News In Brief

LAST SEEN EATING PEANUTS

Remember "One of Our Elephants Is Missing"? In the mid-'70s it was a popular cartoon. A quarter-century later, it's a real-life situation commanding the attention of law-enforcement authorities in, of all places, Austria. It seems a five-ton pachyderm named Seila hasn't been sighted in public since she was sold illegally to a circus based in Linz. The director and two other elephants apparently are on the lam, too. Seila, by the way, can be identified by a "palm-size white blotch" above her tail - in case you're joining the hunt.

BUT I WISH HE WAS A DRUMMER

There is devotion to one's kids and then there's what a father in Singapore did for his gifted teenager. K.Y. Wong sold his condominium so he could finance the purchase of a 218-year-old violin made by Italian master Lorenzo Storioni that son Wong Yuu-ki wanted badly. Cost: $364,160. The younger Wong is among Asia's most promising young musicians. Said dad: "I only hope it will help him in his career."

NBC has No. 1-rated show, but ABC wins week overall

For the fourth straight week, according to Nielsen Media Research, ABC took the prime-time ratings prize. The network's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" took four of the top 20 slots, and "NYPD Blue," in its season return, was No. 19. Among other notables, the debut of Fox's "Temptation Island" came in at No. 22. "The Mole," ABC's new reality show, was No. 30. The top 10 programs Jan. 8-14, with the number of households (in millions) viewing each:

1. "ER," NBC 19.2

2. "AFC Championship Postgame: Baltimore at Oakland," CBS 15.5

3. "Friends," NBC 15.1

4. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Wednesday), ABC 14.4

5. "Law & Order," NBC 13.6

(tie) "The Practice," ABC 13.6

(tie) "Will & Grace," NBC 13.6

8. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS 13.5

(tie) "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Sunday), ABC 13.5

10. "Frasier," NBC 12.8

- Associated Press

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