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

Insolvencies in England and Wales up 66%

Individual insolvencies in England and Wales soared 66 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, fuelling fears that debt-strapped UK consumers were storing up problems for the banking sector in a week when its retail bad debts touched £3.3 billion (€4.9 billion) for the first half of the year.

There were 26,021 individual insolvencies between April and June, a rise of 10 per cent on the previous three months, the UK government's Insolvency Service said yesterday. The figures reinforced expectations that the annual total for 2006 would exceed 100,000.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders also said home repossessions were running at their highest since 2001, with 8,140 homes seized in the first half, up from 4,620 in the same period last year. It warned against assuming an upward trend. - (Financial Times service)

Banks set to hike savings interest

Anglo Irish Bank and Bank of Scotland Ireland will increase interest rates on their savings accounts after the European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate this week for the fourth time in nine months.

The rate changes will take effect on August 8th at Anglo Irish and on September 1st at Bank of Scotland. The rate on Anglo Irish's 30-Day Notice Account will rise from 3.4 per cent to 3.65 per cent, or 0.65 per cent higher than the ECB rate.

US penalises firms over arms deals

The United States has imposed sanctions against seven companies from North Korea, Russia, India and Cuba for their arms deals with Iran, a State Department official said yesterday.

"The sanctions apply to the specific entities and their successors, sub-units or subsidiaries and not to their respective countries or governments," a State Department official said of the sanctions.

First chief selected for Arcelor Mittal

Roland Junck has been appointed the first chief executive of Arcelor Mittal, the soon-to-be created steelmaking giant, in a move designed to smooth the integration of the new group.

When his company won control of Arcelor in June following a bitter six-month fight, Lakshmi Mittal, founder of Mittal Steel, agreed that the first chief executive of the merged group should come from Arcelor. Mr Junck (50), a Luxembourg citizen, beat Arcelor executives Michel Wurth and Gonzalo Urquijo to the post.

Mr Mittal will be company president until Joseph Kinsch, chairman of Arcelor Mittal and previously chairman of Arcelor, steps down in 2008. The plan is then for Mr Mittal to assume the chairman's role. - (Financial Times service)

Clontarf Castle plans €10m work

Four-star hotel Clontarf Castle plans a €10 million refurbishment to add a new restaurant and new bars, upgrade its conference rooms, and revamp 111 bedrooms.

The 19th-century castle plans to install iPod docking stations in its executive rooms and add flat-screen LCD televisions and broadband to all its bedrooms.

Aminex farms out exploration work

Exploration group Aminex farmed out 20 per cent of its concession in eastern Egypt to Groundstar Resources after its new partner agreed to fund 40 per cent of the production-sharing agreement.