Thursday, May. 15, 2008
Numbers
GRAND OPENINGS
$310 million First-day sales of Grand Theft Auto IV. Guinness World Records named the video game's launch the most profitable entertainment release of all time
$220 million Previous one-day sales record, set by the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
LAW
$400 billion Damages sought in a U.S. class action against more than 50 companies that did business in South Africa during the apartheid era
4 Number of Supreme Court Justices who had conflicts of interest in the case's appeal, requiring the court to affirm a lower-court ruling allowing the suit to move forward
LANGUAGE
10,000 Number of people who speak Ojibwa, an ancient Native American language used in more than 200 communities across the Great Lakes region
80% Percentage of Ojibwa speakers older than 60. Researchers are working to preserve the language before it becomes extinct
HEALTH
15,000 Number of poultry killed by South Korean officials in Seoul over a 24-hour period to curb the spread of a new bird-flu outbreak
241 Number of people who have died of bird flu since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Most human cases have been linked to infected poultry
Sources: Guinness World Records (2); Wall Street Journal (2); USA Today (2); AP (2)