Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks fell back 2.52 per cent Friday at the end of one of the most turbulent weeks in the history of the Hang Seng Index.

The blue-chip index lost 361.18 points, slipping back below the 14,000 point barrier to 13,968.67 points. Turnover was 58.47 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.54 billion US dollars).

Analysts blamed the fall on profit-taking after three consecutive days of gains which has seen the index bounce back by 23 per cent after recording one of its biggest day losses Monday.

Hamburg - Germany captain Michael Ballack and coach Joachim Loew have met to resolve a row amid media speculation on Friday on its outcome.

The German football federation (DFB) announced statements on the meeting, which took place on Thursday at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt, for later Friday.

Chelsea's Ballack, 32, had criticised Loew last week in a newspaper interview, mainly for benching fellow-midfielder Torsten Frings at two World Cup qualifiers. Ballack said that Loew did not show enough respect for long-time Germany players.

Advocacy group Public Citizen said GlaxoSmithKline PLC's diabetes drug Avandia should be banned in the United States as it can cause death from liver failure and has other life threatening risks which are more than the benefits itoffers.

The American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes issued guidelines which said that members of a joint medical panel "unanimously advised against using" Avandia.

The drug already carries a “black box” warning of its increasing the risk of heart attacks and now the Public Citizen group asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the drug citing the drug induced liver failure in 14 cases. 12 of these have resulted in liver related death.

Washington, Oct 31 : “Joe the Plumber” is enjoying the attention he is getting on the campaign trail for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and says that he don’t listen to rumors that he is eyeing a country music career. 

“Joe the Plumber” seems to be creating a bona fide brand for himself. But as for the rumor that he’s being pursued for a country music record deal, Joe Wurzelbacher says he doesn’t know if the American people are quite ready for his crooning.

Washington, Oct 31: Republican presidential candidate John McCain predicted that he intends to surge ahead of his rival Barack Obama in the final hours of his underdog presidential campaign

“I hope it peaks out at just about mid-day next Tuesday,” FOX News quoted McCain, as saying.

McCain predicted, “We may be up late” on Election Day. The show of confidence comes as both he and Obama continue to storm battleground states with just five days to go until the election, and as some polls suggest the race is tightening.

Sallu may be the one that is ruling over Katrina Kaif’s heart, but it’s impossible to get Katz to talk about her love-life.

And this time, Bollywood hottie has not fallen in love with a person, rather it’s the lovely ‘Prague’ where she is shooting for Subhash Ghai’s upcoming movie ‘Yuvraaj.’

Katrina exclaimed, “I think it’s one of the most romantic places I’ve been to. It’s so calm, serene and beautiful. I’ve had some lovely experiences there.”

Katrina did not reveal much about her endearing experiences.