• Jimmy Carter once reported a UFO in Georgia.
• Almost 20 per cent of the billions of dollars American taxpayers are spending to rebuild Iraq are lost to theft, kickbacks and corruption.
• The fertility rate in states that voted for George Bush is 12 per cent higher than states that favoured John Kerry.
• The US Treasury Department has more than 20 people assigned to catching people who violate the trade and tourism embargo with Cuba. In contrast, it has only four employees assigned to track the assets of Osama Bin Ladin and Saddam Hussein.
• More than 8,100 US troops are still listed as missing in action from the Korean War.
• There are 68,000 miles of phone line in the Pentagon.
• George W Bush and John Kerry are 16th cousins, three times removed.
• Legislators in Santa Fe, New Mexico, are considering a law that would require pets to wear seat belts when travelling in a car.
• As of January 2004, the United States economy borrows £780,000,000 each day from foreign investors.
• During Bill Clinton’s entire eight-year presidency, he only sent two emails. One was to John Glenn when he was aboard the space shuttle, and the other was a test of the email system.
• In 2004, 60.7 per cent of eligible voters participated in the US presidential election, the highest percentage in 36 years. However, more than 78 million did not vote. This means President Bush won re-election by receiving votes from less than 31 per cent of all eligible voters in the United States.
• CNN’s coverage of John Kerry’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention was marred by the accidental broadcast of expletives from a technician.
• Stalin was only five feet, four inches tall.
• Under Charles Kennedy the Liberal Democrats committed an embarrassing blunder by accidentally emailing election plans to opponents.
• One First Minister of the Welsh Assembly was mistaken for a Doctor Who villain. BBC staff thought Rhodri Morgan was an actor set to play a treelike monster on the sci-fi show.
• The day after President George W Bush was re-elected, Canada’s main immigration website had 115,000 visitors. Before Bush’s re-election, this site averaged about 20,000 visitors each day.
• Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon placed Portugal on the Mediterranean in a welcome speech for the country’s president.
• The day after President George W Bush was re-elected, Canada’s main immigration website had 115,000 visitors. Before Bush’s re-election, this site averaged about 20,000 visitors each day. Greek officials had to apologize after dropping a 113-year-old man from an electoral register because they refused to believe he was still alive.
• Cherie Blair began her controversial tour Down Under by calling her Kiwi hosts Australians.
• A Staffordshire county councillor who used civic funds to buy police a mobile speed camera was caught speeding by the same camera.
• A war veteran who got lost on his way back from the D-Day commemorations got a lift back to Paris from French President Jacques Chirac.
• About 1,600 Belgians turned out to vote in the country’s elections wearing only swimming costumes or trunks.
• Benjamin Franklin gave guitar lessons.
• John Kerry’s hometown newspaper, the Lowell Sun, endorsed George W Bush for president. Bush’s hometown newspaper, the Lone Star Iconoclast, endorsed John Kerry for president.
• George W Bush, who presents himself as a man of faith, rarely goes to church. Yet he won nearly two out of three voters who attend church at least once a week.
• An NHS patient has become the holder of the new world record for the longest wait on a hospital trolley. Tony Collins spent 77 hours and 30 minutes waiting for treatment.
• The oldest person to ever be issued a driver’s licence in the US was 109.
• All radios in North Korea have been rigged so listeners can only receive a North Korean government station. The United States recently announced plans to smuggle £1,000,000 worth of small radios into the country so North Koreans can get a taste of (what their government calls) ‘rotten imperialist reactionary culture’.
• George Washington spent about 7 per cent of his annual salary on liquor.
• The French government has banned the use of the word ‘email’ in all its ministries, documents, publications and websites.
• Norwegian MP Trond Helleland was caught playing games on his handheld computer during a debate in Parliament.
• A Brazilian MP lost his seat over allegations that he offered voters free Viagra in exchange for their support.
• India has an estimated 550 million voters.
• UK Conservative MP John Bercow sold his 18th century home because his long-legged fiancée kept bumping her head on the low ceilings.
• The New York City Police Department has a £1.7 billion annual budget, larger than all but 19 of the world’s armies.
• Television stations, including Al-Jazeera, hung banners at the 2004 Democratic National Convention before they were noticed and taken down.
• The US House of Representatives earmarked £26,000,000 to create an indoor rain forest in Iowa.
• The Oval Office is only 22ft long.