Washington - Former first lady Barbara Bush, 83, was recovering from surgery to repair and seal a perforated ulcer, CNN reported late Wednesday

Bush, who is also the mother of current United States President George W Bush, was hospitalized in Houston, Texas, Tuesday night after she complained of severe abdominal pain.

"She is up in a chair. She's very vigorous. She is in charge," Dr Patrick Reardon told CNN. "The first thing she did when her lips worked was to tell a joke."

Beijing  - A consumer electronics tycoon reputed to be China's wealthiest person is under investigation for white collar crimes, the official Xinhua news agency reported Thursday.

Billionaire Huang Guangyu, head of the country's largest electronics retail chain, has been in detention since last week, newspaper reports said. Police would only confirm that he is under investigation.

According to unconfirmed reports, Huang is accused of manipulating shares of a Shanghai pharmaceutical company controlled by his older brother.

Huang, 39, whose personal wealth is estimated at 6.3 billion dollars, owns the Gome Electrical Appliances chain, which has 1,300 outlets in more than 300 cities with

The Planning Commission of India is optimistic to achieve 7 per cent growth rate in the current fiscal despite global slowdown. It wants more investment in public sector infrastructure to boost demand at local level. Planning Commission deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that the commission would recommend more investment in public sector infrastructure projects as private investors are reluctant to invest due to fears of further slowdown. He was speaking at the Economic Editors' conference held in New Delhi.

Hong Kong  - An expatriate stockbroker was Thursday beginning a three-year jail term in Hong Kong after being convicted of laundering almost 90 million US dollars from a global fraud.

Jerome Herzberg, 38, was arrested in June last year as he tried to process money received from so-called "boiler-room" frauds through four different Hong Kong accounts.

Hertzberg, a British national, was convicted of laundering 87 million US dollars generated from the fraud which claimed around 30,000 victims worldwide.

Taipei  - Taiwan has exempted five European countries from visa requirements to promote trade and tourism with them, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The five countries are Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and Estonia. Their citizens will be allowed to stay up to 30 days in Taiwan without applying for a visa, the ministry's Bureau of Consular Affairs said on its website.

The visa-exemption measure became effective for Poland, Slovakia and Hungary on October 1, for Lithuania on November 22 and for Estonia on December 1.

Rio de Janeiro  - The use of the internet to spread child pornography and to find victims for the sex trade pose new challenges for governments, the head of UNICEF said at a global conference on child sexual exploitation.

"Parents and children must prepare themselves better for the risks of the internet," Ann Veneman, UNICEF executive director, said Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro.