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The 7,000 tonne cargo ship that got stuck at Rossaveal harbour in Galway bay on Thursday has been refloated.

The ship, called “The Pantanal”, was due to pick up two small passenger ferries which were sold to a buyer in Mauritius.

Minister for Marine Simon Coveney welcomed the successful refloating of the ship.

He said that “a very real threat to the marine environment” had been avoided.

Mr Coveney said that the ship ignored a severe weather warning and that is why the incident happened.

Do you know how heavy 7,000 tonnes is?

Well… a standard bag of sugar weighs 1 kilogram (Kg) and there is 1,000 kg in 1 tonne. So the cargo ship would be equal to the weight of 7 million bags of sugar!!

Jedward have called their new pet parrot after fellow squaker and blogger, Perez Hilton.

Ireland’s Eurovision entry and owners of the most famous head’s of hair on this fair Isle, Jedward, are said to have settled on the name for their new unusual pet after Perez “tweeted” them a suggestion via the social networking site, Twitter.

The boys even went so far as to set up a twitter profile just for their new pet. Perez the parrot’s page even managed to amass a following of 1,000 tweeters after just a few short hours of being in existence.

How long do you think it will be before this colourful bird will be rocking Jedward hair?!

It looks as though Cheryl Cole may be giving the UK X Factor the cold shoulder this year after all.

The Brit-award nominated singer is said to be guaranteed to be a household name in the US before the year is out.

Shortly after it emerged that Cole would not be sitting on the judging panel for the US version of the X factor the rumour mill was rife with ”sources” claiming that the singing would, in fact, be attempting to break the US market this summer.

Cheryl is said to have said that she knew she ”never stood a chance” of making it as a judge on the US version of the hit UK reality show.  However, various sources are now claiming that Simon Cowell has managed to persuade Fox TV bosses that the Girls Aloud star would be a success on the show.

The source continued saying: ”Within a year she’s expected to be one of the biggest names in America. Every major magazine and TV channel is desperate to be involved with her.”

So it looks as though Cheryl will be spending a good chunk of 2011 in the US whether she makes it onto the US judging panel or not!

Nickelodeon, usually abbreviated as Nick, and originally named Pinwheel up to 1979 is an American cable television owned by MTV Networks.

As of 2011, Nickelodeon is ranked as the #1 children’s channel.

It was the first American television network aimed at children. In 1990, Nickelodeon Studios was opened in Universal Studios Florida in Orlando.

In 1991, its first animated series was developed. Doug, Rugrats and The Ren and Stimpy Show. These were known as Nicktoons and premiered on August 11 1991. Nickelodeon UK, however, was not launched until September 1^st, 1993.

The Rugrats Movie was released in theaters in 1998 and made more than $100 million in the United States alone crowning it the first non-Disney animated movie to ever earn so much.

The following year, SpongeBob SquarePants was released which quickly became one of the most popular Nicktoons in the network’s history and has remained very popular to this day consistently ranking as the channel’s highest-rated series since 2000.

Back in October 1995, Nickelodeon ventured into the World Wide Web and launched Nick.com. Initially the website was only available to American browsers but was later broadened. The website’s popularity grew and by 1999 Nick.com became the highest-rated website aimed at children aged 6-14 years old.

After the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on Friday the nations of the world are rushing to provide help.

Japan is one of the richest countries in the world and is very well prepared to deal with earthquakes, but for a disaster as large as this they still need help.

Many countires, including Ireland, have pledged to assist in any way they can. Aid Agencies, like Red Cross, have also received many donations, large and small, over the last few days.

But it is not just money that Japan needs to help them through this crisis. Many Aid workers will need to be sent to the areas of Japan most affected by the tsunami. They will help sick and injured people. They will also help with the rebuilding of areas that have been destroyed by the tidal wave.

Over the coming weeks there will be plenty of charity events held for the victims of the Japan tsunami. Irish schools may also get involved with fund-raising activities.



Enda Kenny’s supporters welcomed him home to Mayo as the new Taoiseach on Saturday night.

The Taoiseach flew in from Belgium on a government jet for his homecoming.

They lit bonfires and floated two Chinese lanterns in the night sky in honour of the special occasion.

The new Taoiseach Kenny, his wife Fionnuala, daughter Aoibhinn, 18, and sons Ferdia, 16, and Naoise, 14, were delighted by the display as sparks soared into a darkening sky almost on their doorstep.

Mr Kenny told his neighbours that his family had no intention of leaving Castlebar,Mayo. “We’re staying put,” he said.

