News In Brief

IT DIDN'T CRACK THEM UP

In Philadelphia, some radio station executives are - well - scrambling to get off the griddle after their bright idea for a special promotion backfired. In the spirit of Easter, listeners were asked to mail raw eggs to WMMR-FM in standard business envelopes. The first contestant whose egg arrived unbroken would win a $1,000 prize. But it apparently didn't occur to anyone that the contest coincided with the income tax filing deadline. In at least one town in neighboring New Jersey, unamused postal workers had to wipe runny yolk and whites off other pieces of mail, some of them tax returns.

READY ... SET ... SPEND!

At the current rate of growth, a new study suggests, e-commerce in Britain could outstrip that in the US. How? The London government-backed report says three of every five online shoppers there are women, whose urge to splurge will only intensify as the Internet becomes more accessible via digital TV rather than the personal computer favored in the US.

Survey ranks the world's most competitive economies

It came as no surprise that the US held on to the top spot in an annual survey of the world's most competitive economies. But its neighbor to the north, Canada, slid out of the top 10 for the first time since 1996, finishing 11th. Using 293 criteria, 47 economies were ranked in the World Competitiveness Yearbook, which was compiled by the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. Also slipping out of the elite ranks were Hong Kong, from 7th to 14th, and Denmark, from eighth to 12th. The survey's top 10 for 2000, with the score each received out of a possible 100:

1. US 100.00

2. Singapore 75.22

3. Finland 74.01

4. Netherlands 72.13

5. Switzerland 68.49

6. Luxembourg 68.09

7. Ireland 64.83

8. Germany 64.49

9. Sweden 63.86

10. Iceland 63.52

- Reuters

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