ong Kong - Hong Kong's economy is expected to shrink by 2 per cent this year, compared with a 2.5-per-cent growth in 2008, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday.

But the bank said the contraction will only be temporary with growth forecast to return in 2010, when it projects the economy to expand by 3 per cent.

The bank's acting chief economist, Lee Jong-wha, said measures taken by the territory's government including tax cuts and moves to boost infrastructure spending to combat the current downturn are pointing the economy in the right direction.

Hong Kong  - A man who strangled a woman and later told her family to pay a ransom for her safe return has been jailed for life after being found guilty of murder, a media report said Tuesday.

A judge sentenced So Kam-tong, 25, to life in prison for murdering Yau Hiu-yin, 21, after a jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict, the South China Morning Post said.

So also received a concurrent jail sentence of five years and four months after pleading guilty to blackmailing Yau's family.

The judge described the blackmail as cruel since So knew the woman was dead.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares slumped 4.7 per cent Monday following weak results at some Chinese companies and wider concerns about the US economy.

The benchmark Hang Seng index closed at 13,456.33 points, down 663.17 points after its biggest one-day drop for three weeks. Turnover was almost 51.53 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.6 billion dollars).

Analysts said investor sentiment had been adversely affected by results from several top Chinese companies.

Manila - A Hong Kong journalist was under fire in the Philippines on Sunday for calling the South-East Asian country a "nation of servants" in a column about disputed areas in the South China Sea.

In his March 27 column for HK Magazine, titled "The War At Home," Chip Tsao denounced the Philippines' claims to the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed in whole or in part by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia.

Hong Kong  - Three teenagers were arrested after a 13-year-old boy was injured when a homemade bomb exploded, a media report said Sunday.

The three, including the injured boy, were held by police for possessing explosives favoured by Islamic terrorists, the South China Morning Post said.

Police suspect the classmates of a Kowloon Tong district school learned how to make the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP) powder on the internet.

Hong Kong  - A former Fijian rugby player was fined for assaulting a Hong Kong police officer in a brawl involving more than 50 people that was broken up by police with batons and pepper spray, a media report said Saturday.

The running fight in three streets in the city's Wan Chai district occurred Friday just before the start of this year's Hong Kong Rugby Sevens competition.

Paula Maisiri, 32, pleaded guilty and was fined 500 Hong Kong dollars (64 US dollars) for assaulting the unnamed officer, the South China Morning Post said.