News In Brief

... AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK Two Green Bay, Wis., youths thought they'd get some yuks out of photographing each other atop a 75-foot water tower late one night last week. It was yucky, all right, city officials agree - but not in the sense that the pranksters intended. They also opened the tower's top hatch, and now only expensive tests will determine for sure whether they dumped anything that would contaminate the 2 million gallons stored inside. Yes, they're in hot water with the law.

I'LL GET OUT HERE, THANKS In Spartanburg, S.C., a hitchhiker is in jail on armed-robbery charges. He'd held up a store and was looking for a quick way out of the vicinity when a motorist picked him up. But the driver was a plainclothes cop using an unmarked car. Suspicions were aroused once the bad guy discovered that and decided he really didn't want the ride after all.

Brunei sultan heads list of wealthiest heads of state

Forbes magazine has published its annual list of "the nonworking rich: kings, queens, and dictators." Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is No. 5, although Forbes says her net worth is either $450 million or $16 billion, depending on whether you count the Royal Collection, which includes the crown jewels and is held by the queen in trust. The Top 10 and the estimated net worth of each (in billions of US dollars):

1. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei $30 billion

2. King Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Saudi Arabia $28

3. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi $20

4. Amir Jaber al-Ahmed al-Jabel al-Sabah, Kuwait $17

5. Queen Elizabeth II, United Kingdom $16

6. Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai $12

7. President Saddam Hussein, Iraq $6

8. Queen Beatrix, Netherlands $5.2

9. Amir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar $5

10. President Hafez al-Assad, Syria $2

- Associated Press