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Fine Gael have promised that Irish forestry company Coillte will not be sold off.

Speaking yesterday, Fine Gael TD Andrew Doyle said “Fine Gael has no intention to sell Coillte.”

Instead, the Government want to join Coillte and Bord na Mona together to create a new bio-energy company.

Coillte has one million acres of forest in Ireland and many people have spoken out against proposals to sell it including singer Glen Hansard from the band ‘The Frames’.

A Facebook page has also been set up, called “The Irish peoples’ forests are not for sale”, as part of the campaign to save our forests.

X-Factor judges, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue, are said to have had to re-apply for their positions on the X Factor judging panel.

This comes just as it was announced that Cheryl Cole would be receiving twice the amount she was paid for her work on the show last year.

Simon is said to be ‘very fond’ of the duo and their on-screen chemistry but wants them to re-apply to ‘shake things up’ for this years X Factor. A source has said that Cowell despite them having to re-apply they are ”both are assured of the position on this years show.”

Cowell is said to currently be focusing all his time on setting up the US version of The X Factor and wants both Louis and Dannii to get acquainted with the crew he has in charge of the UK X Factor.

Last month the Chinese celebrated the start of their new year, the year of the rabbit. 

The Lantern Festival marks the 15^th and final day of the Chinese New Year festivities. It is the first night of the new year to see a full moon, and the Chinese believe that when there is a full bright moon in the sky, there should be thousands of colourful lanterns hung out for everyone to appreciate and celebrate. 

On the night of the festival, lanterns decorated with pictures of birds, beasts, historical figures, and a number of various other themes are hung outside  homes and along the streets. 

There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. 

One legend claims that many years ago fierce beasts roamed freely in China. One day, a hunter mistook a sacred bird for a dangerous beast and killed it. The heaven Emperor was furious and ordered the land to be burned. Luckily, he had a very kind daughter who warned the people.

 One man suggested that every family light up lanterns and fireworks to fool the Emperor into thinking that the land had been burned. On the 15^th day of the first lunar month, the heaven Emperor looked down on China to see red fire everywhere. From then on, people continued to light up lanterns and fireworks to celebrate the success. 

Customs associated with the Lantern Festival include eating Yuanxio(a small rice ball sometimes served in soup), guessing lantern riddles and the lion and dragon dance. 

The Lion Dance is performed at many Chinese celebrations as it is seen as a symbol of bravery and strength believed to scare away  evil and bring luck. 

This year, the Chinese welcomed the year of the Rabbit. From the chinese zodiac, it  indicates a year of caution and calm.

‘Loose Women’s’ Denise Welch left Dancing on Ice last night after losing to war hero Johnson Beharry in the skate-off.

The Loose Women presenter has been lingering at the bottom of the judges’ scoreboard for the last few weeks, yet tonight, after doubling her score and ending up in third place, she still landed in the bottom two.

Upon hearing the skate-off participants, most thought that Welch would leave, especially after her argument with Jason Gardner earlier that evening. Tim Healy may have been defending his wife, but it is doubtful that it had any affect on the Judges.

Welch scored 30 but still found herself in the bottom two with Johnson who scored 17.5 after managing to perform his first lift of the series.

Starting the skate off was Welch giving her routine “Alone” a second try. It has actually been one of her better performances in recent weeks but she still had trouble getting in and out of lifts and showed little speed on the ice.

Johnson was up next with “You Are So Beautiful”. He gave just as good a performance as he had done earlier in the evening, yet he ended up in the bottom two last night.

After Robin Cousins and Emma Bunton had voted for Beharry to go through, Jason Gardner stated, “its a clean sweep. I save Johnson”.

Following the judges’ verdicts Welch said, “I loved it, I did the best I could the second time”.

Under the new programme for ‘national government’ Fine Gael and Labour will make a new economic group to change the terms of the loan given to Irish banks by the European Union.

Labour’s Brendan Howlin said “We have to repair broken bridges across our European partners, to build up an understanding of our position.”

He added “It’s in everybody’s interests, not only the national interest of Ireland, but in Europe’s interest and in the interest of maintaining the euro, that we have a path that is sustainable out of the economic hole that we find ourselves in now.”

It also calls for the Department of Finance to be split in two.

The new Minister for Finance would look after budgets and taxes. A minister for estimates and public service reform would supervise spending.

