Mexico City  - The Mexic

Vienna  - Alfred Brendel, considered one of the most famous pianists, ended his career Thursday evening to standing ovations, after playing his last concert in Vienna's Musikverein concert hall.

Together with the Vienna Philharmonics conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, the 77-year-old Austrian musician performed Mozart's piano concerto No. 9, "in his usual unpretentious, humble manner, without airs and graces," Austrian news agency APA wrote.

Washington  - A 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook Chile Thursday evening, followed by two after-shakes felt in the capital Santiago.

There were neither injuries nor damages from the temblor, said Carmen Fernandez, director of the civil defence organization. There were reports of communications disturbances that were attributed to overloading from excited Chileans rather than to the effects of the quake.

The epicentre was 75 kilometres north of the port city of Valparaiso on the Pacific coast, the seismological institute at the University of Chile said.

Kuala Lumpur - A global anti-piracy watchdog on Friday hailed what it called a "perfect cooperation" between international naval forces in warding off pirates from attacking a Chinese ship this week off Somalia's coast.

Malaysian warship KD Sri Inderafakti and naval helicopter Fennec responded to an emergency call by crew members of the Zhenhua 4 Wednesday after pirates had boarded the Chinese vessel, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Nine armed pirates had boarded the ship when the 30-member crew sent a distress message to the bureau, Choong said.

Hong Kong  - A gang smuggled hundreds of thousands of US dollars of electrical goods from Hong Kong to China through underground drains crossing the border, officials said Friday.

Gang members lifted a manhole cover on the Hong Kong side of the border fence and sent cartons of goods by night along a 10-metre stretch of underground drain using ropes at either end, customs investigators said.

Wellington  - A record number of 48,500 New Zealanders emigrated to Australia in the 12 months ending November 30, according to government figures released Friday.

That number was offset by 13,200 people, either returning New Zealanders or emigrating Australians, arriving in the country for permanent or long-term stays, leaving a net loss of 35,300 - or nearly 100 a day, Statistics New Zealand reported.

The difference was the highest net 12-month loss to Australia ever recorded, topping previous peaks of 33,700 in the year to January 1989 and 33,400 in the calendar year
1979.

Statistics New Zealand said the pattern of migration to Australia went in cycles with previous peak outflows in the late 1970s and 1980s.