Hong Kong  - The number of job vacancies in Hong Kong has plunged by 13 per cent in a month as the global economic crisis has forced mass layoffs, the government revealed Wednesday.

Government statistics show there were 9,000 fewer job openings in October compared to September.

The jobless rate has risen by 0.1 percentage points to 3.5 per cent, taking it to its highest level in almost a year.

The statistics were released amid growing gloom in Hong Kong following a number of big layoffs this month.

Hong Kong  - A jobless driver leapt to his death from the 33rd floor of a building in Hong Kong, becoming the latest victim of the economic downturn, police said Wednesday.

The 29-year-old married man was confirmed dead at the scene after jumping Tuesday evening from the window of his flat. He had been out of work for a month.

His suicide came as government statistics revealed growing job losses and a fall in the number of job vacancies in the city of 6.9 million people.

Washington  - Chiefs of the three US automakers went before Congress on Tuesday seeking an emergency injection of government money to stave off bankruptcies that could cost the US economy millions of jobs.

The so-called Big Three - General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC - are asking for 25 billion dollars from the 700- billion-dollar financial rescue package passed in October, arguing that the ongoing credit crisis has pushed their already struggling industry to the brink of collapse.

Damascus  - The global financial crisis will have a negative impact on the Syrian economy in the coming months, particularly on next year's state budget, Syrian Minister of Finance Mohammad al-Hussain said on Tuesday.

Al-Hussain said that the crisis urged the state to increase government investments in the different sectors.

"Around 275 billion Syrian Pounds (6.1 billion dollars), of the state budget estimated at 685 billion Syrian Pounds, are allocated for investments," al-Hussain told the unofficial channel Life TV.

Berlin  - The historic Adriatic port of Trieste was an appropriate backdrop for Tuesday's meeting between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which was held as Rome prepares to head the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial states.

Once a flourishing city lying at the intersection of pre-First World War political life, Trieste suffered a rather sharp decline in its fortunes following the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the shift in the international balance of power.

Prague  - Slovak central bank governor Ivan Sramko said Tuesday the global financial crisis would reduce economic growth and may widen budget gaps in Slovakia, which is to become the 16th country to adopt the euro on January 1.

Speaking to reporters at a conference in Prague, Sramko said a slight increase up to 2 per cent would be permissible depending on how the funds would be used.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who won the 2006 election on promises to expand welfare, recently said that the 2009 deficit could slightly exceed the planned 1.7 per cent owing to the global financial crisis.