Priest Protected
The ethical authority of the Catholic Church is questioned again as the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman concludes that the hierarchy, the RUC and the NI Office colluded to shelter a priest suspected of masterminding the Claudy bombing, in which nine people died on 31 July 1972. The suspected mastermind, local priest Fr James Chesney, was moved by the Church across the border to avoid arrest and republican unrest. It brings liberation theology to a whole new level, but the only people deemed not to deserve the freedom of justice, it seems, are the victims.

Elin 'went through hell'
Elin Nordegren goes public about her hurt. The guestimated divorce payout ($100m to $750m) has hardly hit the bank before People magazine publishes Elin's first "and last" words on why she lost faith in Tiger's ability to change his spots. Now a psychology student, Elin gives a full rendition of "forgiveness is the last stage of the grieving process" but the most hurtful hole in one comes with her revelation that she has "not watched one minute of golf since".

Cam's cornwall souvenir
Welcome to the world, baby Florence Rose Endellion Cameron. The "something Cornish" in her name promised by beaming dad, British PM David Cameron, turns out to be the name of an upper middle-class, Tory-represented village near where the family were holidaying when Flo was born. So her middle name wasn't to be 'Austerity' or 'Pasty' or 'Unemployment Blackspot', as less generous well-wishers suggest.

London calling... again
A Rose by any other name is Clare Kambamettu, the Leeds-born, Kildare-reared London resident who wins the Rose of Tralee title for the second time in a row for London. The Dome erupts but the real welcome is for twinkly-eyed flirty boy Daithí Ó Sé, whose homecoming is deemed a delight, even by his mammy.

Catwoman cruelty
Catwoman Mary Bale fails to follow the showbiz maxim, "never work with children or animals" – and never carry out a random act of cruelty against a pet whose owners can catch you on CCTV and upload you on the internet as you dump Lola the tabby in a wheelie bin "for a bit of a laugh". Mary "it was just a split second of madness" Bale gets police protection after death threats. Pakistan's 18 million flood victims must wonder why so few feel their pain.

Great wall of traffic
It began on 14 August, stretches over 60 miles, takes 10 days to overcome and may not be over until the end of the month. A motorway outside Beijing has officially become the world's largest car park. And the profiteers of doom thrive even in command-economy China: a bottle of water costs €1.20 –10 times the usual price. And if you don't buy it, the roadside sellers smash your windscreen with bricks.

Mine games
Trapped half a mile under the earth, 33 Chilean miners learn they may be there until Christmas. A programme of physical and psychological exercises is immediately put into action. Anti-depressants and board games – though not snakes and safety ladders – are dropped down to keep the men calm. Their families, living in a tented village beside the mine since the men were discovered alive after 17 days, don't know whether to laugh or cry.

CAO site a No-Go
Laughing and crying are the students trying to log onto the CAO website to find out if they've got their third-level course. It's a day of frustration as their nerves are given another hammering, this time by a non-hoodie-wearing cyber vandal.

Tragedy all over again
The faces of four teenagers smile from all the front pages – happy, carefree, but tragically now dead. Kevin and David Breen, Brian Coffey and Áine Riordan died in a crash at 7.10am outside Killarney. The brothers' mum describes every parent's fear. "I heard a knock at the door," says Sheila Breen. "It was the gardaí, three guards telling me my boys were dead. I felt sick, in shock. I haven't taken it in. I have lost everything."

spy's mystery life
The body of an MI6 spy is found in a sports bag in the bath in his London flat two weeks after he went missing. Detectives label the death "suspicious and unexplained", something that even the greatest spy of them all, Sean Connery, last week celebrating his 80th birthday, would not contradict.