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

Report says retail space to increase 40%

Rapid expansion of retail floor space since 2000 has not created any real jobs bonanza, while large out-of- town shops built during the boom are "dismal places" that tend to be "without any architectural merit", according to a new report.

Commissioned by RGData, the lobby group for independent grocers, the report by planners MacCabe Durney and Barnes Consulting predicts that the shopping centre and retail warehouse floor space will expand by 40 per cent in the medium to long term.

The report said the level of entry by new retailers and the expansion of existing retailers indicated that retail planning guidelines are not inhibiting competition.

Google backs internet in Africa

Google has thrown its weight behind ambitious plans to bring internet access to three billion people in Africa and other emerging markets by launching at least 16 satellites to bring its services to the unconnected half of the globe.

The search engine has joined forces with cable TV magnate John Malone and HSBC to set up O3b Networks, named after the "other 3billion" people for whom fast-fibre access networks are not likely to be commercially viable. - (Financial Times service)

OECD jobless rate 5.8% in July

The standardised unemployment rate for OECD area - the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - was 5.8 per cent in July, the same as the previous month and just 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous year.

The rate for the Republic in July, as measured by the Central Statistics Office, was 5.9 per cent, increasing to 6.1 per cent last month.

The OECD figures show that Ireland had the second- highest increase after Spain in its standardised jobless rate over the year to July, with the rate up 1.3 percentage points.

Business texting increasing

Texting by business owners and managers has "entered the mainstream" but still lags personal SMS usage trends, according to a study by research company TNS mrbi for mobile phone firm O2.

The study found that almost half of owner-managers use texting for business purposes, up from about 30 per cent four years ago.

OpenJaw wins AAA contract in US

Dublin travel software company OpenJaw Technologies has won a contract with the American Automobile Association (AAA) to supply the core infrastructure for a new technology platform that will be used by its 51 million members as well as travel agents in the US and Canada.

Few calls on Irish Nationwide report

A spokesman for the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority said it saw a small increase in the number of calls to its helpline following an incorrect report on the Reuters wire service that Irish Nationwide Building Society was in "talks with its lenders to avoid insolvency".

The society has said it may sue the news agency over the report, which Reuters retracted last Friday night, admitting that "material elements" of its story were incorrect and that it "contained false information".

Brisk sales for Penneys parent

Primark, the parent group of clothing chain store Penneys, says brisk business has helped it lift like-for-like sales over the past six months, outstripping its more upmarket rivals as the British economy struggles.

Associated British Foods, which owns Primark, said its results and good performances from its other businesses would more than offset an expected sharp fall in profits from its sugar business, leaving it on track to meet expectations for the financial year to September 13th. - (Financial Times service)