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

Builders' dispute settled

Builders John F Supple and Briggs have resolved a dispute over a contract payment that will be the subject of a High Court hearing today.

Briggs Roofing and Cladding has petitioned the High Court as a result of the dispute with John F Supple, relating to payments for work done on the Capella Hotel in Castlemartyr, Co Cork.

A spokesman for Cork city-based John F Supple Ltd said yesterday that the dispute grew out of a breakdown in communication between the parties and said that Briggs had since been paid and the matter was resolved.

Briggs petitioned the court to wind up Supple, an action sometimes taken by creditors when they are pursuing debts from limited companies. That application is not now likely to go ahead. John F Supple Ltd ranks as one of the State's top 50 building companies, active in large-scale public and commercial projects.

BP shuts down Georgian Sea oil pipeline

BP shut down a pipeline carrying Caspian oil from Azerbaijan to the Georgian Sea yesterday, citing concern about security in Georgia.

Toby Odone, a BP spokesman, said the 150,000-barrels-a-day pipeline from Baku to Supsa on the Georgian Black Sea was closed as a "security precaution". A natural gas pipeline linking a BP-operated field offshore in Azerbaijan with Georgia and Turkey has also been closed.

The Baku-Supsa pipeline normally serves as a back-up to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean, the main artery for exports from BP's huge Azeri oilfield. Oil shipments through BTC were halted last week after an explosion on the Turkish section, for which Kurdish separatists claimed responsibility. Mr Odone said BP was unaware of any attacks on pipelines in Georgia despite Georgian claims of Russian bombings. - (Financial Times service)

Students urged to study engineering

Industry group Engineers Ireland has urged more students to take up engineering courses as a new survey has found salaries increased significantly between 2005 and 2008. Average salaries for engineers in the civil and structural sectors increased 28 per cent to €77,500, while those employed in healthcare and medical devices saw wages increase 27 per cent to €85,417. Engineers working in technology, software and computers enjoyed the highest average salaries at €94,583, an increase of 18 per cent on 2005.

UK inflation makes record jump to 4.4%

British inflation shot up in July to more than twice the central bank's target, dousing expectations of interest rate cuts despite drops in house prices and consumer demand.

The 4.4 per cent annual inflation rate was a record for the 11-year-old series, as was the 0.6 percentage-point jump in the price measure from June. Other data yesterday highlighted a rapid fall in house prices and weakening consumer spending, pointing to an economy teetering on recession. - (Reuters)