President Fidel Ramos of the Philippines declared the week beginning April 12th 1997 to be National Consciousness Week of the Imperative for Punctuality and Respect for the Rights of Others . From California's Silicone Valley to Kiel's Eros Centre, the sex industry is booming. The most popular sport in Malaysia measured by TV viewership is badminton. In Japan it is sumo wrestling, in South Africa cricket. A hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle requires only half as much energy per mile as a conventional petrol vehicle, and emits no carbon dioxide when running.
Male hornbills imprison their mates in trees after sex.
In 1996, when about 23.4m households were connected to the Internet, consumers spent only about the same amount of money on the Web as they did on computer magazines. Fears about online credit-card fraud put off too many people.