A roundup of today's other stories in brief

China keeps up growth in double digits

Data released yesterday showed that China's economy grew 10.7 per cent last year, the fastest it has grown since 1995.

It's the fourth year in a row that the Chinese economy has grown at a double-digit rate and analysts are forecasting that it will leapfrog Germany to become the world's third-largest economy by 2008.

Growth of 10.7 per cent last year was faster than the preliminary forecast of 10.5 per cent given earlier this month by government officials. Last year the economy expanded by 10.4 per cent.

Since 1978 Chinese GDP growth has averaged 9.8 per cent a year.

Housing to get more affordable

Rising salaries and slowing house price growth should see housing affordability for first-time buyers improve by 12.25 per cent this year, according to estate agents Lisney.

Net incomes are expected to rise 9.25 per cent this year. With house price growth forecast to grow just 3 per cent, mortgage repayments should fall as a percentage of net income.

Providence finds oil off Texas coast

Exploration company Providence Resources has discovered oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas. Providence owns a 5 per cent interest in the new field.

Chief executive Tony O'Reilly jnr said that a rate of 280 barrels of oil per day is anticipated once production begins later this year.

Aerospace firm invests in Belfast

French engineering company Assystem is to create 50 jobs in Belfast as part of a £900,000 (€1.37 million) investment. The company will specialise in aerospace design.

Invest Northern Ireland will provide €249,900 in support to the company, which has already taken on 30 staff and plans to recruit at least another 20.

Virgin in line to build $3bn casino

Virgin is in advanced talks to secure land in Macao, the Chinese special administrative region, on which it intends to build a $3 billion (€2.3 billion) casino resort. - (Financial Times service)

Fiat finally makes annual profit

Robust sales of the Grande Punto hatchback and other models helped Fiat's key automotive division turn a profit in 2006, the first time since 2000 that the Italian company has made money for a whole year. - (Reuters)

Confidence in Germany falls

Germany's new year blues kicked in yesterday as the first economic indicators suggested that January's three-point VAT hike to 19 per cent has hit the leading consumer and business confidence indexes.

The Gfk index measuring consumer willingness to spend dropped 65 points in January to minus 5.1 points.