Extremely challenging trading conditions at the Irish arm of food giant Mars last year contributed to a slump in sales and profits.

So the diva, Garth Brooks, doesn’t get his way, throws a tantrum and storms off the stage before it’s even built. Perhaps he should eat a Snickers when he is hungry.

Bumper sales of cheese and onion crisps and bottles of Coca Cola were not enough to prevent profits tumbling at Mountjoy jail’s million-euro tuck shop.

FRANCE is the most visited country on earth — 80-something million of us go there each year. So there’s no point going on about it, because you’ll already know all about the French joie de vivre, savoir vivre, savoir faire, sang froid, maybe even the hauteur or froideur if you commit a faux pas like turning up topless to the village post office to buy stamps, having walked a mile along a Cote d’Azur beach in 35 degree heat.

Confined to the basement of a CIA secret prison in Romania about a decade ago, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the admitted mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, asked his jailers whether he could embark on an unusual project: Would the spy agency allow Mohammed, who had earned his bachelor degree in mechanical engineering, to design a vacuum cleaner?

Snickers Workwear Ireland has begun growing bamboo on Irish farms for use in its innovative work clothing range, manufactured using the plant’s nano-carbons.

ON ONE hand, writing about Munster playing at home in the Heineken Cup is the simplest assignment in the world.

Anglo-Dutch company Unilever says it is recalling some of its Lipton-brand milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau after they are found to contain traces of an industrial chemical.

Confectionery giant Cadbury became the latest victim of China’s poisoned milk scandal, reporting findings of melamine in its Chinese-made chocolates.

British chocolate maker Cadbury yesterday said it is recalling 11 types of Chinese-made chocolates found to contain melamine, as police in northern China raided a network accused of adding the banned chemical to milk.

Chocolate giant Mars is poised to announce a US$22bn (€14m) bid to buy the Wrigley chewing gum group, it was reported today.

MARS has abandoned its plan to use animal products in chocolate and has apologised to vegetarians who organised a campaign against the change.

VEGETARIANS yesterday reacted with dismay after learning their favourite chocolate bars are now being made with animal products.

THE makers of Ireland’s most popular chocolate bars are to put ‘energy ratings’ on the front of their wrappers to help buyers eat more healthily.

Dime bars are to be re-branded Daim to bring the product in line with the rest of Europe, it emerged today.

Destiny's Child stars Kelly Rowland, Beyonce Knowles and Michelle Williams face a constant battle to look good when they tour - because they indulge in sugary snacks whenever they can.

Premiership footballers including Alan Shearer and David Beckham are compromising education campaigns by accepting promotion deals from fatty, salty and sugary food brands, a survey claimed today.