A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
North's Housing Executive to cut 450 jobs over next three years
The North's Housing Executive plans to cut 450 jobs over the next three years in an effort to cut costs.
NIPSA, the public service trade union, claims 60 temporary jobs have already gone at the Housing Executive and thousands of more public sector jobs are under threat.
The trade union yesterday described the jobs cuts at the Housing Executive - which it says are equivalent to around 15 per cent of the workforce - as the "tip of the iceberg".
It claims there could be a potential 10,000 public sector jobs under threat in Northern Ireland because of new budgetary pressures.
The North's Finance Minister Peter Robinson has set ambitious targets of achieving a 5 per cent cut in administration costs and 3 per cent "efficiency" savings.
Global £371m GCap takeover delayed
The Takeover Panel in London has given Global Media a five-day extension on its bid for rival, GCap.
Global was due to finalise a £371 million offer for GCap by 5pm yesterday, but sought extra time from the London market's Takeover Panel to complete due diligence.
The panel yesterday gave Global until close of business next Monday. Global's bid is two- thirds financed by private investors, including Dermot Desmond, John Magnier and JP McManus.
Bank of Ireland and Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) are financing the rest of the deal.
GCap owns British radio stations Capital 95.8 and Classic FM, as well as other interests.
Icahn pressure forces Motorola to split
Motorola plans to split into two companies next year amid pressure from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to break off the money-losing mobile-phone business that it pioneered 25 years ago.
One company will focus on handsets and the other will sell network equipment, cable TV set-top boxes and two-way radios - businesses that are profitable and growing faster. The board is looking for a new chief executive officer for the phone business, Motorola said yesterday. The decision buys time for chief executive Greg Brown to revitalise the handset unit before the split.
Mr Icahn has said the division is undervalued and demanded that it be separated with new management. - (Bloomberg)
