Is it just us or has January felt 365 days long this time around?

Well, we know what we're doing for the new few weekends.

Nestle plans to switch in or out of businesses with combined sales of almost 10bn Swiss francs (€8.7bn) as chief executive Mark Schneider focuses on coffee, bottled water, and pet care to prioritise profitability over scale.

Nestlé warned sales growth this year will be the weakest in at least two decades, giving activist investor Dan Loeb ammunition for his campaign to overhaul the world’s largest food firm, while Danone kept its 2017 goals despite a sales slowdown in the second quarter.

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Bill Schneider thinks that Donald Trump needs to annex the Republican party to win

Star hurlers could make it in the big money world of baseball — that’s the opinion of one of the US sport’s top former players.

An autopsy on actor Robin Williams found no alcohol or illegal drugs in his system when he committed suicide at his northern California home in August.

CAR COMEBACK

The revelation that Robin Williams was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson’s disease along with severe depression at the time of his apparent suicide has drawn public attention to the correlation between the diseases.

Robin Williams will receive a "meaningful" remembrance at this month's Emmy Awards.

Robin Williams' wife has said that the late actor was in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease at the time of his death.

The children of actor Robin Williams have paid tribute to their father after his tragic death.

Friends say Robin Williams began to lose the gifts that made him a star when he began drinking again in 2003.

Actor Robin Williams has been found dead in what police said was a suspected suicide at his home in California.

Goalkeepers are often the butt of jokes and the subject of fan fury but in this World Cup final they came into their own, finally taking back some of the spotlight from the strikers.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s potential coalition partners, the Social Democrats, want to make a proposed financial transaction tax a requirement for participation in a European banking union.

SATURDAY

The Irish Examiner asked a number of our writers to assess The Rules. The American best sellers that promises to guide us all through the tangled web of relationships and dating.

The successful 1990s manual on how to win a husband by being passive aggressive has been upgraded for the digital age. It’s still sexist and insulting, says Suzanne Harrington

Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar leads a strong Irish contingent looking to score a home victory against a stacked international field at Carton House this week for the International European Amateur Championship.

German vice chancellor Philipp Roesler has been criticised for resurrecting the possibility that Greece should leave the eurozone.

Bono wrote a character reference for Courtney Love so she could move into her new apartment.

Germany has agreed after a year of tough negotiations to pay pensions to about 16,000 additional Holocaust victims all over the world.

Kate won William by following some age-old theories that promise a marriage proposal, says Rachel Walsh.

French actress Maria Schneider who starred in the controversial film “Last Tango in Paris” has died. She was 58.

IT looks like we are relying on Brazil’s Samba stars to put some pizzazz into this World Cup after the Netherlands, the team tipped by many to provide the most entertaining football in the tournament, needed an own goal to edge Denmark in their opening game and failed to reach the heights expected of them.

Four men linked to al Qaida were jailed today over a foiled plot to attack US targets in Germany that could have caused massive devastation.

Four men accused of a foiled German terror plot were fuelled by hatred and aimed to cause destruction on the scale of September 11, a court heard today.

IT is probably inevitable that we will be told that the Chinese are exploiting the Olympic Games for their own political purposes, as if the Americans, the Germans, the Russians, the British, or all the others had not done so already.

Take one strange loner and a blow-up sex doll … and you have a surprisingly wonderful romantic comedy with lots of heart and insight and a palpable feel-good factor.

POLAND moved a step closer to qualifying for Euro 2008 after a goalless draw against a Finland side that could still join them in Switzerland and Austria.

Tadhg Kennelly's Sydney Swans moved back into the top eight of the AFL Premiership ladder earlier today courtesy of a resounding 112-64 win over the Melbourne Demons in Canberra.

American comedian Rob Schneider has brushed off criticism from Dina Lohan over his TV portrayal of her troubled daughter Lindsay, branding her a "crummy" mummy.

Funnyman Rob Schneider replaced troubled Lindsay Lohan on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night - dressed as the actress.

A TAM jet pulled out of an attempted landing today at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport, and federal prosecutors sought a court order to shut the entire airport - Brazil’s busiest – until the investigation into this week’s crash that killed at least 189 people is completed.

A top aviation official denied that a short, slippery runway was to blame for Brazil’s worst air disaster.

Blackburn 0 Bayer Leverkusen 0 (Leverkusen win 3-2 on aggregate)

Blackburn 0 Bayer Leverkusen 0 (Leverkusen win 3-2 on aggregate)

Bayer Leverkusen 3 Blackburn 2

BACK in the first week in January four prominent American political figures raised the need for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The issue was followed up this week in an article by Mikhail Gorbachev calling for urgent action.

Werder Bremen returned to the top of the Bundesliga standings on the back of a 3-0 victory over Hannover.