SummerShorts

The € 160 million new terminal at Cork International Airport opens to inbound passengers today. Construction began on the terminal in mid-2003 and it had originally been scheduled to open in late 2005. It is finally set to open on a phased basis from this morning.

Passengers on a 7.35am flight from London to Cork today will be the first to use the new building.

An estimated 10,000 passengers will go through the airport today, with more than 5,000 using the new 25,000sq m terminal. Passenger traffic has reached an average of 72,000 every week.

Not content with swapping Crumlin for Rathfarnham in the "Here and Now" Dublin , the Monopoly folk have just introduced a Visa debit card to the latest incarnation of the game, writes Róisín Ingle. Monopoly "Here & Now Electronic Banking" means no more fumbling in the greasy till - players swipe a card into a machine instead of swiping those €500 notes when the banker's not looking.

"The Monopoly Visa debit card is a great learning tool for today's children and a great step towards helping them learn about financial responsibility and sensible spending," said Hasbro spokesman Chris Weatherhead.

As the bikini turns 60, it's entering the electronic age. A new model features a built-in alarm to warn wearers to get out of the sun - and ease concerns that the scanty swimsuits damage health.

Canadian company Solestrom has come up with a new bikini that goes on sale this month, with a UV meter built into its belt and an alarm that beeps to tell wearers when to head to the shade.

"There's so much concern about sun exposure and skin cancer that we saw the demand and designed something to be safe for the wearer," Solestrom spokeswoman Emily Garassa said.

The meter on the $190 (€149) bikini displays a level of UV intensity on a scale from 0 to 20. A person's sensitivity to UV depends mainly on skin type, but generally 3-5 would be considered moderate strength, 8-10 very high and anything above 11 extreme.

Demand has already been high from Australia and South Africa, which have the world's highest skin cancer rates.