Both these Ministers and two others, one from each party, would form an economic council.

The council would not be answerable to the Taoiseach and would have supreme power over the country’s economic direction.

Fine Gael’s Phil Hogan said there would be no income tax rises under the partnership.

The parties will make no changes to this year’s Budget and they will make further €3 billion in cuts and savings next year.

They would then review cost-cutting measures in 2012.

Some 18,000 to 21,000 voluntary redundancies will be sought in the public sector* in the next two years with a further 5,000 to follow after that.

There would be no changes to children’s allowance or social welfare payments. A new and fairer funding scheme for third level education will be introduced.

They will reverse cuts in the minimum wage and abolish the travel tax on air fares.

There would be a minimum 30 per cent income tax rate for very high earners.

They plan to introduce a new universal health insurance system, making it compulsory for everyone to be insured.

The coalition will hold a referendum to abolish the Seanad.

They will also reduce the number of TDs, cut their salaries, expenses and pensions.

The plan calls for the Dáil to sit four days a week – instead of the present three – and a reduction in holidays.

Glossary

The Dáil=the House of Representatives

The Seanad=the Senate

Public sector=the part of the economy who provide basic govermment services e.g teachers and the Gardai

Oscar-award winning actress, Natalie Portman, is not just a pretty face as her past has recently revealed.

It has been revealed that the 29-year old actress, who recently received the award for Best Actress at the Oscars, took part in US-based Intel Science Search competition and made it all the way to the semifinals.

The Intel Science Talent Search is considered the nation’s most elite and demanding high school research competition in the USA. Past participants and winners of the competition have gone on to win Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, mathematics, National medals in science and technology and a handful of ‘genius’ grants.

As well as this, Portman is also a graduate of Harvard University,  having earned herself a B.A in Psychology in 2003.

 

Auditions for the 2011 series of the X-Factor will begin next week, and the question on everybody’s lips is “Who will be on the judging panel?”  For the past two years we have watched Simon, Cheryl, Louis and Dannii on our TV screens giving advice to the finalists and occasionally getting into rows with each other, but this is all about to change.

This year Simon Cowell is launching the X-Factor in America, and so he will be spending a lot of his time over there filming the new show. Unfortunately for us this means he might miss out on the British version. The show just won’t be the same without “Mr.Nasty”

There are also rumours circulating that Cheryl Cole will be a judge on the American version of the X-Factor, if she gets that job then there will be no Cheryl on the UK judging panel either!! No Cheryl and no Simon? So who will replace Cheryl?

There are rumours that either Sharon Osbourne or Naomi Campbell may be brought in as judges for this series. Who are these women and why should they be a judge on the X-Factor?

 

Sharon Osbourne:

Nickname:

Mrs O

Experience:

She has already been a judge on the X-Factor (2004-2007) and helped Louis pick out his acts this year. She is her husband Ozzy Osbourne’s manager.

Reason she might get the job:

When she was a judge on the show she was loved by the public for her closeness to her acts, and she is known to cry a lot. She is best friends with Louis Walsh!

Reason she might not get the job:

There has been a public feud between Sharon and current X-Factor judge Dannii Minogue. Dannii has been reported as saying that Sharon bullied her when they were both judges on the show.

 

Naomi Campbell

Nickname:

The “Supermodel”.

Experience:

She is known worldwide for being one of the original supermodels. She has appeared in a couple of music videos in the 1990s. She released a pop single but it didn’t do very well in the charts.

Reason she might get the job:

She is a good friend of Simon Cowell, and he wants a very famous person on the judging panel.

Reason she might not get the job:

She is known for having a temper. (Let’s hope that none of the judges gets on her bad side!!)

 

Dutch newspapers have reported that  three Dutch soldiers have been held in Libya since last Sunday when they were carrying out a mission to evacuate two civilians.

The three soldiers were captured by Libyan forces after they had travelled by helicopter from the Dutch navy ship Tromp to the city of Sirte. They had wanted to pick up two people, one of whom was Dutch.

Contact was made between Dutch authorities and Libyan officials. This led to the two evacuees being handed to the Dutch embassy in the capital Tripoli. They have left Libya now.

The soldiers, however, have not yet been released. “It’s a terrible issue,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, “Furthermore, I cannot say anything about it, in the interest of the captured soldiers in Libya. Only when the soldiers are back home safely, I can give more details.”