A glance at the week that was
We now know
* Thousands of padlocks attached to a bridge in Rome by loved-up young couples aping a famous Italian novel have been removed by authorities concerned about the bridge’s safety.
* Regular exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke can impair memory, according to new research by British scientists.
The numbers
200,000 - Tons of oil released by the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill that were consumed by naturally occurring bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico.
58,798 - Number of students who received their Junior Cert results this week.
38 - Percentage of applications for mortgages to Irish banks that were turned down in 2011.
42 - Percentage of Irish adults who are missing teeth.
5.9 - Percentage rise in electricity prices announced by the ESB subsidiary Electric Ireland, to come into effect from next month.
41 - Number of the 96 victims of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster (below), during an FA Cup tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Sheffield, who could have been saved if the police and ambulance services had performed their duties properly, according to a new independent report.
It's official: make love, not war
For the past few years on September 12th, couples in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk, the birthplace of one Vladimir Ilich Lenin, have been given time off work and encouraged to get busy in the bedroom instead. The officially encouraged conjugal relations are meant to increase the number of babies born on June 12th, Russia Day. The Give Birth to a Patriot campaign rewards parents not only with little Vladimirs and Svetlanas but also with prizes such as cars. The so-called Day of Conception was itself conceived in 2005 by governor Sergei Morozov in order to tackle a declining birth rate.
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4 Unwrap the green flag round our Rory
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6 McIlroy clarifies his position on Olympics
7 England solo deal plunges European game into chaos
8 Property tax to cost 0.25 per cent of house value
9 Sex abuse in private schools
10 Stowaway falls from aircraft over London
Rankings calculated from September 7th to 14th
