VERBATIM
"These video recorders and television are the cause of corruption in this society."
MOHAMMED QALAMUDDIN, deputy head of the Taliban's Religious Ministry, announcing a ban on TV sets in the parts of Afghanistan the group controls
"I'm guessing you've been drinking for three days straight."
EDDIE VEDDER, lead singer of rock band Pearl Jam, after Dennis Rodman climbed on stage and sang, off-tune and uninvited, holding a bottle of wine
"For us this was a bleeding wound...Today the wound is closed."
WALTER VELTRONI, Italian Culture Minister, after recovering stolen Van Gogh and Cezanne paintings
"It's a lot of fun to go duck hunting, I guess, but once the ducks start shooting back, I don't think it's fun any more."
"CHAINSAW AL" DUNLAP, former Chairman of Sunbeam Corp., lashing out at his critics only weeks after his firing

WINNERS

YASSER ARAFAT
Routs Israel 124-4 in vote to boost status at the U.N. But Washington won't budge

ZHANG YUAN
He missed his movie at Cannes, but Beijing lets director see the on-stage version in Italy

CABLE TV
Tops U.S. networks in all ratings categories for the first time. Has TV crossed the Rubicon?

& LOSERS

MOAMMAR GADDAFI
African leaders spurn U.N. sanctions and fly in for a visit. But he breaks his hip at the moment of triumph

CHO SUNG WOO
Cold War deja vu? Russians expel South Korean "diplo-spy." Seoul quickly responds in kind

SECRET SERVICE
No special privileges. They'll have to talk to Starr's grand jury like everyone else

NUMBERS

13,000: The number of dead olive ridley turtles washed up on beaches in Orissa, India. Until recently almost half a million turtles arrived to lay eggs. This year only 50 turned up.

70.2 million: Americans under 18, exceeding the 69.9 million baby-boomer record of 1966.

234,000 years: The estimated age of human footprints found on the Eastern Cape Coast of South Africa.

106: The number of generations of Jewish priests believed to have descended from Aaron, brother of Moses.

$6.52 billion: The estimated cost to Britain's economy of dealing with the "mad cow" disease outbreak that by 2000 will lead to the slaughter of 8 million cattle.

8,300 years: The age of a shoe woven from fibers of the rattlesnake master plant: one of many found in a cave in Missouri 40 years ago.

5 meters: The average rise in sea levels around the world if the West Antarctic Ice Shelf shrinks rapidly. Much of it has collapsed in the past 750,000 years. Scientists believe another collapse may be imminent.

$80: The annual per capita gross national product of Mozambique.

$45,360: The annual per capita gross national product of Luxembourg.

Sources: New Scientist; U.S. Census Bureau; New Scientist; Nature; U.K. National Audit Office; New Scientist; Nature; The Progress of Nations 1998 (2)