Anyone Home?: Now you can ring the...

Anyone Home?: Now you can ring the Pope and help close the $90-million gap in the Catholic Church’s budget at the same time. U.S. callers to a special 900 number can hear a message from Pope John Paul II, and the phone company folks behind the project have already dubbed it “the world’s first electronic collection plate.” But getting the Pope himself on the other end of the line would be a miracle: The $1.95-a-minute missives are taped.

* Me First: Tamba is one pushy elephant, which poses problems when she picks on big guys. The 7,000-pound elephant cow was knocked down Monday at Washington Park Zoo in Portland, Ore., by a bigger rival, and a tow truck was pressed into service to hoist her back to her feet. Tamba had lost a dominance struggle with Me Tu, who outweighs her by about 3,000 pounds. “She doesn’t understand her place in here and keeps pushing it,” says a zoo worker.

* Settling Down: “This year I’m going to have a baby,” she said, and with that it appears the topsy-turvy union of Brazil’s first couple is right side up--for now. Photos of President Fernando Collor de Mello and his wife, Rosane, exchanging a big kiss ran on the front pages of most Brazilian tabs Monday. The Collors, who seem to enjoy the public exhibition of their marital life, were reported on the verge of divorce last year after a money scandal tainted a federal charity that Rosane ran.

* Wrong Window: Thomas Hall stopped his car at what he thought was the drive-through window at a St. Louis Burger King, and placed an order. But the man at the other end of the intercom had little interest in Whoppers. Hall, 38, had lurched up to the back of a police station. He was arrested on charges of drunk driving.