A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Money laundering charge dropped
A Belfast estate agent accused of money laundering walked from court yesterday after the charges against him were dropped.
Philip Johnston (39), King's Road, was arrested last year by detectives investigating the financial affairs of former UDA leader Jim Gray who was later murdered.
No reason was given when the prosecution announced at Belfast Magistrates Court that the charges were being withdrawn.
The charges against Mr Johnston, who ran six branches of his agency in Belfast, were all linked to property and were brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He spent a weekend in custody after his arrest in May last year before being released on bail.
Notice of industrial action at UCD
Siptu is to issue notice of industrial action at UCD on Monday week, in a dispute over contract workers.
Siptu branch organiser, Chris Rowland, said: "Staff at UCD are being denied job security and pension rights because the university is abusing the legislation covering fixed-term contract work.
"UCD is blatantly in breach of the legislation covering fixed-term contract work by not giving some contract staff a pension. This policy is creating a two-tier workforce - one with security and provision for the future, and the other without."
Siptu claims that one-third of UCD's 3,000 staff are on fixed-term contracts - including lecturers, researchers, administrative and services staff.
UCD said it was surprised and perturbed to receive notice of industrial action from Siptu in relation to fixed-term contract employees, since the university and the union were engaged in productive discussions that seemed to be moving towards an outline agreement.
Garda appeal on Dublin shooting
Gardaí investigating the murder of Wayne Zambra, who was shot dead in the early hours of Saturday, August 19th while sitting in his vehicle on Cameron Street, Dublin, have issued an appeal.
They would like to speak to a male taxi driver who picked up a fare outside Morrissey's pub on Cork Street between 12.50am and 1.20am on August 19th.
The incident room at Kevin Street Garda station can be contacted at 01-6669432.
Toxic algae at Lough Derg
Hunters in the three counties bordering Lough Derg have been warned to be vigilant about their gun dogs following the death of a terrier after drinking water from the lake containing toxic algae.
The duck shooting season starts tomorrow and, traditionally, hunters from Tipperary, Galway and Clare arrive in large numbers to the lake, which is home to stocks of wild duck.
The Save Our Lough Derg group (Sold) has warned that expensive gun dogs could die if they ingest blue-green algae that has been found in the water over the past week.
New-look oyster festival website
The official website of the Galway International Oyster Festival has been given a revamp, with expectations that the 52nd annual event will be one of the biggest yet.
An increase in people booking tickets online, as well as people trawling for research on the event, led the organising committee to revamp the website.
Festival chairman Pádraic Ó Máille said the festival, which runs from September 28th to October 1st, promises to be the biggest yet.
The new-look website can be accessed at www.galwayoysterfestival.com.