Barometer | 24 January 2013

Four sworn

Barack Obama achieved a remarkable feat last week: he managed to take the oath of office for a fourth time. Under the 22nd Amendment to the US constitution, which was passed in 1947, no president may be elected to office more than twice.

— In 2009 Obama took his oath a second time, in the White House, after chief justice John Roberts confused his lines, leading to suggestions that Joe Biden was president.
— The constitution demands that 20 January be inauguration day. As it fell on Sunday, Obama took an oath in private, followed by a re-run at the official ceremony on Monday.

— Only one other president has taken the oath four times: Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was inaugurated for a fourth time in 1945.

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Philip Patrick

Where have all the Japanese tourists gone?

Ahmed Dogan, the leader of Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party, survived an assassination attempt when his assailant’s gun failed to go off. How many political assassination attempts worldwide have been successful since 1875?

	Number of attempts	% successful
Gun	161	28
Bomb	91	5
Knife	23	13
Total	298	20

Source: American Economic Journal

Growing cold

The Ernst & Young Item Club claimed that the snow could help tip Britain into a triple-dip recession. Does cold weather always suppress an economy?

	Average temperature in January	GDP growth last year
Canada	-12.0˚C	1.8%
Finland	-6.1˚C	0.7%
Iceland	-0.3˚C	2.5%
Norway	-7.1˚C	3.3%
Sweden	-3.5˚C	1.2%
UK	3.9˚C	-0.1%

Sources: worldclimate.com, OECD

Heights of danger

Four hillwalkers died in an avalanche in Glencoe. Which mountain activities are most likely to result in death, and where?

	No. of deaths per million days’ activity
Mountaineering, Mount Cook, New Zealand	1,870
Mountaineering, Mount McKinley, United States	100
Trekking, Nepal	11
Skiing, Utah	2.9
Mountaineering, England and Wales	2.3
Skiing/snowboarding, South Tyrol	1.6
Cross-country skiing, Sweden	0.1