In Short

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

Sir Anthony O'Reilly holds 26% of IN&M

Sir Anthony O'Reilly told the stock exchange yesterday that he now holds 26 per cent of Independent News & Media. This compares with a holding of 26.2 per cent in March.

The change reflects the firm's recent buyback programme and the maturity of convertible New Zealand stock in the company. The collective holding of Sir Anthony, his family and Independent's directors now stands at about 27.5 per cent.

UK house prices fall for 3rd month

UK house prices fell for a third month in November, the worst performance in more than a decade, and services growth slowed, increasing speculation that the Bank of England will cut interest rates today.

The average cost of a home in the UK declined 1.1 per cent to £194,895 from a month earlier, a report by showed yesterday. Services from banking to travel grew at the slowest pace in four years last month, according to an index by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

The pound fell to a four-year low against the euro as investors bet the Bank of England will reduce its benchmark rate from a six-year high of 5.75 per cent tomorrow. - (Bloomberg)

Island agrees deal with Valiexchimp

Irish exploration group Island Oil & Gas has agreed the terms and administrative procedures for establishing a 50/50 joint venture with Valiexchimp SLR to acquire oil and gas assets in the Republic of Moldova.

Island also said that it is exploring additional opportunities arising from its deal with Valiexchimp in relation to exploiting gas and oil resources in other ex-Soviet republics.

'Major milestone' for Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com, which has based its European corporate sales headquarters in Dublin, announced that it will reach a "major milestone" this month, with paying subscribers to its service expected to reach the one million mark.

Salesforce.com provides "on-demand" business services, including a suite of customer relationship management applications.

Bid to derail EU postal market plan

Hard-left members of the European Parliament are mounting a rearguard attempt to derail EU plans to open up the bloc's €88 billion postal markets to full competition from 2011.

The parliament is due to take a final vote on the measure next month after the plan was adopted by a broad majority, 512 to 155, in a preliminary vote earlier this year. - (Reuters)

Facebook chief apologises

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg apologised yesterday for the social-networking site's failure to tell users enough about its advertising programme that broadcasts details of their purchases.

- (Bloomberg)

Release of new iPhone application

Google is releasing a new application for Apple's iPhone that combines the web leader's services such as e-mail, search and calendar into a single interface. It is also working to develop new mobile technologies. - (Reuters)