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

Construction of new airport terminal starts

Construction work began yesterday on the new €395 million Terminal 2 at Dublin airport.

The work is expected to be completed in late 2009 and the new terminal is set to open in April 2010. It will handle up to 15 million passengers a year.

Terminal 2 is part of a €2 billion redevelopment of the airport by the Dublin Airport Authority.

Production at new high for Dragon Oil

Dragon Oil, the miner focused on the Cheleken Contract Area offshore Turkmenistan, issued a drilling update yesterday, saying that production had reached a new high of 39,637 barrels of oil per day at the end of September, several months ahead of schedule.

African Diamonds applies for licence

AIM-listed exploration company African Diamonds has submitted a mining licence application to the government of Botswana for the development of its AK6 diamond discovery.

In a statement to the stock exchange, it said a financing package had been put in place whereby its joint venture with De Beers, Boteti, would seek to raise $165 million (€116 million) to fund the project.

Part of the financing will be guaranteed by De Beers, which will also provide African Diamonds' $55 million share in the form of a repayable loan.

Confidence in investing falls

Almost half of adults believe now is a bad time to invest in shares, up from just 22 per cent three months ago, according to a survey by Standard Life.

The study, which questioned 1,102 adults across the Republic between August 21st and September 4th, also found that more than three-quarters of adults believe now is a good time to invest in pensions.

Merrill Lynch starts biofuels index

Merrill Lynch has launched a biofuels index to eliminate difficulties for investors seeking to cash in on the growing popularity of biodiesel and ethanol.

The MLCX biofuels index will focus only on biofuels, while the MLCX biofuels extra index will include fossil fuels as well.

Spread-betting traders set to rise

The number of regular finance spread-betting traders in Ireland and Britain is likely to double to one million over the next four years, Paddy Power said yesterday as it launched its spread-betting website, paddypowertrader.com.

Betfair's revenue rises by 30%

Revenue at betting exchange and online casino Betfair jumped 30 per cent to £182 million (€261 million), in the 12 months to April 30th, the company said yesterday.

The firm said earnings before interest, tax and write-offs were £12 million.