US software firm to create 660 new jobs in North

A US software company has announced plans to create more than 660 jobs in the North in the coming years.

Four hundred of the jobs are expected to be created as part of an investment in Northbrook Technologies' operations in Belfast, while a further 260 are expected to be created at new offices in Derry and Strabane, Co Tyrone.

The news will be particularly welcome in Strabane, which has Europe's highest unemployment rate and has suffered due to recent large-scale redundancies in the textiles industry.