the lowest exposed body
of water, and attracts
followers of both the
Christian and Jewish faiths.
Largest marriage vow
renewal ceremony
On 8 Oct 2016, a total of
1,201 couples renewed
their marriage vows at an
event organized by Western
Michigan University in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA.
Largest ancient
ceremonial
Mexican dance
On 17 Jul 2016, a total of
260 participants in Mexicali
and Aztec outfits came
Most selfie deaths
(countr y)
India accounts for 59.8%
of all selfie-related deaths,
according to research
paper “Me, Myself and My
Killfie: Characterizing and
Preventing Selfie Deaths”.
The paper was published by
Hemank Lamba (IND/USA)
et al at Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh,
USA, in Nov 2016. The team
found that 127 “killfies” had
been reported worldwide by
the media since Mar 2014;of these, 76 occurred in
India. Selfies account for
more deaths than shark
attacks in the same period.Most election votes
cast in the same year
In 2004, more than
1.1 billion people voted
in 58 presidential and
parliamentary elections.
They ran from the Georgian
presidential election on
4 Jan to the third round of
the Ukrainian presidential
election on 26 Dec.SOCIETYMOST DISPLACED PERSONS (CURRENT)
On 20 Jun 2016 – World Refugee Day – the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
announced that 65.3 million people had been
forced to flee their homes in the previous year
as a result of conflict, persecution, human rights
violations or starvation. This represents one in
every 113 people on Earth, and the equivalent
of 24 people displaced every minute. It was
the first time that numbers had risen
above 60 million since World War II.MOST
CIVILIAN AWARDS
Tsunejiro Koga (JPN, above
left) received 72 civilian
awards (konju housyou)
from 7 Nov 1982 to 30 Sep
2015, as verified on 23 Feb- His collection
includes 57 Medals of
Honor for generous
financial contributions
for the well-being of the
public, one medal from
the Ministry of Justice for
Offenders Rehabilitation
Activities, and a medal of
the Order of the Rising Sun
(Gold and Silver Rays).
together to dance at the
pre-Columbian pyramid
site of Teotihuacán in
Estado de México, Mexico.Most ubiquitous
consumer item
Estimates for the global
manufacture of plastic bags
number in the trillions. In
the USA alone, consumers
throw away 100 billion
plastic bags every year.First written record
of black pudding
The earliest documented
reference to food made
using blood was in
Homer’s Odyssey, dated
to c. 800 bce. The Greek
poem refers to a man who
“has filled a sausage with
fat and blood and turns it
this way and that and is
very eager to get it quickly
roasted”. Black pudding
is typically made from
pig or cow blood cooked
with a filler such as fat,
oatmeal and/or meat until
it congeals into a sausage.MOST EXCLAMATION MARKS IN A TOWN NAME
The Canadian municipality of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!
(population: 1,318) in Quebec was named in 1874, and
features one more exclamation mark than Westward Ho!
in Cornwall, UK. “Ha! Ha!” refers to the French term ha-ha,
a landscape feature that creates an invisible boundary line- in this case most probably the nearby Lake Témiscouata.
HIGHEST SCORE ON
THE DEMOCRACY INDEX
Every year, the Economist
Intelligence Unit publishes
a list of the countries
with the highest levels
of democracy. In 2017,
Norway (above) achieved
a rating of 9.93 out of 10- the highest score ever
given in the history of
the index. Norway has
topped the democracy
list since 2 012. Iceland
came in second with 9.50.
North Korea (right)
received a score of 1.08
out of 10 on the same list - the lowest score on the
Democracy Index. It has
been given the same rating
every year since 2010.
More
than half of
the refugees under
the UN’s mandate
originated from one of
three countries: Syria,
Afghanistan or Somalia.
Here, migrants are
shown marching
through Slovenia
in Oct 2015.