Beam them up

SEVEN DAYS:A glance at the week that was

It’s an election year in the US, so the really big policy issues are dominating the headlines: immigration, healthcare reform, economic stimulus and, er, alien invasions. A survey by the National Geographic Channel found that two-thirds of Americans think Barack Obama would be better able to handle a hostile invasion by extraterrestrial beings than his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. Those of us who didn’t consider Independence Day (pictured) to be the most credible of Hollywood blockbusters might be disturbed to find that the same survey suggests 36 per cent of Americans believe in UFOs.

The numbers

€50.86bn Overall aidfrom the 27 members of the EU in 2011, a fall of 1.5 per cent from 2010.

50mm Volume of rainin some areas on Wednesday night, swamping parts of Cork and Antrim

28Number of Spanish banksdowngraded by Moody's.

400kgWeight of cocaine seized by gardaíthis week, the largest ever haul here.

4 trillionThe temperature, in degrees Celsius, reached during an atom-smashing experimentby US physicists, the highest man-made temperature ever.

0.2%The month-on-month rise in property prices, according to the CSO, although the year-on- year decline was 15.3 per cent.

We now know

Rupert Murdoch has decided to split News Corpinto two companies.

A German court has ruled that circumcising children constitutes bodily harm, angering Jewish and Muslim communities.

The Edge is excellent at returning lost property, as some US visitors to Killiney discovered when he returned luggage that they had left at the south Dublin suburb's Dart station.

Most read on irishtimes.com

1 Everyone now needs to take a good look at themselves – including the management

2 Seán Quinn found guilty in contempt of court case

3 All black for Irish as Kiwis run riot

4 SF's McGuinness shakes hands with queen in Belfast

5 Famous Euro 2012 flag could prove very best work of its student instigators

6 Two held over journalist's death

7 'Renting is a more attractive option'

8 'Blatant, dishonest and deceitful'

9 Up and down the property ladder

10 Further flooding possible, Met warns

Rankings calculated from June 22nd to yesterday lunchtime