A glance at the week that was
World leaders befriend
The leaders of the G20 nations came together for a summit in London this week. There was some sniffiness expressed over just why The Netherlands or Spain have a seat at the table, and
all eyes were on Barack Obama (who gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod). There were also protests, including scuffles. And Jamie Oliver cooked a dinner that had to be inoffensive to several cultures and not poison any world leaders. In the end, an agreement was reached on a way forward for the global economy, preventing President Sarkozy’s earlier threat of a walkout.
We now know
* Gerry Ryan has been given tax-free status for his autobiography
* The world’s longest-running soap opera, US serial Guiding Light, is coming to an end in September after 72 years.
* A Malawi court has refused Madonna permission to adopt a second child from that country
Pity the fool
The world's media put on their revolving Dickie bows and funny feet and tried to pull the wool over the publics' eyes on April Fool's Day, Wednesday. Here, The Irish Timeshad a piece about electronic tagging of tax exiles; Sean Moncrieff's Newstalk show was given over entirely to pranks; and a U2 tribute band took over a Cork rooftop.
Other stories on the day included Alan Shearer becoming the latest manager of Newcastle and a man called Twaddle choking to death on fish bait. Hold on, those last two weren’t jokes . . .
The numbers
372,800: Number of unemployed in the State, up 20,000
220,000: Fall in passenger numbers to and from Ireland in February
975:Jobs being lost with the withdrawal of Bombardier Aeronautical from Belfast