China says its economy has maintained robust growth in the third quarter of 2010, but at a slightly lower rate.

Official figures show a drop from just over 10% growth to 9.6%.

This leaves China still far ahead of any major economy, but experts fear the slowdown will reduce the contribution China can make to a global recovery.

The Chinese government has recently taken measures to cool a credit boom in order to achieve more sustainable growth levels.

Chancellor George Osborne has defended the "fairness" of his UK spending cuts after Labour claims they were reckless and would hit the poorest hardest.

He told the BBC that including Budget measures, the top 10% of earners would be hit hardest but everyone was making a contribution to cutting the deficit.

He said "the path to economic ruin" lay ahead if the deficit was not tackled.



Labour called the £81bn cuts - the biggest since the 1970s - a "reckless gamble" with the economy.