Strikes spread at Ryanair, Facebook’s regulatory travails and NTMA worries

Industrial action is spreading at Ryanair, with the company facing "co-ordinated" strikes in several European countries next week in addition to an Irish strike on Friday. Barry O'Halloran reports on the growing problems at the airline.

Facebook had its day before the Oireachtas Communications Committee yesterday and was told the era of it being trusted to regulate itself is over. Elaine Edwards listened into proceedings, which also saw the social media giant admit it is considering a change to a policy of allowing videos involving the physical abuse of children to be shared in "a narrow set of circumstances".

Karlin Lillington also looks at Facebook today, urging politicians to take action on the company's approach to what it calls "coordinated inauthentic behaviour".

State funding agency, the NTMA, has added its voice to a growing body of concern over the extent of the economy's reliance on a handful of multinationals for its wellbeing. In a warning issued yesterday, the agency said it wasn't easy to see how the economy would adapt to certain changes in international economic conditions. Cliff Taylor has the story, which follows a comparable warning from the National Competitiveness Council earlier in the week. A snapshot of current economic conditions is expected with the release of July exchequer returns on Thursday afternoon.

Tesla burns through less cash than expected in second quarter

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Era of Facebook self-regulation ‘is over’, says committee chair

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Ryanair pilots across Europe plan co-ordinated strike action

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Facebook to consider changes to policy of allowing certain abuse content

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Anybody expecting good news on theirinsurance premium might be disappointed in coming months, with FBD chief executive Fiona Muldoon yesterday flagging an investment loss that would make it hard to achieve cheaper prices. Barry O'Halloran reports on results at the insurer, which showed a 70 per cent rise in pretax profits.

Just how much do you love television series, Game of Thrones? Enough to splash out £500,000 on a castle in the North that serves as Riverrun in the much-loved epic? Francess McDonnell has details of the sale of the property otherwise known as Gosford Castle in Co Armagh.

Marie Boran takes us to the land of selfies, asking why we take them, what it means about us and what we really think about other selfie-takers. Do you have "selfie bias"?

We also take a look at the growing phenomenon of co-living, whereby your experience in student halls is upgraded and enhanced to reflect life as a salaried worker. It's not cheap, but it's definitely better than the bunk beds in kitchens that seem to have become widespread in Dublin in recent years.

If you think you might be the next Elon Musk, read Fiona Alston's definitive guide to setting up a business in the Republic, from getting the idea together to filing the documents and finding office space.

Speaking of Musk, his Tesla car business burned through less cash than expected in the second quarter, and was saying last night that profit is still just around the corner. In this week's Innovation column, Dick Ahlstrom takes a closer look at the the occasionally infamous entrepreneur who has had a run of fairly outrageous public statements in recent months. Dick asks why should we have to listen to this stuff, and what has given Musk and other prominent innovators the right to inflict it on us.

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