Hobson Choice

Number of independent Serbian radio and TV stations, out of a total of 425, which had their licences revoked this summer by Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic: 178

Of the remaining two independent Serbian radio and TV stations broadcasting with news services which did not have their licences revoked, number owned either by President Milosevic's daughter Marija or his son Marko: 2

Number of TV advertisements an American is estimated to see in his or her lifetime: 150,000

Number of "global teens", according to market research, who inhabit the same "global space", watching the same videos and buying the same brand-name clothes: 270 million

Number of basic meals of rice, vegetables and tofu that workers in Nike's factories in Vietnam can afford on a day's wage: 2

Number of people suffering from anaemia in industrialised countries: 55 million

Chances that a child born in Africa will be killed by malaria before the age of five: 1 in 20

Number of lives that would be saved a year if children in Africa slept under mosquito nets, costing between $5 and $10, impregnated with natural insecticide derived from chrysanthemums: 500,000

The net annual contribution made by France, in ecus, to the European Union: 0.4 billion

The net annual contribution made by Germany, in ecus, to the European Union: 10 billion

Number of lawyers for every 100,000 Americans: 300

Number of lawyers for every 100,000 Japanese: 12

Number of days after death that the jaws of a snapping turtle remain dangerous and liable to snap with the same vigour as when alive: 9

Number of people who have paid $1,500 for a passport to New Utopia, an artificial island being built southwest of the Cayman Islands by Prince Lazarus, formerly known as Howard Turney: 465

SOURCES: IPS, UN Development Programme, The Guardian, Human Development Report 1998, International Malaria Foundation, World Health Organisation, Nature, The Economist, False Dawn/John Gray, Focus, Nine to Five, Focus