Singapore  - Two Singapore non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called for adequate compensation for foreign workers, a growing number of whom are being left with unpaid wages or without jobs, proper accommodation and meals, news reports said Friday.

NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) said some 800 workers, who had no access to work since they were brought into Singapore, were abandoned by their employers and had not been paid their due salaries, according to a report by the Channel News Asia.

Wellington  - Nearly 650 New Zealanders snapped up super cheap airfares as low as 50 New Zealand dollars (about 27 US dollars) for flights to Europe in September after a data inputting error on the website of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, a report said Friday.

The watchdog dog Commerce Commission rebuked the airline for taking more than four hours to correct the mistake and said it should have better systems in place.

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks opened higher Friday on the back of an overnight rebound in the US market and a weaker yen.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which lost nearly 5 per cent the previous day, advanced 101.62 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 8,124.93 in early trading.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues was also up 9.54 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 805.53.

On the currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 89.94-99 yen, up from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 89.07-09 yen.

Sydney  - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong set hearts racing Friday in Adelaide as the clock ticked to his return to competition after a three-year lay-off.

Thousands of cycling fans lined the streets of the south coast city to glimpse the 37-year-old Texan on training rides ahead of Sunday's prologue to the six-day Tour Down Under, beginning Tuesday.

Sunday's twilight race is a criterium on an Adelaide street circuit that is unlikely to give an indication of Armstrong's potential.

Melbourne  - Women's draw made on Friday for the 15.5- million-dollar Australian Open.

<# Jelena Jankovic, 1, Serbia v Yvonne Meusburger, Australia

Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium v Rossana De Los Rios, Paraguay

Nathalie Dechy, France v qualifier

Qualifier v Ai Sugiyama, Japan

Sybille Bammer, Austria v Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic

Petra Cetkovska, Czech Republic v Marina Erakovic, New Zealand

Qualifier v Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria

Prague  - Big Brother would like to be watching you. But he can't, because his computer has crashed.

That was the problem occupying European Union interior ministers on Thursday in Prague as they debated the 27-member bloc's continuing inability to share the fingerprints and photos of foreigners entering the border-free Schengen zone because of computer bugs.