Oliver Laughland on the people and stories in the media spotlight in the last seven days
The story
Carla's divine gift
She asked and God delivered. Following an official visit to India last year in which the French first lady requested her impregnation via a wish shrine, heaven has finally obliged. Blessed not just with good looks but humility too, it was left to her father-in-law to let slip to the world that Bruni (right) is indeed bearing child. Although her prayers appear to have been answered, divine power may still have a trick to play – while Bruni reportedly told the shrine she wanted a boy, Sarkozy senior has said he's convinced it's a girl. And you thought it was all a cynical attempt to bolster her husband's waning chances of re-election next year?
The stat
935,000...
... young people can't find a job. The numbers may have shrunk slightly, but this quarter's unemployment results show nearly a million 16-24 year olds, or one in five of those at the start of their working lives, still can't get on the employment ladder. This comes in the same week that the Prince's Trust warns of an emerging "youth underclass".
The quote
Liam Fox
"I believe that creating a statutory requirement to spend 0.7% ODA carries more risk in terms of potential future legal challenges…" Or, in case this policy jargon means little to you: "Screw poor people and give my department more money." Liam Fox makes it clear that ringfencing the international aid budget should become yet another broken promise through yet another leaked memo.
The tweet
"I will put u asleep within 10 seconds." England's favourite meathead invites a tenacious Twitter taunter, or "little nit" as he describes him, to a post-training brawl. Within minutes of microblogging his rage, Wayne was able to calm down by posting a picture of his pug, which unremarkably looks strikingly similar to its owner, sucking on a dummy apparently belonging to son Kai.