A round-up of the day's other news stories in brief.

Staff at NIB strike Danske takeover deal

National Irish Bank staff have approved a deal that protects their conditions of employment in return for undergoing a training programme under new owner, Danske Bank.

Staff, represented by the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA), have also won a commitment that there will be no compulsory redundancies at the bank.

In addition, staff will each receive a home computer, a year's broadband subscription and an incentive package paying close to €2,200 in cash and shares as the bank implements its integration programme.

Johnston Press set to buy NI papers

Johnston Press is close to spending £60 million (€89 million) on two newspaper titles in the North, according to British newspaper reports. The company is said to be buying Local Press, which owns the Belfast Newsletter and the Derry Journal. Venture capital group 3i paid £46 million for the papers in late 2003. Johnston Press recently acquired the Irish titles of Scottish Radio Holdings, including the Kilkenny People and the Leitrim Observer.

Warning over northwest

The American Chamber of Commerce has warned that action is needed in a number of key areas to ensure the sustainability of the economy in the northwest.

"The Government needs to commit the full resources to the implementation of the national spatial strategy and the Regional Planning Guidelines (RPGs) which are central to a programme of balanced regional development," according to Dr Fraser Logue, the director of operations at Abbott Diagnostics in Sligo and chairman of the North West Region of the American Chamber of Commerce.

He was speaking at a briefing for the US Ambassador James C Kenny with US companies in the region hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce.

Eircom director joins VHI

Eircom's managing director of retail, Cathal Magee, is to join the board of State health insurer, VHI. Mr Magee began his career in the health service, working with the Western and North Western health boards. He has also worked with former National Irish Bank parent, National Australia Bank.

Schering names Ireland manager

Pharmaceutical group Schering-Plough has appointed a new country manager to Ireland. Jim Joyce, who was most recently US-based finance director for Europe, Canada and the Middle East, will establish a sales and marketing team in Dublin.

The company, which employs around 1,200 people at three manufacturing plants in Cork and Wicklow, has until now run Irish sales and marketing from the UK.

Persian Gold to begin Iran drilling

Persian Gold, the Aim-listed exploration firm, has reported encouraging gold results from sampling in Iran. The company said yesterday that it had moved on to the second stage of exploration and should begin drilling as soon as the next round of results are available.

New Ryanair base near Nottingham

Ryanair has named East Midlands airport, near Nottingham, as its 15th European base. The announcement comes a day after the airline conferred similar status on Cork.