Tale of a whale

Its huge bulk surges and surges again out of the waters off Hook Head in Co Wexford, bucking and diving 11 times in 45 minutes. The sight of an active humpback whale off our shores as it migrates between here and the Cape Verde islands is rare and extraordinary.

» www.rte.ie/news

Eamonn Lillis trial

The 1998 pictures of Jean Treacy at a Water Safety function when she was 21 are a source of national curiosity. The prosecution sums up – and then the defence. The judge addresses the jury – and then re-charges them. They go out to deliberate, then come back in to re-hear evidence. The verdict is to be unanimous, then the judge orders that it can be decided by a majority of jurors. Crowds gather in court. Not a day passes without the faces of Eamonn Lillis and the woman he was accused of murdering, his wife Celine Cawley, appearing everywhere.

A Ripping Yarn

The group of 14 art students are gathered around Picasso's €92m masterpiece, the 6ft by 4ft Rose period precursor, 'The Actor'. The lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York describes an important detail when a woman in the group stumbles and falls into the painting, tearing a six-inch gash into the bottom right hand of the canvas.

» www.independent.ie

A Veiled Threat

"It is the symbol of the repression of women, and... of extremist fundamentalism. This divisive approach is a denial of the equality between men and women and a rejection of co-existence side-by-side, without which our republic is nothing." French national assembly chairman Bernard Accoyer presents an interior ministry report on the burqa which recommends that it be banned from schools, hospitals, government offices and public transport.

» www.news.bbc.co. uk

Haiti's smallest victims

Photographers David Levane and Christian Bennett spent a week in Haiti, their six minutes and 54 seconds of video footage a haunting and harrowing testament to the human cost of the earthquake. Aid agencies warn that the smallest victims of this massive disaster are open to exploitation as adoption agencies rush in to the chaos of Port-au-Prince.

» www.guardian.co.uk

Third dimension

Footie goes 3D as Sky Sports launches its first, experimental broadcast of today's Manchester United vs Arsenal match. Nine pubs, one in Dublin, have been chosen, but fans will have to don special glasses.

» www.skysport.com

Rated and slated

Apple's iPad gets the thumbs up from media moguls who stand to make a fortune from the sale of its many money-spinning apps. But given that it can't multi task, has no camera, no usb port and a keyboard that takes up half the small screen, there are many doubters who wonder whether it's all flash for too much cash.

» www.foxnews.com

Jobs? Yes we can

Obama's new cri de coeur is jobs, jobs, jobs as he turns his attention from Wall Street to Main Street and uses his first State of the Union speech to relaunch his presidency with an admission that even he can make mistakes. "We all hated the bank bailout. I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal," he says. Most US banks have now repaid their bailout aid so he plans to use €30bn of that money on community banks to help businesses and start-ups create jobs. Perhaps in five years' time we can look forward to a similar return from Nama?

» www.latimes.com

No pyjama parties

Tesco in Wales becomes the first supermarket chain to ban women from shopping in PJs and walking around the aisles in slippers, or worse, barefoot. The notice at Tesco's Cardiff store says: "We ask that our customers are appropriately dressed when visiting our store (footwear must be worn at all times and no nightwear is permitted)." Krystle in Dublin, take note.

» www.dailymail.co.uk

The joke's on us

The joke about the difference between Ireland and IMF-supported Iceland being no more than a letter and six months is all a sign of British "arrogance" says Icelandic president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. Grimsson's refusal to sign a law to repay British local authorities who, with the Netherlands, put €3.8bn on deposit in bust Icelandic banks, has sparked a referendum and another round of name-calling. "Presidents, ministers, governments are there to serve the people, not the financial markets," he says, underlining another difference between Iceland and Ireland.

» www.irishtimes.com