Mr Putin described the new acting finance minister, the rarely heard of former deputy Anton Siluanov, as a "good, strong specialist", which investors immediately took to mean he would tow the party line and as such be a safe bet for the Russian leaders during the upcoming election season.

BBC: Russia bleeds cash as investors pull out

With the game seemingly petering out to provide a satisfactory share of the spoils for each side, Brazil substitute Ramires broke from the script and struck a shot from 25 yards in injury-time which took a deflection and was goalbound until Eduardo intervened with a good one-handed save to preserve Portugal's 100% clean-sheet record in the tournament.

BBC: Portugal 0-0 Brazil

The lingering question, to which nobody seems to have a good answer, is why it took so long to find an object that ought to be fairly common.

ECONOMIST: The dizziest, giddiest stars

The talks, which took place at the Great Southern Hotel near Dublin Airport, will come as good news to the Black Cats' fans who have been keen to find out developments on the saga which has been ongoing for the last two months.

BBC: SPORT | Football | My Club | Sunderland | Sunderland takeover talks ongoing

But it would be good to lose some of this bias as economic power shifts to developing countries, particularly China, which took over the top spot in the global PC market from the United States in 2Q11.

FORBES: Lenovo, Former IBM PC Company, Is Kicking Butt