Numbers

CONFLICT

10,000

Estimated number of people who left the Somali capital, Mogadishu, from March 29 to April 3 alone, after days of intense violence between Ethiopian troops and Islamist rebels

1,500

Number of Ugandan peacekeepers the African Union has deployed in Somalia so far. On April 3, Western diplomats said Ethiopian forces should not leave until a robust A.U. force is in place

LITERACY

116 million

Number of illiterate Chinese in 2005, an increase of 30 million from 2000

1,500

Number of Chinese characters a citizen needs to be able to read to be considered officially literate

RECYCLABLES

1,000

Estimated number of years a plastic grocery bag takes to decompose. About 100 billion plastic bags are distributed annually worldwide

95%

Drop in Ikea plastic-bag use in Britain since the chain began charging for bags last spring. On March 15, Ikea introduced a 5-c- charge per bag in its U.S. stores

HIGHER EDUCATION

$69 million

The University of Florida's athletic-department budget for the 2006-07 academic year. The Gators won their second straight men's basketball championship on April 2, after clinching the national football title in January. The school's sports teams rely on private revenue without state or university funding

$7.3 million

The University of Florida's English-department budget for this year

Sources: BBC (4); Progressive Bag Alliance; New York Times; University of Florida (2)