A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Nasdaq names Michael Oxley vice-chairman
Nasdaq, the US stock exchange, has appointed former congressman Michael Oxley, a framer of the eponymous legislation on corporate accounting, as a non-executive vice-chairman on public policy issues.
Mr Oxley, a former chairman of the House financial affairs committee who retired at the end of 2006 after 25 years in Congress, will be responsible for framing Nasdaq's public policy agenda.
Nasdaq chief executive Bob Greifeld said Mr Oxley had not joined the company to lobby on any particular issue but would be sounding out the heads of its 3,200 listed companies to find common ground on policy issues. However, Mr Oxley made it clear that part of his remit could be to persuade Congress and other regulatory bodies to roll back some aspects of the post-Enron reforms. - (Financial Times service)
Providence in 'farm out' deal
Oil and gas exploration company Providence Resources has agreed to "farm out" a 10 per cent interest in the Spanish Point project in the Porcupine Basin to Challenger Minerals (Celtic Sea), a subsidiary of GlobalSantaFe.
The deal is subject to approval from Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey.
Minco Bilbao study complete
AIM-quoted exploration company Minco announced yesterday that an independent pre-feasibility study of its Bilbao project has been completed. The results of the study indicate that the operation is economically viable and could potentially be worth $84.7 million (€64 million).
Intel manager on research council
Jim O'Hara, general manager of Intel Ireland, has been appointed by Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin to the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology. He will be joined on the council by Academy of Finland senior research director Dr Annelli Pauli, as well as a number of other research, industry and academic figures.
Hotel reopening to create 250 jobs
A total of 250 new jobs will be created with the reopening of the newly-refurbished Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire. The hotel, which has been closed since 2004, has undergone a €50 million redevelopment and will reopen in May.
Amarin director buys more shares
Dr Simon Kukes, a non-executive director of drug development company Amarin, bought 285,000 shares in the company on Wednesday. This follows a purchase of 500,000 shares made by Dr Kuke earlier this week, and brings his total shareholding in Amarin to 8,274,212. This represents 9.12 per cent of the firm's issued share capital.
River launches 'Monaghan Post'
Provincial media group River Newspapers has continued its rapid expansion with the launch of the Monaghan Post newspaper yesterday.
River has invested more than €1 million in the new paid-for title, which aims to have a 20,000 circulation.
The Monaghan Post is the seventh newspaper title for River, which is backed by the Irish News and investors Tim Collins and Pádraig O'Dwyer. Three more launches are scheduled for this year and the group plans to double in size by 2008.
River, which has annual revenues of €10 million, spent €14 million either buying or establishing a number of regional newspapers last year.
It bought the Inish Times and the Derry News, and set up the Leitrim Post, Kildare Post, Letterkenny Post and Donegal Post.
