Galway Buzz

Wales 24 Italy 3
Wales will go for RBS 6 Nations title and Grand Slam glory against France next Saturday after completing a successful Italian job at the Millennium Stadium.

Ireland 6 Russia 1
Ireland's bid to qualify for the Olympics is off to the start they wanted, after the hosts survived an edgy first half to finish 6-1 winners over Russia at the FIH Road to London at a packed UCD this afternoon.

The president of the Irish Farmers Association has said access to the US market for Irish beef would be a major prize for Ireland's agricultural industry.

Derval O’Rourke’s glory shot at the World Indoors in Istanbul ended in the semi-finals of the women’s 60 metres hurdles – not even a season’s best could progress the former world indoor champion to the final.

A protest is taking place in Derry against a dissident group behind a number of so-called punishment shootings and beatings in the city.

An Afghan delegation has visited the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to discuss the proposed transfer of five Taliban prisoners to the tiny Gulf state of Qatar.

The Football Association today repeated their “strong desire to see goal-line technology introduced as soon as possible”.

Bolton Wanderers 2 QPR 1
Ivan Klasnic struck four minutes from time to earn Bolton a priceless win over fellow strugglers QPR but it was a controversial result after Clint Hill was denied a clear goal for the visitors in the first half.

Hundreds of parents, teachers and community groups have turned out for a protest in Donegal this afternoon in opposition to cutbacks to education.

Four men have been rescued from a fishing vessel off the coast of west Cork.

LONDON (Reuters) - When Ziggy Stardust touched down on earth he could scarcely imagine humanity lasting another five years, let alone the 40 years which have transformed the heart of central London. British singer David Bowie's unique alien visitor persona, known for his glam makeup, fiery orange hair, and skintight jumpsuits, is being commemorated on Heddon Street in London's trendiest shopping district to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of his album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Hatsune Miku has a following that would make most Japanese pop stars green with envy, with thousands of fans at every concert and a big international following. She never misses a beat, fluffs a line or messes up a step. But then she doesn't really exist. Hatsune Miku is computer generated, based on a voice-synthesizing programme developed by the company Crypton Future Media that allows users to create their own music. ...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - This year's Eurovision song contest is shaping up to be a battle of the geriatrics with the announcement that a folk group comprised of elderly ladies will represent Russia. The news that Russia's Eurovision contestant will be rural folk group Buranovskiye Babushki comes on the heels of Britain's decision to choose septuagenarian crooner Engelbert Humperdinck as its entry for the song contest in May. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The world's biggest record label says it is trying something a little different as it seeks the elusive "holy grail" for Japanese pop -- global chart success. A procession of "J-pop" acts touted as the next big thing on the world stage have come and gone, most causing barely a ripple in markets like the United States, Germany and Britain. Audiences outside Asia just don't "get" the music and lyrics, experts say, although pinning down exactly why has proved more difficult. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates' privately held Corbis, which provides photos and film video for advertisers, is expanding further into entertainment by launching an online music service with songs from the four largest publishers. The GreenLight Music service went live on Wednesday, with more than 1 million tracks from catalogs controlled by Warner Music, EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music and Sony ATV. ...

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - The Country Music Association on Tuesday named three stars for induction into its Hall of Fame including superstar Garth Brooks and veterans Connie Smith and Hargus "Pig" Robbins. Brooks, who has sold more than 128 million albums worldwide in his career, became a superstar of the 1990s with albums such as "Ropin' the Wind" and "No Fences" and was heralded for his live stage acts. He took a break from heavy touring in the early 2000s, but in recent years has been performing more often. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Disney songwriter Robert Sherman, part of a team with brother Richard responsible for numerous film scores and children's songs, died in London on Monday aged 86. He composed the popular tune featured in Disney theme parks, "It's a Small World (After All)," as well as the score to "Mary Poppins," featuring songs such as "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cher-ee," and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Born in New York City in 1925, Sherman was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - When Craig Morgan found out that actress Angie Harmon of "Rizzoli & Isles" was a fan of his music, he asked if she would like to be a co-star in his video for "This Ole Boy." To his delight, she agreed. "I remember her being hot when she was on 'Law & Order,'" the singer says, laughing as he talked to Reuters about the new album and video. He went on to explain how the two connected. "We had this mutual friend and they were talking about country music and she said she loved my music. She told him to tell me if I ever needed somebody in a video she'd love to do it. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A large number of music files of the late "king of pop" Michael Jackson were allegedly stolen from record company Sony Music by computer hackers, sources familiar with the case said on Monday. Sony Music, a unit of Sony Corps, signed a deal with Jackson's estate in 2010, the year after the "Thriller" singer's death, to release 10 albums covering previously unreleased material and his back catalogue. The value of the agreement was widely reported to be around $250 million, making it one of the biggest in music history. ...

