Ireland rues boom and bust

The International Herald Tribune leads with the headline: “Threat of chaos forces Irish hand”. Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan says the bailout is necessary to save Ireland from “economic chaos”. The paper reports Dublin buckled after spending months trying to persuade Europe and bond investors it could survive. The paper covers the human costs with the headline: “Once again, hardship and poverty drive the Irish overseas.” It looks at the case of Antoinette Sheilds who runs a construction company. She wanted her son Kevin to take over her business but he plans to emigrate. He is quoted as saying: “There is nowhere as bad as here”.

The Wall Street Journal has the headline: “Ireland’s bailout threatens Cowen”. The paper says the Fianna Fail government has a razor thin majority. It quotes a Politics Professor at University College Dublin, David Farrell, saying the chances of the government surviving beyond February are “virtually gone”.

The Irish Times, too, leads on the bailout request saying the loan facility could reach 90 billion euros. On its editorial page, commentator Agnes Aylward says: “Hope doesn’t die in a day and Ireland will survive her sufferings and rear one day an Arch of Triumph”. She asks: “Are we going to negotiate the best deal for Ireland or pull each other apart before the eyes of the world?”

Another top story worldwide is the Pope’s statement on condom use. Benedict XVI has said that in certain cases, such as for a male prostitute, condoms could be acceptable to stop HIV infection.

The Irish Times suggests the Pope’s shift lags behind the reality of Catholics in their day-to-day lives. It has a report from the Sunday service at the Cathedral Basilica in Nairobi in Kenya with the headline: “People are already using condoms to prevent HIV”. The reporter Jody Clarke talks to congregation goers and learns people there are using them to avoid unwanted pregnancies and reduce the risk of infection.

Staying with Africa, South Africa’s Mail and Guardian doesn’t have coverage on its front page of the Pope’s comments but instead reports on the battle against HIV/AIDS on the frontline. South Africa is the world’s worst-affected country for HIV/AIDS. The paper says - in "a new twist" to HIV/AIDS hardship - South Africans living with AIDS are being robbed of their life-saving drugs so the medication can be mixed with marijuana and smoked. The concoction is called “Whoonga”. The paper says there is no evidence AIDS drugs add to the high.

In New Zealand, rescue efforts continue to save miners trapped by a blast on Friday. The New Zealand Herald headlines: “The Blast, The Gas, The Fear”. It talks to miner Daniel Rockhouse who survived and was the closest to the blast. He "thought he was dead" at one point. A white light flashed, he was catapulted against a wall and fainted from carbon monoxide poisoning. He came round and was able to drag himself to an area with fresh air, the paper says.

And here in France, Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France is reporting: “We have to save the Tiger”. Officials are meeting in St Petersburg in Russia to discuss how to save the big cats from extinction. The paper says there were 100,000 Tigers a century ago, there are just 3,200 in the wild today.