Planet business

Laura Slatterytakes a sideways glance at business this week

36- maximum age at which it is now acceptable to be a member of the social networking site Faceparty. The site says it has deleted the profiles of all users admitting to be over this age because it claims "a minority of older users are sex offenders" and it cannot tell which ones.

€79 million- claims paid out by VHI Healthcare for health costs relating to alcohol and substance abuse in 2006, up 50 per cent on 2002's claims payout, according to figures released this week by the insurer, which says employers need to support employees with addiction problems and help them get treatment.

50,000 - reduction in the number of carbon dioxide emissions achieved by Marks & Spencer in the 12 months to the end of March 2008, despite opening more than 100 new stores. The retailer's "Plan A" eco0plan aims to make M&S stores in Britain and Ireland carbon-neutral, and to get its suppliers to reduce emissions too.

Quote of the week

"Instead of denoting public private partnerships, the acronym PPP should denote private profit prevails. That is clearly what it means in the current situation." - Senator Alex White of the Labour Party decries the collapse of five social housing schemes following the withdrawal of developer Bernard McNamara (right) from the schemes due to "adversely changed circumstances" in the housing market

Good week:

US-Indian relations
Hollywood's cash reserves are wilting, so what else are the movie studios to do except solicit the services of Bollywood billionaires? Reliance Big Entertainment, the media company owned by India's Anil Ambani, the world's sixth richest man, is to make 10 Hollywood movies for a cool $1 billion in a cultural marriage that has been blessed by star financier George Soros, who recently paid $100 million for a stake in the firm.

The dollar
It may still be slumping on the foreign exchange markets, but the US currency is set for a revamp in appearance if not a resurgence in value, after a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that having all dollar notes the same size, colour and texture discriminated against blind and visually impaired people. The ruling could mean the legendary "greenbacks" mutate into the "bluebacks" or the "redbacks".

Bad week:

Steve Ballmer
The Microsoft chief executive was forced to take cover during a lecture at a Hungarian university, after a disgruntled student pelted him with eggs.

During the sticky encounter, now showing on YouTube, the student accused Microsoft of stealing from the Hungarian people and shouted "give the money back, right now", all while wearing a T-shirt with the simple but effective legend "Microsoft=corruption".