Seven days

A glance at the week that was

The pretty right

Should Brian Cowen be looking for a way to get at the Opposition, he would be better off ignoring the lead of Italian opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi (right), who this week said "the left has no taste, even when it comes to women". He added that the women in his People of Liberty party "are more beautiful . . . When I say ours are better-looking it's because when I look around in parliament there really is no comparison". Italy's national elections take place over the next couple of days, with Berlusconi favourite to win that particular beauty contest.

We now know

* Scientists in Texas have created a laser that is brighter than the surface of the Sun - but only lasts for a 10th of a trillion of a second

* 78 per cent of Irish web users visited Google at some point in the last month, according to a survey

* The number of Irish workers who are members of a union is down 6 per cent to 31.5 per cent

The plain truth

Following a six-month inquest, and a decade during which rumour and conspiracy flourished, a London jury decided that Princess Diana's death - and that of Dodi Fayed - were casued by the reckless driving of their own driver Henri Paul and of the chasing paparazzi.

Paul had been drinking that night, and the couple were not wearing seatbelts when their car crashed into a wall in the Alma Tunnel in Paris. The decision was a final humiliation for Mohamed Al Fayed, who had claimed they were murdered on the orders of Prince Philip.

The numbers

€8.5m The price paid by a German museum for the Russian space shuttle Buran (right), which flew only once, in 1988.

£50 The cost of a cup of coffee being sold for chairty at a London store, and which is made from two beans, including one extracted from the dung of a mammal, the Asian Civet.

€1.72m The record price paid for a camel, at a nine-day camel "beauty pageant" in the United Arab Emirates.

"On a personal level I am excited by the challenge, if somewhat daunted by the responsibility," Brian Cowen on becoming leader-designate of Fianna Fáil

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times