A glance at the week that was...
We now know
Earthquakes are caused by “promiscuous” women wearing revealing clothing, an Ayatollah has warned residents of Tehran, a city built on scores of fault-lines.
Death threats from US Muslims inspired the irreverent South Park to depict Mohammed in a bearsuit, blacking out the figure and labelling it “censored”.
Sex pistol fans observed a “minute of mayhem” in London to honour Malcolm McClaren˜, whose funeral took place yesterday.
Suing Indians
AN AMERICAN Indian tribe got €700,000 in compensation from a university that misused their DNA.
Type 2 Diabetes plagues the Havasupai Indians of the Grand Canyon, so in 1990 they gave blood to a University of Arizona geneticist looking for a cure. Without their approval, their blood was also used for research that contradicted their traditional stories about their geographical roots, while their diabetes was blamed on in-breeding, which is taboo.
Distressing for the Indians, and embarrassing for a university that regards itself as a centre for American Indian studies.
"I loved them all"Teenage callgirl Zahlia Dehar, accused of sleeping with footballer Franck Ribery and two others while underage, says she was treated "with utter respect" in her £2,000 a night job.
Weed wars in US
POT GROWERS in the northern California enclave of Arcata are protesting plans to legalise and tax cannabis. The illegal industry yields annual incomes of $240,000 apiece for growers and brings $500 million a year to the area. While customers want legalisation, growers fear tobacco companies could start to compete with their own brands of mass market “green” cigarettes. Others want to capitalise on legalisation by giving pot plants terroirs, like fine wines.
The Numbers
€2.5 billionIrish Nationwide's loss for 2009
€1.5 millionPension top-up handed back by Bank of Ireland chief Richie Boucher
19Percentage of Irish people who binge drink, three times the EU average