If someone asked you how many days there were in a year, the answer would be fairly simple, right? 365 days in a regular year and one extra for a leap year in order to balance the calendar over the long-term.

However, while in the real world this is indisputable fact, some officers in the often-confusing insurance industry sometimes take a different view, particularly when it can save them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Litigation over the Amoco Cadiz oil spill disaster took a step backwards last month after a dispute about the number of days in the year. It is perhaps indicative of why the case, which relates to a disaster which happened in the late 1970s, is taking so long to resolve.

Shell and its insurers, Petroleum Insurance, claim the generally accepted figure of 365 days is valid, while Amoco and its liability insurers, the London Steamship Owners Mutual Insurance Association, use the US fiscal year of 360 days.

The five days' difference over the 14 years since the disaster could amount to $500,000 in compound interest payable on the cargo, according to a report in the US publication, National Underwriter.

Rather than stopping someone in the street to get an obvious answer to an obvious question, the argument is likely to be taken to a Chicago appeal court.

Meanwhile, the lawyers, as usual, will benefit the most in financial terms from having the case dragged on even longer.

The Amoco spill has cost the company an estimated $282 million so far, much of which was not insured.

* * * TV Americans, in general, are frequently being accused of being naive in the ways of the world and of being particularly gullible to the occasional tall story.

But their sports commentators appear to be in a class of their own.

During the fifth game of the baseball World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies, CBS Sports commentator Tim McCarver reported that a Jays fan from Vancouver had told him a convoy of 200 buses was setting off from the west coast city to arrive in Toronto in time for the next game two days later.

It was indeed an interesting snippet from the commentator to break up the tedium of a low scoring game. However, there was just one problem: the feat was impossible.

The convoy couldn't have made the 2,674-mile trip in time even if it had driven non-stop, according to the British Columbia Automobile Association, who said it would take a lot longer than two days.

"The gullibility of US broadcasters is amazing,'' a columnist concluded in a B.C. newspaper.

* * * TOU There's good news for Bermuda's tourism industry. President Clinton appears to be backing away from an administration proposal to raise taxes on international air and sea travel.

The tax hike is designed to offset revenues lost when the North American Free Trade Agreement goes into effect. The administration said last week it will look to other sources to raise the $2.5 billion.

* * * NJ Playboy, the adult magazine for men, will begin publishing a South African edition next month, its first venture on the African continent.

The 226-page first edition will have 88 advertising pages, 25 percent above target, Playboy Enterprises Inc. said on Friday.

It will be the company's 17th foreign edition, and, like the others, it will feature original works by local writers, artists and photographers as well as material from the US Playboy.