QUOTE OF THE WEEK:"More money is allocated by markets around the world in one hour than by all the governments on the planet in a full year" - Al Gore, former "next president" of the US, is following the money all the way to Switzerland, where a private bank is selling and investing heavily in his $5 billion (€3.2 billion) Global Equity Fund.
Number of times British chancellor Alistair Darling used the word "stability" in his budget speech in an attempt to dispel perceptions that the economy is collapsing under the weight of skyrocketing energy costs, sinking property values and a stock market that lurches uncertainly from one day to the next.
Number of the world's 250 largest retailers that have a presence in Ireland, according to a new survey by Deloitte, showing that the globalisation of shop fronts is far from complete. Sales at Tesco, the world's fourth-biggest retailer, are growing at a faster rate than the rest of the global top 10.
The search engine supremos at Google have shed some zeros this week by completing a $3.1 billion (€1.99 billion) takeover of online advertising firm DoubleClick, after the European Commission agreed with US regulators that the merger would not give Google too much power. According to the EU ruling, Google, which allows companies to tailor advertising based on people's surfing habits, and DoubleClick, which uses software cookies to track the pages viewed, are not in the same business.
Schadenfreude-inspired applause broke out on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as New York governor Eliot Spitzer (right), a prominent prosecutor of securities firms, announced his resignation. The man once feared as the "Eliot Ness" of Wall Street has become known simply as the "Client 9" of an FBI affidavit detailing the activities of patrons of a prostitution ring. He now plans to spend more time with his lawyer.
Proud owners of "HD-ready" television sets may soon have to switch off in disgust and throw their new toy out the nearest window, as Japanese broadcasters and the BBC are already developing the sharper, more sophisticated Super Hi-Vision, which has 33 times more detail than the spots and wrinkles screen clarity enjoyed by HD watchers, and promises to match the ability of human vision.
Oxygen atoms won't be allowed to form threesomes (thanks to the spare oxygen atoms in dirty old nitrogen dioxide) if the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) succeeds in its crackdown on the chemical commonly known as ozone. The EPA is tightening air-quality standards by cutting the amount of ground-level ozone permitted, angering both industry polluters and environmental groups, who say the limits do not go far enough.
