Numbers

CIA

27%

Percentage of CIA recruits offered positions as undercover agents this year who are minorities, a record high; in 2006, only 13% of the recruits were nonwhite

5%

Percentage of the current undercover force that is of Asian--including Middle Eastern--descent

PLANE CRASHES

65%

Percentage decrease in the rate of fatal accidents on U.S. flights over the past decade; the rate is now 1 per 4.5 million flights

Number of crashes worldwide this year--none in the U.S.--that have killed more than 20 people

WORLD RECORDS

7.4

Weight in tons of a Guinness-record-breaking vegetable salad made in Pulpi, Spain; the previous record was a 3.6-ton potato salad made in Latvia in 2002

Number of hours it took 20 cooks to prepare the salad in a container that measured 59 ft. by 15.7 ft.

CHILDREN'S HEALTH

Number of hours of dead airtime broadcast on Nickelodeon on Sept. 29 as part of an effort to encourage kids to exercise. The average American child watches four hours of TV a day

9 million

Number of U.S. children older than 6 who are obese, a measure that has tripled among 6-to-11-year-olds over the past 30 years

Sources: USA Today (2); New York Times (2); BBC (2); AP; Institute of Medicine