The Arab revolutions have shown an astonishing tenacity. They have overthrown some dictators and shaken others. Above all, they continue.

The struggle to democratise Egyptian society goes on. And revolutionaries in Syria have shown astonishing courage and determination despite more than 5,000 deaths at the hand of the state.

The Arab revolutions—and the global economic crisis—have punctured the neoliberal era when unrestrained capitalism ran rampant and revolutions were consigned to the past.

But attempts to read the revolutions are shaped by the myths of this period of free market reaction.

One of these myths is comparatively easy to demolish. This is the idea that the overthrow of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt are the latest in a succession of “colour revolutions” that are spreading Western-style liberal capitalism throughout the world.

Ireland is staring down the barrel of another recession after the Central Bank more than halved forecasts for economic growth, opposition politicians have warned.

Opposition politicians claimed a mini-budget was on the cards after the dramatic reassessment warned the economy would expand by just 0.5% in 2012 rather than previous estimates of 1.8%.

The Central Bank blamed a combination of falling demand from consumers at home and a poor export market.

The revised report on the economic outlook slashed the official predictions from October forecasting 1.8% growth in 2012, and a 2.1% prediction in the July bulletin last year.

In the mid-morning sun, Aminatou Gado takes her place in the queue, where she faces a long wait to have her 14-month-old daughter screened for malnutrition. Having already walked three hours to get to the dusty town of Bambeye, she will probably not leave before 5pm. Inside the adobe building dozens of other women, many breastfeeding, sit on the floor amid discarded flip-flops, waiting their turn. The test involves a simple, coloured cardboard strip wrapped around the child's upper arm. If it tightens to the red band, the child is severely malnourished; yellow means moderate; and green means the child is eating enough.

"My child has fevers and colds, does not have enough to eat and I don't have enough milk," says Gado, 25, as her baby, eyes shut, sucks hard on a shrivelled breast. Gado has two other children after her twins died one month after their birth.

The Whistler
by Sommer Browning

Here I am so selfish I only remember my reaction. Each fact loosening falling away like icicles along the eaves. I once saw one so large & the earth so soft that it pierced the ground below it. I once walked through a spider web so vast, I felt its tug as I pulled through it. I once drove 30 miles at night

It came as the Central Bank slashed its growth forecast for this year, suggesting an economic turnaround will take longer than expected.

The slow pace of recovery will be felt by households around the country, which will see even further demands on their budgets.

The latest blows came as the VHI yesterday confirmed price hikes and Ruairi Quinn, the education minister, signalled third-level registration fees would eventually rise to €3,000.

Thirty-eight more people have died as freezing weather grips Ukraine, authorities say.

The death toll over the past week now stands at 101.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said more than 1,200 other people have been treated in hospital for hypothermia and frostbite as temperatures in some parts of the country sank to -32C (-26F).