Tokyo - Asian stocks took a big dive Thursday, reacting to a sharp fall overnight on Wall Street and wiping away gains from earlier in the week.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 6.53 per cent to 8,899.14 while the broader Topix index of all first-section issues also lost 5.96 per cent to close at 909.3.

The plunge came on the heels of a Wall Street decline brought on by a report showing rapidly rising job losses.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.05 per cent to 9,139.27. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index was down 5.27 per cent to 952.77, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.53 per cent to 1,681.64.

Baghdad - Four explosions in central and eastern Baghdad killed three people on Thursday and wounded another 15, police reported, according to the Voices of Iraq (VOI) agency.

A detonation killed a civilian and injured another four near Imam Abdul Qader al-Kilani shrine in central Baghdad, police told the agency.

Also in central Baghdad two bombs going off consecutively killed a a civilian and a tribal police member. The blasts also wounded five people, including three tribal police members.

Dharamshala, Nov 6: The Tibetan exiles in Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, are hoping that Barack Obama the US President-elect would help them restore human rights in Tibet.

The exiles hope that Obama will extend full support to the people of Tibet in their fight for freedom from the alleged Chinese suppression.

Frustrated with the lack of progress with China despite rounds of talks and the March crackdown on riots against Chinese rule in Tibet, many exiles wish that Obama would make the much-needed difference.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares plunged more than 7 per cent Thursday as delight over the US presidential election result turned to gloom over signs of a deepening global recession.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 1,050.12 points, or 7.08 per cent, to close at 13,790.04. Turnover was 48.25 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.22 billion US dollars).

The losses came 24 hours after the index surged by more than 3 per cent Wednesday afternoon on news of Barack Obama's win.

Apple’s retail operation increased two-fold during the existing year (2008).

According to Apple’s recent 10-k annual filing released Wednesday, the company presently has 32,000 people on a full-time basis. The figure was up from 21,600 as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The report also said that around 16,000 of those people work in company’s retail group, which currently has 247 stores.

Apple, in last year's annual report, announced that it had around 8,000 people working in the retail unit, which comprised 197 stores.

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest