澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-07-31（在线收听）

The US President Barack Obama has welcomed the latest economic growth figures, but he says more action is needed to get unemployed Americans back to work. The US economy grew 2.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, but that's a slower pace than the previous three months. President Obama has toured car factories in Detroit, claiming his administration's bailout of the industry has saved one million jobs.

The head of Coles says he doesn't think the Coalition's paid parental leave scheme would push prices up for consumers. The government has argued the 1.7% levy on large businesses would be passed on to consumers, but the Managing Director of Coles, Ian McLeod, says the levy wouldn't have a major impact.

A senior official in Beijing says that China has overtaken Japan to become the second biggest economy in the world. China's chief currency regulator made the claim on a government website although he gave no new figures to support it.

And to the market numbers, Wall Street finished the session fairly flat. The Dow Jones closed just one point lower. There were mixed results in Europe. London's FTSE finished more than one percent weaker, but the DAX made modest gains.

And checking currencies, the Australian dollar is buying around 90 US cents.