A glance at the week that was
Soft landing
A 22-year-old-man survived after falling 39 storeys from the top of a New York apartment building. Police said Thomas Magill suffered broken legs and is in a critical condition after he landed in the back seat of a car after crashing through the windscreen. The owner of the car, Guy McCormack, cited spiritual intervention, convinced that the rosary beads he kept inside the Dodge Charger car saved Magill’s life.
Hard lessons
Driving lessons will be compulsory for learner drivers, who will also be subject to driving restrictions for two years, under new reforms from the Road Safety Authority. Offences may be punished by a curfew, the fitting of a speed limiter, a bar on carrying passengers, or a forced re-take of the test. And penalty points for the most serious offences will double for learner drivers.
We now know
Human error was to blame for the removal of the wrong kidneyof a nine-year-old boy, a Medical Council fitness-to-practice inquiry heard this week.
The BBC apparently plans to kill off mystery car reviewer the Stig after failing in the British high court to stop Ben Collins revealing in an autobiography that he is Top Gear's driver.
Disgraced senator Ivor Callely – expelled from FF and facing senate suspension – can't be removedfrom Oireachtas committees other than for poor attendance or at his own request.
The numbers
€1 plus
Offers being considered by Michael Dempsey (left), for his four-bedroomed bungalow in Co Galway, which has been on the market for two years.
€390m
The entire amount spent in the UK Premiership’s transfer deadline day, the lowest figure to be shelled out in four years.
36,000
The Irish mortgage accounts that are now three months or more in arrears, as revealed by the Financial Regulator.
If someone is responsible, it's me
Fidel Castrotells Mexican newspaper La Jornadathat he is ultimately responsible for the injustices against Cuban homosexuals after the revolution in 1959
