MONDAY

It's a bank holiday, but there are no last-minute package deals at Thomas Cook. Especially not for 16 remaining staff still on a sit-in at the travel agent's Grafton Street branch since Friday over their redundancy offer. Dublin's hapless footballers aren't going anywhere either. The holiday mood at Croke Park is cut short by Kerry gold as Colm Cooper lands the ball in the net only 40 seconds into the All Ireland quarter-final. Still, the whipping from the Kingdom's Knight in freckly armour et al means Dubs fans can catch up on the gardening to fill those empty summer weekends ahead, an activity possibly in defeated manager Pat Gilroy's mind as he reflects on his team's performance: "We seemed to be like startled earwigs in the first 15 minutes, all over the pitch."

TUESDAY

Media-shy developer Liam Carroll's photo is all over the papers as his property-bubble-wrapped empire continues to burst. He gets a stay of execution as the Supreme Court grants an extension of court protection against creditors of his Zoe Developments group of six companies. He has one week to appeal against the High Court's denial of examinership of the group, but his survival plan to develop sites and sell property is as outlandish as a Ladies Day hat. The High Court describes it as "lacking in reality". €1.1bn worth is an awful lot to have to flog... A public flogging is the horrific prospect facing Lubna Hussein in the Sudan. The journalist and former UN worker defies the charge of "indecent dressing" from the Sudanese government which claims she is in violation of the country's Islamic laws by wearing trousers. "If all women must be flogged for what they wear, I am ready to be flogged 40,000 times." Ten of the other women arrested with her have already suffered the punishment as well as being fined. A jeans-clad Hussein turns up at her trial demanding to be shown the exact quotation from the Qur'an forbidding women to wear trousers. "It is not about religion. It is about men treating women badly."

WEDNESDAY

The freeing of two women means "positive things could flow", one-man Team America rescuer Bill Clinton tells North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, sentenced to 12 years' hard labour for an alleged border encroachment, speak of being "shocked" on being taken to meet the former US president in Pyongyang, but "knew in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end". Agreeing their release, the Dear Leader invited the Big Dog to a celebratory two-hour bash, but it's not revealed if the Big Bang was on the table too... Ahmed is happy to munch his mezze on his own though. Iran's dear leader says he doesn't give a flying fig about the US, nor Britain, France or Germany. Undeterred by cries of "death to the dictator" from demonstrators protesting the validity of his election, newly sworn- in President Ahmadinejad warns the west: "No one in Iran is waiting for your messages. The Iranian nation neither values your scowls and threats, nor your smiles and greetings." We'll keep saying nothing then.

THURSDAY

As is often the case in drowning accidents, it's the rescuer who is most at risk. The names are released of two young men who braved a Cavan lake to save six people who were in difficulty in the water. The family survived after their boat overturned, but 21-year-old Simon Delaney from Virginia, and 20-year-old Dubliner Matthew Gibbon, who swam out to rescue them, both drowned in the silty, reedy waters of Lough Gallon. A double rescue along the treacherous sea cliffs between Downhill and Castlerock has a happier outcome as RNLI man Anthony Chambers twice swims into flooded sea caves to save two teenage boys.

FRIDAY

There will be no government rescuing of the dispute with the 35 pharmacies which have withdrawn services under the community drug scheme. Instead, the High Court prescribes an injunction forcing them to stay open. The alternative medicine of a third-party negotiator, as suggested by the Irish Pharmacy Union, is rejected by Mary Harney. It's only paper cuts for the minister, but it's the community beginning to feel the pain.

Learning Curve

"Selina Scott was a third-class journalist who is now ancient history and she treated me unfairly. She has since faded into obscurity where she belongs."

Donald Trump alleges the former Breakfast TV presenter is behind an alleged smear campaign against his planned €1bn golf resort on protected dunes near Aberdeen. Scott says he's made himself look as ridiculous as "the thatch he wears on his head".