A glance at the week that was
Swim ban
Irish swimmer Andrew Bree faced the prospect of being excluded from the Olympics when a banned substance was found in his system. The US-based athlete, originally from Co Down, tested positive for levmethamfetamine, a stimulant. However, it is contained in over-the-counter decongestants, including the American version of Vicks Inhaler, which he blames for his predicament. Bree maintains that he had "never knowingly taken a banned substance". Now it's up to the sport's governing body to decide his fate.
We now know
Tax receipts in the first three months of 2008 are €600m less than predicted in the Budget
The claim that drinking several glasses of water per day is good for your health isn't backed by evidence, claim University of Pennsylvania scientists
40,000 families left homeless after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans still need housing
The numbers
€190mEstimated worth of U2's 12-year deal with Live Nation, that covers concerts, merchandising and the band's website
23%Fall in new car sales in March compared to the same month last year
19,000The number of bags stuck at Heathrow's new Terminal 5 by Tuesday of its disastrous first week
Sail ban
British sailor Glenn Crawley is not unusual in having been rescued by lifeboatmen. What makes him unusual is that it has happened so many times that the RNLI has lost count, logging some calls as "him again". Now he has been banned from sailing from his home port of Newquay until he passes a test. At one point he had to be rescued four times in four hours, and the last straw came after his boat capsized on Sunday. This is "nanny-state stuff", said Crawley of the ban.
Quote
"I became a victim of that patient-safety lottery, a perverse game of Russian roulette, HSE-style
Rebecca O'Malley, whose cancer misdiagnosis was due to errors at Cork University Hospital, according to an official report