Ireland

Obeying the letter of the law

SEVEN DAYS: A glance at the week that was

Sat Aug 18 2012 - 01:00

SEVEN DAYS:A glance at the week that was

The Olympics got to the finishing line without any major cheating scandals, but events at the US Scrabble Nationals in Orlando have left the Scrabble fraternity reeling. A 13-year-old competitor, described by the National Scrabble Association as “one of the top young Scrabble players in the country”, was discovered hiding blank letter tiles, which can stand in for any letter, for use in later rounds. When challenged, the boy admitted hiding the tiles and forfeited his wins.

We now know

A daily dose of dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure, according to Australian research.

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An experimental US military hypersonic jet, the Waverider, designed to fly at six times the speed of sound, crashed in a test on Tuesday.

A Hungarian far-right politician, Csanad Szegedi, was forced by his party to resign his seat in the European Parliament when he admitted he was Jewish.

Ikea plans to open a chain of hotelsin Europe.

The numbers

3,500The number of people in the cast of last weekend's Olympics closing ceremony

34.4mmRainfall measured at Sherkin Island on Wednesday, when a storm battered the country.

15%Proportion of Mitt Romney's Twitter followers that are fake accounts, according to analysis by a security firm.

3Number of students who achieved nine A1s in their Leaving Cert. The results came out on Wednesday.

$340mSettlement paid by the disgraced British bank Standard Chartered to New York's financial regulator for hidden transactions with Iran.

125Caps won by Shay Given, who retired from international football this week.

Most read on irishtimes.com

1 Nobody asks how Katie Taylor did in the Leaving Cert

2 Taylor success triggers bout of below-the-belt stereotyping

3 Spanish mayor robs supermarkets

4 Katie Taylors faith makes media throw in the towel

5 Whale gets stuck in west Cork harbour

6 Three brothers among four killed in Offaly crash

7 College courses to hit highest CAO points levels for decades

8 Media coverage of Syrian violence partial and untrue, says nun

9 Country braced for stormy conditions

10 "Taylor didnt deserve win" says Russian sports minister

Rankings calculated from August 11th to lunchtime yesterday