Hong Kong - Smuggled goods worth nearly 2 million US dollars were seized in a joint operation mounted by police and marine officers in Hong Kong, police said Saturday.

Mobiles phones and computer parts packed in 11 boxes were being loaded from speedboats when police moved in during a surveillance operation in Sai Kung area in the New Territories.

The smugglers abandoned the goods and sped off in the boats. However, one of the boat owners was later arrested.

Senior Inspector Roger Mak said the syndicate was thought to be well-organized and sophisticated.

Hong Kong -  - A Hong Kong police officer assigned to an elite anti-gangster squad has been found dead after shooting himself with his handgun, news reports said Saturday.

Yau Chak-ping, 39, who worked for the organized crime and triad unit, was found unconscious by his wife Friday. He was lying on the floor of his study with his gun next to him, had a gunshot wound to his chest and was confirmed dead at hospital.

Police said Saturday that investigations into his death were ongoing, but news reports said Yau had shot himself and was the second police officer to kill himself in nine days.

Hong Kong - A mother who abandoned her 5-day-old baby on a hillside has been jailed for six months in Hong Kong, a court report said Saturday.

Pakistani Maria Bibi, 24, left her son wearing only a diaper on the hill near a road in October. He as found by workers 11 hours later, his body crawling in ants.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares rose for the fourth consecutive day Thursday, gaining 2.5 per cent, on optimism that the worst may be over.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index closed 336 points up at 13,888 points and ending the week 9.2 per cent higher than it started.

Turnover was 42.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.4 billion US dollars).

Analysts attributed the gains to optimism that December may be a better month following the announcement of another US bailout plan to boost consumer spending. The rally was also influenced by rate cuts announced by Beijing.

Hong Kong  - Organisers will hold the line on ticket prices for the expected return of Maria Sharapova to tennis in early January due to the world economic crisis.

The Russian is due to start her 2009 campaign at the "World Challenge" event, with a field which also includes Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and Serbia's world number one Jelena Jankovic.

The January 7-10 tournament with a 12-strong field will hold prices for punters to the same level as in past years in hopes of keeping the Victoria Park stadium full.

Prices are set to remain at the equivalent of 36 to 105 dollars per day.

Hong Kong  - Christie's was preparing Friday to host its first wine auction in Hong Kong in seven years with a collection of blue-chip wines aimed at tempting the most cautious collectors to spend in the current economic downturn.

The collection includes 127 lots of rare and vintage wines from the reserve cellars of Chateau Latour, which are expected to fetch around 1.2 million US dollars when they go under the hammer Saturday evening.