A glance at the week that was
20The number of US citizens awarded grants to study Irish this summer in the Gaeltacht.
500The number of Irish supporters travelling to New Zealand on official tour packages for this year's Rugby World Cup.
280,000The number of people in Ireland who cannot pay their essential bills, according to a survey by the Irish League of Credit Unions.
€483mThe savings made by an audit of almost one million social-welfare claims, according to the Department of Social Protection.
€60,000The amount that current and former TDs and Senators owe in bar and restaurant costs.
€4m
The cost of the Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given’s transfer from Manchester City to Aston Villa.
We now know
The Tyrone golfer Darren Clarke has become the oldest winner of the British Open since 1967.
Enda Kenny is now Ireland's most popular political leader, according to an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll.
Goran Hadzic, the last Serbian fugitive wanted by a UN war-crimes tribunal, has been arrested.
A million years without sex: how do they stick it?
Stick insects have lived for a million years without sex, according to genetic research by scientists from Simon Fraser University, in Canada. Analysis of the DNA of Timema stick insects revealed that certain species could reproduce asexually by producing genetic clones of themselves. Further investigation into the species’ lineage established that two in particular, Timema tahoe and Timema genevievae, have been doing so for more than a million years.
The discovery, published in Current Biology, could help researchers understand how life without sex is possible.