A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

76 sales jobs to go at Smart Telecom

Telecoms group Smart announced yesterday that it planned to cut 76 sales-related jobs as part of the plan to rescue the company.

Smart is depending on high-profile backers to provide it with the €3 million a month it needs to stay in business.

It has hired NCB as part of a review aimed at raising the cash it needs to stay afloat in the longer term.

The company confirmed yesterday that it has issued notice to 76 of its 300 staff. The workers who face the loss of their jobs are in field sales and related areas.

Global economy faces 'testing times'

The global economy faces testing times because of the danger of inflation, unbalanced trade flows and deadlocked world trade talks, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Rodrigo Rato said yesterday.

As Mr Rato set the scene for annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in Singapore, World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz hit out at the host government for what he called its "authoritarian" decision to bar 27 civil rights activists from entering the city state. Mr Wolfowitz said Singapore had violated the understanding it had come to with the two international lending agencies to allow anyone accredited into the meeting.

Singapore subsequently agreed to allow 22 of 27 banned activists to attend the meeting. - (Reuters, Financial Times service)

EU split over vodka row

A row over whether vodka may be made from produce such as grapes and sugar cane as well as potatoes and grain looks set to split EU governments for several months despite recent attempts to find a compromise.

EU experts have spent more than five years trying to decide exactly what vodka should be made of, already stipulating that minimum alcoholic strength by volume will be 37.5 per cent. The European Commission wants to allow the drink to be made from any agricultural raw material provided its origin is displayed on the bottle.

That view has gone down badly in Poland, which claims a tradition of distilling vodka solely from grain and potatoes, and its allies Estonia, Finland and Sweden. But several other countries, including Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, disagree and say Poland's stance is a protectionist tactic. - (Reuters)

Providence to start oil, gas surveys

Dublin and London-listed exploration company, Providence Resources, said it planned to begin geological surveys of its oil and gas prospects off the Republic's south coast.

The company has hired specialist company Gardline Geosurvey to carry out the work in its blocks in the Celtic Sea and St George's Channel.

Luas operator's growth on target

French utility Veolia Environnement - the group that operates Luas and a water management business - kept its double-digit growth targets for 2006 as it posted higher first-half profits, helped by new contracts and high energy prices.

The world's biggest listed water supplier said net profit rose 40.3 per cent to €444.5 million in the six months to the end of June. Recurring net income rose 19 per cent to €377 million.

The group, which also collects and treats refuse in more than 30 countries worldwide and provides transport and energy services, had already reported half-year revenue up 13.7 per cent to €13.9 billion. - (Reuters)