Novel way to break the ice

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was felled on Saturday by a block of snow as he toured an igloo on the sidelines of G7 talks in Canada's far north.

Flaherty was unscathed when the igloo slab got snagged on his hood and fell onto his back as he exited the demonstration snow house. The bricks made of packed snow can weigh up to 9kg.

Its Inuit builders said that they would quickly repair the damage to the igloo that had only been erected hours earlier. Flaherty, meanwhile, laughed off the incident.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the world's seven richest nations were gathered in the town just 300km from the Arctic Circle to discuss keeping a tentative global economic recovery on course.

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.