Alcatel-Lucent has said it will slash costs and cut 5,000 jobs after it posted a net loss for the second quarter of €254m.

Former BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen was today named as the new boss of troubled telecoms equipment firm Alcatel-Lucent.

CORK-born businessman Pearse Flynn has sold a 4% stake in Glasgow Celtic Football Club — shares of which were slightly up yesterday at just over 50p.

SEVENTY jobs are to go in Dublin and Cork though employees have been spared the worst from thousands of job cuts announced by the telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent.

Wall Street rebounded today, rising moderately as crude oil surged more than two dollars a barrel and triggered a rally among energy producers.

Stocks recouped earlier losses to end modestly higher today as investors set aside nervousness over an uneasy start to the second-quarter earnings season, marked by weak results from Alcoa Inc. and a sales warning at Lucent Technologies Inc.

ONE of Europe’s most advanced light and fibre optics technology research centres was officially opened in Cork yesterday.

SWEDISH telecoms equipment giant Ericsson and France’s Alcatel are neck-and-neck in the final stage of a contest to buy Marconi, according to weekend reports in the British press.

FRENCH stocks climbed, paced by companies whose earnings or sales beat estimates, including Alcatel, France Telecom, Pernod Ricard and Arcelor.

FRENCH stocks rose, paced by technology-related shares, including Alcatel and STMicroelectronics.

The British government today stayed tight-lipped about claims that it had rebuffed a plea for help from struggling telecoms group Marconi.

Shares in telecoms equipment firm Marconi slumped again today as its failure to land a lucrative contract from BT continued to alarm investors.

Modest growth in the gross domestic product and a drop in oil prices gave Wall Street its best day of 2005 today as investors at least temporarily set aside inflation fears and picked up bargains in a heavily sold-off market.

CORK businessman Pearse Flynn has taken full control of a call centre business in Scotland.

French President Jacques Chirac will today launch an intensive week of meetings with Asian leaders aimed at promoting French companies and cementing Europe-Asia ties.

Alcatel’s Board of Directors have reviewed and approved second quarter 2004 results for the company.

Telecoms group BT today announced plans to launch the first phone service to allow users to use mobile and fixed line networks with a single handset.

Chief executives from 10 major multi-national communications companies will have a summit next week in Dundalk with telecommunications ministers from throughout the EU and the accession states.

Nokia's share price dropped 15.2% to €14.72 after it announced that it expected quarterly sales to fall 2% year-on-year to €6.6bn.

CORK-BORN businessman Pearse Flynn has moved back into the telecoms business, acquiring a call centre company in Scotland.

The European Commission today approved the £270m (€385m) purchase by British-based private equity firm Doughty Hanson of French telecommunications equipment supplier Alcatel’s battery division Saft.

France Telecom unit Orange declined to comment on a report in Le Figaro today that claims it awarded Nortel Networks Corp a contract for the supply of UMTS equipment worth between €800m and €1bn.

Five companies including Siemens AG, Alcatel and LM Ericsson AB are bidding for a US$150m contract to install telephone lines in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.

Nokia Corp posted in-line second quarter earnings but issued bearish forecasts for third quarter sales resulting in its stock plummeting, and impacted the tech sector across Europe.

Alcatel posted a fourth-quarter operating profit of €20m. However, for the year 2002 sales were down at €16.55bn from €25.35bn in 2001 and its forecast for the year 2003 were gloomy.

Share prices were up sharply across a range of blue chips in afternoon trading, rallying from opening lows as investors covered short positions made ahead of this morning's string of discouraging European corporate earnings, dealers said.

Telecom equipment maker Alcatel had a third quarter loss of €1.35bn, partly due to large restructuring charges and provisions.

French telecommunications equipment company Alcatel has announced it's cutting 23,000 jobs worldwide.

Alcatel announced today that Jean-Pierre Halbron, President of Alcatel and a member of the Board of Directors, will retire on December 31, 2002.

EUROPEAN shares shed early gains and fell in late trade yesterday, dragged down

A FRENCH magistrate plunged the future of Jean-Claude Trichet and the European Central Bank into disarray yesterday.

Communications company Alcatel said it will cut 480 jobs in Canada, or 12% of its workforce in the country.

Alcatel will cut a further 10,000 jobs by the end of 2003, a source close to the matter said.

Though there was a signs of a revival this morning, shares in Vodafone fell all week and on Thursday the closing price was 111p, down 8.5% on the day. This price means that, in market value, Vodafone has slipped behind NTT DoCoMo who has taken its place as the world's largest mobile operator.

Alcatel said it signed an agreement with the Orange Sverige consortium to supply a UMTS third-generation mobile phone network.

The ESAT telecommunications firm has announced plans to lay off 200 of its 1,300 workers in Ireland as part of a restructuring plan.

Share prices closed sharply lower, particularly among Dassault Systemes and other high-tech names as consolidation in the sector picked up pace this afternoon with a drifting performance by the Nasdaq composite, dealers said.

Alcatel is to shed a further 10,000 jobs in Europe on top of the 23,000 job losses worldwide it announced earlier.

Efforts to build a national memorial honouring Martin Luther King Jr have stalled because the American civil rights leader’s family wants money to use his name and likeness in the marketing campaign.

News of more job cuts and a revenue warning from Hewlett-Packard put pressure on US stocks today, but Wall Street held firm, moderately extending a rebound that began a day earlier.

Tech shares have taken a battering on the market following bad sentiment in the US, dragging the FTSE-100 Index further below the elusive 6,000 mark.

Tech shares have taken a battering on the market following bad sentiment in the US.

Telecoms equipment giant Marconi is suffering on the London Stock Exchange after news emerged that merger talks between international rivals Alcatel and Lucent had broken down.