News In Brief

IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTED

If you were planning a trip to Spain this year to see its famous natural fountain of red water, alas, you're too late. Word from Granatula de Calatrava, where the 100-foot-high jet erupted without warning last July, is that it has dried up as suddenly as it appeared. No one seems to know what triggered it, other than perhaps olive growers who had deepened a well. The gusher lured so many tourists that the town had to borrow a field so they could all park. Sighed the mayor: "I'd have liked it to continue. It was unique..."

WE BEG YOU: BE VERY CAREFUL

In Yonago, Japan, the police department website is so popular that it gets about 10,000 hits a day. So what better place to post complete nursing instructions for a newborn baby - just in case whoever stole her from a local hospital happens to be searching for advice? Authorities, lacking a ransom demand, theorize the kidnapper's motive may have been revenge.

Measuring how the US has changed during Clinton years

He may personally have had nothing to do with them. Still, Bill Clinton has presided over numerous changes in the US during his eight years as chief executive. Following are some key categories and their readings in 1993, when Clinton assumed the presidency, as compared with either 1999 or 2000 as his second term was nearing its end. The statistics were gathered from government reports.

US population

1993: 258 million

2000: 281 million

People age 100 and older

1993: 43,000

2000: 68,000

Occupied housing units

1993: 94.7 million

1999: 102.8 million

Median household income

1993: $36,019

1999: $40,800

Households with a personal computer

1993: 23%

2000: 51%

- Associated Press

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Publishing Society