confronted by a sumo wrestler." And if the experiment happens to attract a few more fans to the sport, well, that's OK, too.

Question: Do world leaders ever feel sorry for themselves? Answer: Well, maybe. Consider embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who - on meeting Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time last week - lamented: "I envy you because ... on your birthday they sang pop songs about you. No one sings pop songs about me." Putin, about whom at least one flattering song has indeed been recorded, responded tactfully: "I have to put up with everything."

'We need to look like we're determined, but not eager to go to war.'

- Former President Clinton, telling NBC's "Today Show" what he thinks the Bush administration must do to win the support of "the whole UN" for a potential military action against Iraq.

This is the time of year when high-schoolers eagerly await acceptance letters from their colleges of choice. For those still considering which to attend, US News & World Report's annual ranking of the 50 best places in the US to earn a bachelor's degree in liberal arts is dominated by schools in the Northeast, with 29. The magazine's top 10 for 2003 and their locations:

1. Amherst College (Mass.)
2. Swarthmore College (Pa.)
(tie) Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.)
4. Wellesley College (Mass.)
5. Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.) (tie) Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.)
7. Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine) (tie) Middlebury College (Vt.)
9. Davidson College (N.C.)
10. Haverford College (Pa.)