Laura Slatterytakes a sideways glance at business this week
The numbers
1.7 per cent
The expected rate of economic growth in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries this year, which has been revised down from 2.3 per cent.
10
The number of candles on the European Central Bank's birthday cake, as it celebrated the 10th anniversary of its creation this week.
2,135,100
The size of the Irish labour force in the first quarter of 2008 - up 2.6 per cent on the same period last year - as the Republic's employment growth remained above the EU average.
Quote of the week 1"Water is not a renewable resource. People have been mining it without restraint because it has not been priced properly." - Nicholas Stern, author of the landmark Stern Review, on the economics of climate change.
Quote of the week 2"They're more interested in looks and appearance, speed and power, the sexy image." - British MEP Chris Davies despairs that European magazine publishers are too superficial and materialistic to see the merits of his proposals to put carbon emission warnings on car ads.
Good week
The Chinese economy
China's struggling stock market has been given a boost after the government-controlled China State Construction Engineering Corp was given the go-ahead for a $6 billion (3.85 billion euro) initial public offering (IPO). The move to push forward what will be the biggest IPO in China this year has gathered steam because state firms need to rebuild areas devastated by the earthquake.
Aer Arann
United Airlines is grounding 100 planes, Qantas is cutting routes, Delta is slashing jobs and Aer Lingus is suffering from lower load factors, but Ireland's regional airline Aer Arann is enjoying a 3 per cent passenger rise and its best May yet, despite being named by Ryanair's Michael O'Leary as one of the airlines in danger of going bust due to spiking oil prices. Aer Arann attributes its May success to the Munster rugby team.
Bad week
MTVThe music video broadcaster has been fined by UK communications watchdog Ofcom over offensive material. But it wasn't Laguna Beach or Pimp My Ride that the regulator was turned off by - it was the "widespread and persistent" transmission of racist and homophobic text messages from viewers that prompted the £255,000 (€320,000) fine. MTV said the messages slipped past its monitors and onto television screens during a change of shifts.
James Packer
The second richest man in Australia has become the latest victim of the credit crunch, taking a hit of A$44 million (€27 million) after bowing out of plans to build what would have been the tallest casino in Las Vegas. Packer, the son of the late media entrepreneur Kerry Packer, decided to fold rather than complete the 5,000-room hotel and casino complex, blaming "recent upheavals in world credit markets" and depriving sin city of another 11 hectares of slot machines, blackjack tables and overpriced lobsters.
