Hong Kong  - A Hong Kong magazine editor was given a suspended jail term for publishing a naked photograph of an actress that was taken when she was abducted by gangsters, it was reported Thursday.

At a hearing Wednesday, former chief editor of Eastweek magazine Mong Hong-ming received a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, for publishing obscene material, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

The sentence means Mong will not have to serve six months in prison, unless he re-offends within the next two years.

The picture of Carina Lau, published in Eastweek magazine in 2002, was taken in 1990 when the actress was kidnapped by gangsters, stripped and forced to pose for photographs.

New York  - Bernard Madoff, the high-flying Wall Street investor charged with a 50-billion-dollar fraud, was placed under house arrest on Wednesday.

Madoff, 70, will be required to wear a tracking device and be subject to a curfew, while his wife told the judge she would give up two of her homes if he were to attempt to escape, Bloomberg News reported.

Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq exchange, was arrested last week for running a 50-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Buenos Aires  - Argentina's Senate Wednesday voted 42 to 21 to approve the nationalization of the financially troubled airline Aerolineas Argentinas and its regional subsidiary Austral, taking another step in a project that has been under discussion for months.

The vote follows similar approval by the lower Chamber of Deputies on December 3.

Both airlines are owned by the Spanish travel conglomerate Grupo Marsans, which has already signalled its intention to fight the takeover in court.

At issue was not the return of the airlines to national ownership, which was basically approved in September, but rather the price to be paid.

Washington  - Nike Inc, the world's leading sporting goods manufacturer, said Wednesday that its second-quarter profits were up largely because of sales in Europe and Asia.

Nike's second-quarter net income rose 9 per cent to 391 million dollars, compared to 359.4 million in the previous year.

While the Beaverton, Oregon-based company's US sales dipped 1.1 per cent, its overseas sales rose - by 22 percent in Asia and 6.4 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Wellington  - The New Zealand government on Thursday warned of tough times ahead after new Treasury forecasts painted a gloomy picture for an economy that has already been in recession this year.

The Treasury predicted a steep rise in unemployment from 3.7 per cent this year to 6.4 per cent over the next 15 months, economic growth virtually stagnant until 2010-2011 and soaring national debt.

After years of budget surpluses, the Treasury forecast cash deficits rising from 6.6 billion New Zealand dollars (3.8 billion US dollars) this fiscal year to 11.4 billion New Zealand dollars by 2013.