A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Industrial employment rising - CSO
Industrial employment ended last year on a strong upward trend, but was still slightly below the level recorded at the outset of 2005, according to data released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office.
Some 238,800 people were employed in industry in December. When adjusted for seasonal factors, this is 2,300 higher than September but 300 lower than December 2004.
Employment in the sector, which accounts for approximately one in every eight of the workforce, deteriorated sharply in the first half of the year due to layoffs in the computer and electrical machinery sectors. The second half saw gains in job creation in the food and medical instruments sectors.
Conroy group finds gold samples
The mining and exploration company Conroy Diamonds and Gold recently discovered two new areas of gold mineralisation within its Armagh-Monaghan Gold Belt. Conroy has found samples with gold values totalling up to 190 parts per billion in Cargy, Co Armagh, and up to 125 parts per billion in Rackwallace, Co Monaghan.
Samples previously found in the Longford-Down Massif have yielded a baseline value of 10 parts per billion.
EU plans motor claims consultation
The European Commission has launched a public online consultation into the settling of motor insurance claims relating to accidents that occur in other EU member states.
The consultation, which is open until June 5th, will look at insurance cover for legal expenses and how effective insurance companies' local claims representatives are in settling claims on behalf of drivers who are victims of road collisions while they are visiting other EU states.
Rates steady at Bank of England
The Bank of England kept interest rates steady for the eighth month running yesterday and many economists say borrowing costs could remain pegged at 4.5 per cent for the rest of the year.
News earlier in the day of another big jump in house prices had only cemented that view as policymakers have expressed concern that a repeat of August 2005's rate cut risked stimulating the market too much. - (Reuters)
Jurors consider Merck damages
Jurors in New Jersey yesterday began considering punitive damages against Merck after ordering the US pharmaceuticals company to pay $4.5 million (€3.6 million) to a 77-year-old man who blamed its Vioxx drug for triggering his heart attack.
Shares in Merck fell 4 per cent to $34.54 in midday trade.
A jury in state court on Wednesday issued a split verdict that awarded $4.5 million in compensation to John McDarby and his wife for pain and suffering but awarded nothing to Thomas Cona, 60, after deciding Vioxx was not to blame for his heart attack.
Merck is likely to appeal.
Vodafone shifts focus to fixed line
Vodafone made a strategic U-turn yesterday, signalling a push into fixed-line services and redrawing its organisational chart just 18 months after the mobile operator's last shake-up. The wide-ranging reorganisation will create three business units, including a division responsible for finding revenues from new "converged" services emerging from internet technology.
The news marks a radical shift away from Vodafone's insistence that its focus was solely on wireless technology and brings it more into line with the strategies being pursued by rivals such as France Télécom, the owner of Orange.
