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Consumer Life: The week in numbers

$16 million — Amount the makers of the Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet — marketed as a pain reliever for chronic pain — must relinquish to consumers in refunds. The decision, handed down by U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, upheld a 2006 district court ruling in which the marketers of the bracelet were found guilty of false advertising.
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$2,500 — Ultra-low price for the Nano, billed by India's Tata Motors Ltd. as the world's cheapest car. The car was unveiled Thursday. The four-door subcompact, which seats five people, is expected to appeal to tens of millions of consumers in India.
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10 — Number of years before self-driving cars will be road-ready, according to General Motors. Rick Wagoner, the company's chief executive officer, said Tuesday the cars will be fully automated and will free up the driver to read, watch a movie or sleep on long road trips.
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4 — Number of healthy habits identified by U.K. researchers that could contribute to a longer lifespan of 14 years. Researcher Kay-Tee Khaw said in her study, published Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine, that people who didn't smoke, exercised regularly, ate five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, and consumed alcohol in moderation on average lived 14 years longer than their peers who continued to indulge.
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$399,738 — National average price of a two-storey house in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a report released by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. The report also noted the average price of a detached bungalow registered $337,555, up 11.6 per cent in year-over-year comparisons.
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$1.50 — Price per litre of gasoline expected "in the near future," according to CIBC World Markets analyst Jeff Rubin. Increasing demand in developing countries, depletion in existing oilfields and delays in putting new fields into production are expected to constrain supply growth over the next five years, Rubin said Thursday.
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3,288 — Number of bottles of California Champagne destroyed by Belgian authorities as part of a crackdown on products illegally labelled Champagne. According to EU label-of-origin rules, Champagne can only be labelled as such if it was produced in the Champagne region in France. Similarly, producers of Swiss cheese and Greek feta cheese have sought protection laws for products manufactured in their regions.
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$5-$75 — Amount Canadian consumers won't pay in additional fees for MP3 players, cellphones and computers. The Federal Court of Appeal released a decision Thursday, saying the Copyright Board didn't have the authority to impose the levy on digital recorders.
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