Hamburg - With banks battling for survival, markets reporting takeover scrambles and company directors facing penalities for bad performance, it seems trade floors and commerce chambers are beating sports pitches and locker rooms for sheer drama these days.

The world of sports - as yet - appears remarkably unaffected by the global market crisis.

Tennis player Andrea Petkovic at least is keeping her focus firmly on her fitness, not on finances.

Beijing - China on Monday reported a 9-per-cent growth in its estimated gross domestic product for July to September, maintaining fast but marginally slower expansion despite global financial woes.

Estimated GDP growth was down from 10.6 per cent in the first quarter and 10.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Bureau spokesman Li Xiaochao said the global financial crisis and economic recession had begun to have a "negative impact" on China.

Hong Kong - Up to 2.5 million people could lose their jobs in the Pearl River delta, covering Hong Kong and parts of southern China, by January as a result of the global economic slowdown, a media report said Sunday.

The financial crisis could also bankrupt one-fourth of Hong Kong-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in the next three months, the South China Morning Post quoting the local business group, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.