l The local newspaper Vanguard claims that seven out of 10 boys born in the northern Nigerian city of Kano since 11th September have been named Osama. [Time, 14th January 2002]
l People in the Dominican Republic have a higher life expectancy than in Britain. [UNDP, 2001]
l Temperatures at the South Pole are dropping by 0.7 degrees celsius a decade. [Nature, January 2002]
l Genealogy is the third most popular online activity, after pornography and music. [Daily Telegraph, 7th January 2002]
l Only 22 per cent of Scots know that St Andrew's Day is on 30th November. Another poll, however, shows that 68 per cent believe that it should be a national holiday. [The Herald, 30th November 2001]
l As a result of male deaths in Afghan conflict over the last 20 years, 55 per cent of the population is female. [The Foreign Office, 2002]
l In Britain, drug addicts spend on average ?16,500 a a year on narcotics. [The Economist, 14th January 2002]
l Before the present intifada 3,700 families in Nablus received financial help from Hamas-now 7,000 do. [Time, 17th December 2001]
l Sixty-five countries are poorer now than they were 10 years ago. [UNDP, 2001]
l Lionel Jospin's government has sold off more state-owned assets than the previous six French governments combined. [The Brookings Institution]
l In Britain there are somewhere between 25 and 49 cinemas per 1m people. Only three countries have over 100 screens per 1m people: the US, Sweden and Uzbekistan. [The Global Media Atlas, 2001]
l An asteroid large enough to wipe out France came within 800,000 km of hitting earth in August 2001-it was spotted only days before it hurtled past. [Time, 21st January 2002]
