Hong Kong  - An investigation was under way Wednesday into why a giant panda in Hong Kong bit the female keeper who had been looking after him for seven years.

The keeper was hospitalized after being bitten on the leg by giant panda An An, whose name means Peace in Chinese, in his enclosure at the Ocean Park theme park in Hong Kong on November 30.

The attack by the 22-year-old panda only came to light after a video of it taken with a mobile phone camera by a park visitor was circulated on the internet video channel YouTube.

Hong Kong  - A raft of measures including permanent cuts in salary and corporate taxes and investment in infrastructure have been proposed by the International Monetary Fund as a way of stimulating demand in Hong Kong, the government said Tuesday.

"Well targeted infrastructure investments should boost the economy's potential by further increasing skill levels and productivity," IMF directors said in a report on Hong Kong's economy.

Hong Kong  - Anti-corruption investigators have successfully prosecuted 50 chairmen and top managers for scams totalling 3 billion Hong Kong dollars (385 million US dollars) over the last five years, a media report said Tuesday.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption said 18 cases involving 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars concerned fraud or scams on letters of credit, the South China Morning Post said.

A further 300 million Hong Kong dollars involved embezzlement, while the remaining 200 million Hong Kong dollars covered bribery or kickbacks.

Anti-graft commissioner Timothy Tong said corporate governance and the integrity of directors was of significant importance especially during the current financial crisis.

Hong Kong  - A 75-year-old businessman has been jailed for 55 months after masterminding a 265-million-Hong-Kong-dollar (34-million-US-dollar) fraud, a media report said Tuesday.

Chen Xun had denied five counts of conspiracy to defraud three banks to issue letters of credit by providing false documents, The Standard newspaper said.

Accomplice Lau Ka-ping, 54, who also acted as a prosecution witness against Chen, received a 32-month sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud.

Deputy judge Johnny Chan jailed Chen even though the money had been fully repaid. The judge said granting leniency by giving Chen a lighter sentence would send the wrong message to the public.

Hong Kong  - The benchmark Hang Seng index surged 8.66 per cent Monday to its highest level in seven weeks amid investor confidence of stimulus moves by China and the United States.

Turnover topped 63.87 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.19 billion dollars), following Friday's turnover of 37.3 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Hong Kong  - A court ruling Monday set the stage for prison inmates to be able to vote in territory elections for the first time in Hong Kong's history.

Justice Andrew Cheung ruled that inmates have the constitutional right to register as voters and cast their ballots while serving sentences.

The case was brought by two men, Chan Kin-sum and Choi Chuen-sun, who are currently in jail, and legislator Leung Kwok-hung, who had previously served time for offences against public order.