NEWS OF THE WEIRD

* The New England Journal of Medicine reported in December that at least
half the drugs donated to Bosnia and Herzegovina druing the war (perhaps
many of them from U.S. companies, though no company or country was
identified in the article) were useless and even dangerous, apparently
donated largely for the bennefit of the company and not the recipients. Not
only were 17,000 tons of drugs out of date (or spoiled, or with
untranslated instructions), and not only did most or all of the companies
get charitable tax deductions in their own countries, but disposal costs of
about $2,000 a ton also fell to the World Health Organization.

* Hours before the Dec. 5 inaugural address of Mexico City's new mayor,
who was expected to announce stern measures to deal with rampant crime and
police corruption, the mayor's top assistant was mugged in a taxicab,
giving up his wallet and briefcase, which contained the mayor's speech. And
in June, an armed robber took the purse of the executive director of
Crimestoppers of New Orleans outside her office.

Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird appear in Silicon Valley Life. E-mail
him at 74777.3206@compuserve.com