Los Angeles - The mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson have been shot to death in Chicago in an apparent domestic dispute, local TV stations reported Friday.

Washington - US stock indices posted steep drops Friday, plunging more than 3.5 per cent to end another week of uncertainty over the state of the global economy.

The sell-off in New York followed even sharper falls in Europe, Asia and the Middle East earlier in the day on fears of a recession following the widening financial crisis.

Washington - President George W Bush and his wife Laura may have cast their election ballots early, but apparently there was some skepticism as to just which candidate they voted for.

"Today the President and Mrs Bush cast their ballots for the 2008 election during the early voting process. The ballots will be mailed back to Texas today," White House press secretary Dana Perino wrote in an emailed statement Friday.

Hurt by the recession fears, Parsvnath Developers, one of the leading real estate company has revealed that it would sack under-performing employees as part of its cost cutting measures that would begin in the next 15-20 days. 

The company however, did not specify the number of people who will be retrenched. The company currently employs 1,400 people and about 30,000 people are indirectly employed.

Tracking weak global cues, Stock markets around the globe took severe beating on 
Friday and oil prices plunged to $ 62.85 per barrel, their lowest in more than a year. 

Even gold, the traditional safe haven in times of panic, fell sharply below Rs 12,000-mark, as a rising dollar and stock-market losses forced investors to sell the metal to raise cash.

Standard gold and ornaments dropped by Rs 500 each at Rs 11,950 and Rs 11,700 per ten gram respectively. 

According to market analysts, people are liquidating gold and other commodities as their losses in stock markets deepen. They said the credit crisis and rising concerns of global inflation keep mounting pressure on the stock markets everywhere.