This has been a tough week for the board of directors of Costa Cruises. Not that it was great for their customers either mind.

As if it wasn’t bad enough they had to deal with the nautical equivalent of a boy racer beaching his underlighted Honda Civic in a roundabout earlier in the year, the Costa Allegra (and their crew that was apparently as hopeless as they were hapless) was marooned out in the Indian Ocean for three days before finally rocking up on the Seychelles coast, though thankfully not literally. While GPS makes a Marie Celeste-style disappearance unlikely these days, in Pakistan Osama Bin Laden’s compound, not exactly easily spotted on Google Maps, is being torn down, as lord knows he doesn’t need it anymore. The rationale is supposedly that demolition will neutralise any danger of the site becoming a place of pilgrimage, I personally would have converted it into the finest rib joint this side of Lahore. Nothing wins hearts and minds like a stomach full of meat and barbeque sauce.

From compounds to compacts, and Ireland’s government this week officially called the referendum proposing whether we should consolidate all our loans into one manageable repayment. The fiscal compact – so named because of the arse-clenching terms of the deal – should be interesting if for no other reason than to see the rabid pro-life movement claim the EU will open abortion clinics to raise money or some such. As it stands there is more chance of a sell-out Erasure tour of Uganda than there is of this passing, mainly because the voting populace are sick of austerity and the treaty itself makes as much sense as reacting to having your car stolen by insuring your driving gloves.

One man who loves the smell of EU treaty in the morning is Declan Ganley, a man I never tire of tiring of. But while he no doubt has some bombastic plans up his sleeve before balloting in June, he’s been busying himself with other histrionics. Namely, a statue of Che Guevara.

Being an evil uber-capitalist unparalleled this side of a Muppets Movie his aversion to the Argentine rebel is hardly surprising, he even called Che “a mass murderer”, though I think his attitude to rebels may change in a few years during the centenary of the Easter Rising, since our homegrown revolutionaries were good enough to make his election literature. Nevertheless, his assertion that it will damage Galway’s investment opportunities, international reputation and chances of getting in to heaven is typically over the top. But at five meters high, laden with glass and more a propos in a basement art gallery than a popular promenade what the monument will be, however, is a bloody eyesore. They need to learn a thing or two from the Galway Democratic Republic.

As one hair-poor business emperor attempts to pick up paper inches by flogging a dead horse, another spends the week trying to avoid mentioning them in his papers altogether. With The Everything Is OK Now Seriously On Sunday barely a week old, it emerged that Murdoch acolyte and high Scrabble score Ruhbehkuh Bruhuuuukhz took on a retired Rozzer horse. Equine pun hilarity ensued. But while she was the, ahem, mane recipient of derision the revelation that David Cameron also rode the horse after initially saying he didn’t really turned into a three day event. To be honest I’m not so much annoyed at the fact she took the horse (sure who among us haven’t been given the privilege of getting something from people in the services? My Da brought me back a book and a few t-shirts when he was over in Kosovo) but the fact she gave the horse back because she didn’t fancy it anymore. The bitch.

An old newspaper saying (apart from “never look a gift horse in the mouth”) is “never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel”. In that case, fear the might of Aonghus O’Snodaigh, the Sinn Fein TD who managed to go through and inexplicable 50 grand’s worth of printer ink over the space of two years. For that amount of money he could have bought an octopus farm and harvested the ink himself. Though bad as his photocopying War And Peace three times a week habit was, at least we’ve moved away from the days where Republican politicians were enthusiastically using other kinds of cartridge.

But some things in Irish politics however will never change, for example the amount of clueless buffoons representing us at council level. This week there were at least three stand-up rows in the Donegal County Council chamber that left things in Lifford even more like something out of Anchorman than usual.  Worse still members of the Donegal Youth Council, who are Socratic masters compared to them anyway, were there to give a presentation and saw the whole embarrassingly comic thing go down. Some of them were even approached or called up by reporters for their reaction, prudently responding with no comment. They have wisdom beyond their years. At least somebody does.