A Limerick Lovely

Whoever said Irish men weren't a great catch obviously wasn't watching the final of Mr World, which was won by Limerick man Kamal Ibrahim. "I have never been so happy and proud to be Irish, it was an amazing feeling. I won it for Limerick and Ireland," says Kamal, the son of an Italian mother and Nigerian father, who walks away with a winning prize of $50,000 and a potential string of modelling contracts.

Leaning Tower of London

First they had that disastrous logo, and now the 2012 London Olympics has chosen a big red tower as its 'artistic centrepiece' for the games. And it's an ugly-looking thing as well, a continuously looping mass of tubular steel which surrounds a lift shaft that will take you up to a high-rise viewing tower. It will cost €20m, so this structure that resembles a mess of twisted scaffolding is, of course, iconic.

Living La Vida open

In news that came as a surprise to, oh, just about no one, Ricky Martin, Latino singer extraordinaire, has emerged confidently from the closet. Well, we say emerged but it was more of a reluctant stumble, as Martin's sexuality has long been one of the worst-kept secrets in the pop world. In a short statement released on his website, Martin wrote that he is "proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am".

Palin's 'cool' scam

Less surprising still is the news of another Sarah Palin controversy, this time not as the least-informed political candidate ever, but as a TV host who screens interviews she has never done. After just the first episode of Palin's new Fox News series which features supposedly inspirational tales of overcoming adversity in America, it emerged that some people interviewed for the show – namely rapper LL Cool J and country singer Toby Keith – had never even met Mrs Palin. "Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else and are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palin's Show. WOW" tweeted LL Cool J.

Life Imitating Brian

London economist Raj Patel could have been forgiven for thinking he'd stumbled into a 21st-century update of the Monty Python classic The Life of Brian. Quite unwittingly, Patel became the messiah for a small religious group who saw him when he appeared on US television. They claimed that the details of his life had been spelt out 50 years before in a prophecy from their leader. Patel, like Graham Chapman's Brian, denied he was the messiah, only for the religious group to respond that this denial had also been prophesied. Raj insists "he is not the messiah; he's a very naughty boy". Indeed.

Smashing Success

And so, after all that worry, we're still alive. The world didn't get sucked into a black hole, the time-space continuum wasn't ripped apart and gravity wasn't inverted. After numerous fear-mongering and fictional science stories, the large Hadron Collider actually worked this time and NOTHING bad happened.

Winter of discontent

Mind you, should we be suspicious that on the day the giant atom-smasher was first turned on, Ireland was once more plunged into a snow-covered dystopia. Like the villain in horror films who pops back up for one final fright, the dastardly snow lurched back into our lives delighting in the chance to inflict pain and misery. And then there was the financial black hole that was Nama and the Anglo-Irish bailout coming so soon after. Coincidence? Not.

Did the Earth move?

Maybe we could have seen the snow coming if we had paid closer attention to our toads. Research conducted in Italy reveals a colony of toads deserting their mating site three days before an earthquake struck. This has led to speculation that toads can predict earthquakes well before they happen.

Scarface is so school

A You Tube phenomenon, this video sees a group of schoolchildren performing in a version of Scarface, the ultra-violent, Al Pacino-starring gangster movie from the '80s. Substituting cocaine for popcorn and swear words for less profane curses like 'motherfudger', the video has so far attracted 250,000 views. But all is not as it seems: the video is actually the product of an advertising company and the children are actors.

He'll take Manhattan

The number of homeless people sleeping in Times Square in New York now stands at one. Known only as Heavy, the man has been living in the Manhattan heartland for decades and has refused all housing offered by social workers. Described as a "sweetheart" and "iconic", Heavy is a self-styled "protector of the neighbourhood" and has no intention of leaving anytime soon.