Jockstrip: The World As We Know It

EBAY

Executives at eBay say they believe they can add billions of dollars to their revenue base by expanding from auctions into traditional retailing with fixed prices.

The company has made steady profits by charging fees as low as 5 cents for its auction services, but eBay executives now say they can increase revenue 50 percent to about $3 billion annually by 2005 by partnering with big companies.

Loyal eBay users, of course, are worried about getting left behind. Rajiv Dutta, EBay's chief financial officer, told the San Francisco Chronicle: "The vision is to build the world's online trading marketplace, to build a place where practically anyone can trade practically anything. Like democracy, it's noisy, it's raucous, there's lots of conflicting points of view."

Analysts say eBay's wide range of offerings -- from garage-sale junk to used luxury goods -- makes the company virtually recession-proof.

(Thanks to UPI's Joe Warminsky in Washington)

THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

A Saudi princess faces aggravated battery charges for allegedly not treating her live-in maid very royally.

Princess Buniah al-Saud, a niece of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, was arrested late Monday at the Grand Cypress Resort near Disney World and booked into the Orange County, Fla., Jail on charges of beating Memet Ismiyati, a native of Indonesia.

Ismiyati, 36, claimed al-Saud pushed her into a wall, injuring her head, which resulted in her falling down the stairs and injuring her knee. She was treated at a Kissimmee hospital last Friday and initially declined to press charges but later changed her mind, telling deputies her employer pushed her regularly.

The princess has been studying English at the Aspects International Language Academy, a private language school that rents space from the University of Central Florida, since March. She's been released on $2,500 bail and ordered to surrender her passport.

Additional charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen property were filed against al-Saud on Tuesday after Orange County sheriff's detectives searched her apartment with her landlord, who claimed the princess stole furniture, a large screen TV and a DVD player from him and sold them to a friend.

Saudi embassy officials in Washington say al-Saud has diplomatic immunity because of her royal birth, but the State Department says that's not true.

NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS

Filmmakers have chosen a new Benji ... and "he" is a "she."

The pooch that will star in the next "Benji" movie was picked up on the back streets of Pass Christian, Miss., and brought to the Humane Society of South Mississippi in Gulfport on Sept. 28, 2001. Producer Joe Camp and the folks at Mulberry Square Productions "discovered" the homeless female dog, believed to be less than a year old, about a week later at an adoption event at a Gulfport PetSmart during a nationwide search of animal shelters for the next "Benji." He and his wife, Kathleen, have since adopted the dog and had her spayed.

"This is the most amazing dog I've ever met," said Camp. "She absolutely possesses every trait we were looking for. Obviously, Benji must look like Benji ... and she does. Benji must be very self-assured, confident, able to adapt immediately to virtually any situation and say 'Okay ... what now?' ... and this dog is all of that. Thirty minutes after we adopted her, she was on a local television talk show, sitting on the desk, with cameras, lights and people all around, just taking it all in, checking it out, and interacting with the folks. Not a care in the world! It was amazing."

(Web site: benjimovies.com)

TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING

U.S. diplomats say suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden could slip across the border into Pakistan to evade U.S. forces and their allies who have launched an extensive search for him in Afghanistan.

AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY

A 23-year-old Chicago man wasn't about to become the victim of carjacking, so he wrestled the weapon away from the would-be robber and killed him.

Police said the victim had filled the gas tank of his 1998 Buick Riviera at a South Side service station late Monday and was paying for his purhcase when he was approached by Mako Tunson, 23, and a second man. They said Tunson pulled a gun on the man and demanded his car. The man handed over the keys but then grabbed the gun and shot Tunson in the head.

Tunson was pronounced dead at the scene, but his accomplice got away with the victim's car.

No charges have been filed against the car's owner.