Then, referring to the 24-hour garda security which will be around his home from now onwards, Mr Kenny joked: “The members of the blue brigade on the road will see you are all well protected from now onwards -so get your driving licences and insurance.”

Mr Kenny spent yesterday with his family and went to visit his mother Eithne, 92, who is resident in a local nursing home.

Afterwards, Mr Kenny said his mother had been delighted to watch Wednesday’s Leinster House proceedings on television.

“Her mind is very intact,” he said. “She is fully with us in that sense.”

Mr Kenny, who will fly out to Washington for St Patrick’s Day celebrations later in the week, said he hoped American President Barack Obama would visit Ireland this year.

The line-up for this year’s Electric Picnic music festival in Stradbally, Co Laois has been announced.

It will take place from September 2nd to 4^th and will feature bands such as Arcade Fire, Pulp, the Chemical Brothers, Interpol and a whole host of unknown Irish and international groups.

Arcade Fire said they are “very excited about coming back.”

The good news is that the Electric Picnic isn’t just for grown-ups, kids can get a bite from the Picnic too!

The festival music director said “the Picnic is not just about music. What marks it out is the quality of the whole event, the diversity of experiences, the environment, the art, the food, the whole experience.”

The festival also features a comedy tent, theatre, a Spoken Word area with poetry, debate and discussion, entertainment for children, small venues such as the Salty Dog Saloon, a variety of food stalls and farmers’ market.

Weekend tickets are priced at €240 with one-day tickets for the Sunday available for €99.50. Family camping tickets for two adults and children cost €480.

There is a €60 fee for a campervan.

Forbes magazine has released this year’s list of the richest people in the world. And at the top remains Carlos Slim a Mexican telecom tycoon who is worth a whopping $74.5 billion dollars. Mr Slim is up $20,5 billion dollars from his net worth last year meaning he is even richer than he was when he won the world’s richest person in 2010.

The richest person listed for Ireland was Pallonji Mistry, who is 103rd overall and worth $8.8bn. Mistry lives in Mumbai in India but is registered as having Irish citizenship. Pallonji has shares in Jaguar, Land Rover and Tetley.

Next on the Irish list worth $4.2 billion is Denis O’Brien. Mr o’Brien is 254th on the Forbes richest list. his company Digicel operates in numerous Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Denis O’Brien also has shares in the company Comunicorp which owns 42 radio stations across Europe, including Today FM, Dublin’s 98, Newstalk, Spin 1038 and Spin South West in Ireland.

John Dorrance III  the US-born heir of the Campbell Soup empire has a fortune of $2.4 billion. Mr Dorrance, the 488th richest person in the world, currently lives in Dublin. He sold off much of his 10.5 per cent stake in Campbell Soup for $1.5 billion in the mid-1990s.

All in all there were 5 Irish citizens on the Forbes richest list this year.

Carlos Slim’s (The richest man in the world) parents are Lebanese but they immigrated to Mexico where Carlos was born and raised. He made his money through a series of smart business decisions. Carlos now owns companies in nearly every sector of business with his current largest ventures being telephone companies. Slim currently owns  Telmex one of the largest telephone providers in Latin America, the company owns 90 percent of  telephone lines in Mexico city.

Second on the Forbes richest list is Bill Gates. One of the world’s most famous billionaires, he is worth $56 billion from his company Microsoft. Your computer probably has Mr Gates software on it nearly every computer uses Microsoft. Bill Gates may have been the world’s richest man this year had he not given away a third of his fortune to charity. Gates has not been the number 1 on the Forbes richest list since 2009.

I wonder who will be the richest person in the world next year, Hopefully we’ll have more Irish entries!

JUSTIN BIEBER was in town last night to perform to a sold-out o2 arena in Dublin.

The concert, which was part of  My World Tour, was his second and final date to sing in the o2, where he performed to over 20,000 fans over the two nights.

He was supported by actor Will Smith’s daughter, Willow Smith, who is known for her hit single “Whip My Hair”.

Will Smith’s son, Karate Kid star Jaden Smith, also performed for one song with Justin Bieber.

The crowd went wild when Bieber was hoisted up over the crowd in a heart-shaped platform, and they never stopped screaming, right up until his final song, “Baby”.

But Bieber Fever was not just in the o2 arena.  He was chased down Grafton Street by fans after being spotted doing some shopping before the gig!

Crowds of girls also waited outside the Shelbourne Hotel, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Youtube pop sensation.