The Scene In The Nation And The World

OUT TO PASTURE, BUT NOT OUT OF WORK A farmer hit by the mad-cow ban on British beef has put his cows to work . . . as walking, munching, mooing billboards.

Harry Goode outfitted eight of his cows with specially made plastic coats that advertise ice cream.

``These cows are filling their bellies every day so they might as well pay for their upkeep. I can't stress how bad things are. It has put terrible pressure on making things meet,'' Goode told reporters. The European Union has slapped a ban on British beef over fears of mad-cow disease.

Goode's cows are seen by thousands of motorists as they graze in a field beside a motorway near Birmingham in central England.

COINS IN A FOUNTAIN? GRAB THREE, TAKE FOUR A Rome judge has ruled that stealing coins that tourists throw into Trevi Fountain is not a crime - even if you get caught wet-handed.

Judge Giovanni Bombardieri ruled that until city workers fish out the money, the coins were res nullius, a Latin term meaning ``belonging to no one.''

Police had detained four teen-agers who fished money from the fountain, where tourists make a wish to return to the Eternal City, then toss a coin. The judge ruled that if anyone was responsible for the theft it was municipal police because they had not guarded the fountain well enough.

Featured in the song ``Three Coins in a Fountain,'' the Trevi Fountain nets the city between 20 and 30 million lire ($13,000 to $19,000) a month. Lira coins go to city coffers and the foreign coins go to the Red Cross.

A VEIL UNVEILED WITH LOTS OF HELP When bride Claudia Armillei of Ascoli Piceno, Italy, entered the church to be married, her veil lagged behind. More than 1,300 feet behind.

Armillei paraded through her town and into the church Sunday trailing a 1,320-foot creation of lace, ribbon and mesh fabric. The mayor presided over the procession through the mountain town about 150 miles northeast of Rome. A team of assistants and passersby helped tote the mammoth veil.

The 23-year-old bride said she believed it was the longest bridal veil ever made. The Guinness Book of Records has no listing on the subject.