Magnetic North is actually a thousand miles away from the North Pole ("True North"). The North Pole is technically is located at 90° N (& any longitude), but magnetic north is currently at 73° N, 100° W -- halfway between the US border and Alaska!
The actual discrepancy between True North and the North you read from a compass is called "magnetic declination" and changes depending on where you are.
Based on population, Chinese Mandarin is the most commonly spoken language
in the world. Spanish follows in second place, English is third, and Bengali is fourth.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, have a primary responsibility, under the Security Council Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
However, these five permanent members of the UN Security Council - France, Russia, China, the UK, and the USA - together account for 88 per cent of the world's conventional arms exports.
The subway in London, more commonly known as the Underground or "tube" in London, has 970,000,000 passengers each year. That is over 3 times the population of the entire US.
Each train on the tube travels the distance from London to Syndey, Australia seven times a year.
70% of the world's chocolate is produced in West Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon).
There are over 100,000 children working in dangerous conditions in Ivory Coast alone, the source of 40% of the world's cocoa, according to a US State Department report in 2003. Hazards include harmful pesticides and risk of injury from machetes. In response, there has been talk of a "no child slavery" label requirement for all chocolate manufacturers.
6 miles off the coast of UK, you can find the only man-made country in the world -- Sealand!
Sealand was built during World War II as British outpost to defend the mainland. After being abandoned by the British, a family took possession of it in 1969 and filed all the paperwork to make this outpost a sovereign country. Sealand now has its own flag, currency, passports, and ruling Prince and Princess!
On December 31, 2004, the Taipei 101 became the world's tallest building at 508 meters tall (1,600+ ft.) and 101 floors. The previous record holder, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, is only 452 meters and the World Trade Center towers were 415 meters. The Taipei 101 has the world's fastest elevators with speeds of almost 40mph.
A 900 ton tuned mass damper is suspended from the 90th floor down to the 87th floor (pic). When the building sways (in the breeze or in an earthquake), the ball naturally sways the opposite way because of inertia and serves to dampen the vibration.
When the BBC English-teaching series Follow
Me was broadcast in China, it drew audiences of up to 100 million
people. The presenter of the program, Kathy Flower, an unknown
in England, is said to be the most familiar British face in China
after the queen.
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Source: Delta in-flight magazine and 
