19th-century cyber crime

M &S and the Co-op have suffered cyber attacks. Cyber crime didn’t quite begin with the internet. The first record of an attack on a communications network was in the city of Tours in 1834, where the Blanc brothers traded government bonds in Bordeaux and bribed the operator of the country’s telegraph system. He placed extra characters in the telegraphs before they were sent on to Bordeaux, providing secret messages that could be read by the Blancs watching the receiving station in Bordeaux. Unlike the M&S and Co-op attacks, however, the ‘hack’ went unnoticed for two years. 

All change

Friedrich Merz should become only the 11th Chancellor of Germany since 1945.  How does the turnover of leaders compare with other democracies? Number of changes of leader since 1945 (includes prime ministers and presidents returning to power, and also acting leaders):

US 15

Canada 15

France 17

Netherlands 17

UK 18

Japan 38

Italy 45

Camera action

Donald Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs on foreign-produced films. Which countries produce the most feature films? 

Country
2000
2023 India
855
2,562 China
91
792 Japan
282
676 US
683
510

As for the most films produced per million population, Iceland (46.93 in 2023) leads the way, followed by Estonia (29.65), Switzerland (17.38), Latvia (16.89) and Croatia (13.17)

Source: World Intellectual Property Organisation

Pot of gold

Chinese snooker player Zhao Xintong won the World Snooker Championship, only the fifth non-UK player to do so in its 98-year history. How dominant is the UK? Number of players in the world rankings by country:

England 48

China 23

Wales 13

Scotland 8

Thailand 6

N. Ireland, Belgium, Hong Kong 3

Iran, Ireland, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Pakistan 2

Malaysia, Australia, Switzerland, US, Poland, Latvia, Hungary, Brazil, UAE 1