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

Oil prices fall again

Oil prices fell yesterday as US data highlighted a marked weakening in demand while gold rose ahead of a vital vote in the US Senate on a revamped version of the US government's $700 billion rescue plan.

Government data released yesterday indicated that US oil demand has weakened substantially. Total US product demand averaged 19.02m b/d over the past four weeks, down 7.1 per cent compared with the same period a year ago.

Nymex November West Texas Intermediate fell $3.24 to $97.40 a barrel, after touching a high of $102.84 before the US data was released.

ICE November Brent lost $3.60 at $94.57 a barrel.

Ernst Young entrepreneur of the year on RTÉ

Emerging entrepreneurs will be showcased on RTÉ 1 tonight at 10.45pm in the first of three programmes profiling the finalists in this year's Ernst Young entrepreneur of the year competition. Next week, October 9th, the finalist in the industry category will feature, while on October 16th the international category will be the focus.

Entrepreneurs showcased tonight include: Eric Mosley of Globoforce, which offers an employee incentive scheme; Eugene Greene, Cooneen Watts Stone, which buys and sells military clothing; Patricia O'Hagan from Core Systems, a security technology firm; Tom Brennan and Patsy Carney from Eirgen Pharmaceuticals; Mark Heffernan, from Trinity College spinout Ospona; Tom Marren from green power firm CES Energy; Cathal Power, behind Zumo juice bars; and Seán Rowland from online training provider Hibernia College.

A winner will be announced in each category and an overall Ernst Young entrepreneur of the year winner named at a ceremony in Dublin's City West Hotel on October 23rd.

Skills lack warning

A lack of skills training for a significant minority of employees could result in the creation of a "two-tier" workforce, a development agency director has warned.

Michael McDonnell, director of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said many who had lost their jobs over the last 12 months would not secure worthwhile alternative employment without retraining.

"No employee in Ireland, in their late 30s or mid-40s, should have to face the prospect of being dubbed a 'no-hoper'."

Mr McDonnell was addressing the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment yesterday.

Ruling against Ryanair on tickets

Ryanair's decision to cancel flight bookings made through third-party websites has run into trouble following a ruling by a Spanish court in favour of a major travel agency affected by the policy.

In August the low-cost airline said it would not honour tickets for flights not booked directly on its own website, alleging the bookings were in breach of its terms and conditions. Ryanair also accused the sites of consistently overcharging customers with hidden mark-ups of up to 300 per cent on its ticket prices.

Within days, leading Spanish online travel agent Rumbo, in which telecoms giant Telefónica has a 50 per cent stake, sought an injunction to prevent Ryanair from implementing the measure.

The application has been granted by Madrid's Mercantile Court No 1, which has banned Ryanair from voiding tickets booked by passengers through Rumbo. The court has also asked the airline to withdraw its warning on so-called "screenscraper" sites from its own website and to refrain from making statements discrediting other websites.