A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Bankers lose appeal against extradition
Three former NatWest bankers lost an appeal yesterday against extradition to the United States over fraud charges related to collapsed US energy firm Enron.
The British High Court found there was not sufficient basis to refuse the extradition request.
The bankers - David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew - had appealed against British Home Secretary Charles Clarke's decision to allow their extradition to face trial in the United States.
A spokeswoman for the bankers said they would now seek to appeal to the House of Lords.
The three, who worked for NatWest Bank, now part of Royal Bank of Scotland, are alleged to have conspired with Enron executives, including former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, over the sale of a stake in an Enron entity in 2000, which made them $7.3 million. - (Reuters)
Almunia expects faster EU growth
Germany, France and Britain will grow more quickly than expected this year, Joaquin Almunia, European Union monetary affairs commissioner, said yesterday. However, he warned that bird flu could pose a threat to the economic recovery.
Mr Almunia predicted that EU growth would reach 2.2 per cent this year, up from the 2.1 per cent he predicted towards the end of last year.
The biggest change in the commission's economic forecasts concerns Germany, Europe's biggest economy, whose growth is expected to reach 1.5 per cent this year, up from a previous forecast of 1.3 per cent. - (Financial Times service)
Waterford family settles dispute
A dispute between a number of companies controlled by three brothers relating to the purchase of a commercial building worth €800,000 near Waterford city was resolved yesterday at the High Court.
Waterford Hire Services, a company controlled by Eamonn McKenna, had sued APX Ltd, a scaffolding company owned by his brothers, Séamus and Eugene, in relation to the right to purchase a commercial building in Waterford city which is understood to be occupied by a branch of WHS. The case was struck out.
Harvard president resigns under fire
Lawrence Summers, the embattled president of Harvard University, resigned yesterday in the face of a second no-confidence vote in 11 months.
Mr Summers's five-year tenure was marred by high-profile stand-offs with disaffected faculty members and had come under fire in recent weeks after the abrupt resignation of a top dean.
Mr Summers, a former US Treasury secretary under president Bill Clinton, will step down at the end of the current academic year. - (Financial Times service)
UK property slips in new year
The number of property transactions in England and Wales slipped to their lowest in five months in January, tax authority data showed yesterday.
Britain's revenue and customs said the number of property transactions fell to 133,000 in January in seasonally-adjusted terms from 154,000 in December, revised from an originally reported 153,000.
That was the lowest level since August 2005, when the Bank of England cut interest rates to 4.5 per cent, a move that many analysts said gave a boost to the housing market at the end of last year. - (PA)
