Pasadena, California - In the last hours of her life last week, Wanda Dunn, 53, took the time to settle her affairs, taking two small plants to a neighbour as well as some cheap clothes that she asked him to give to charity.

Then she returned to the home she had lived in since childhood, set it on fire and shot herself in the head with a handgun.

Dunn's desperate actions came the day before she was to have been evicted from the stucco house first bought by her grandparents decades ago.

Amsterdam - People are getting goose pimples in front of Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) these days. "Below us lie victims of the world's first financial crisis," says tour operator Raoul Serree.

This is the site of the "Ellendige Kerkhof," the old graveyard of the "miserables," which included people who had died by execution - or by their own hand.

For 17th-century Holland's Tulip Mania, seen as the earliest historical precedent of the current financial crisis, drove a lot of people to suicide.

Beijing, Oct 23 : Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Friday on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit.

The two leaders will meet to review the progress being made to promote bilateral understanding and co-operation to resolve disputes including Kashmir, the Daily Times quoted a senior Pakistani official as telling a foreign news agency.

The two leaders will likely meet at the Great Hall of the People in the afternoon, after the summit’s opening session.

Manila - Philippine shares dropped by 4.63 per cent on Thursday as scared investors sold their stocks amid unabated decline in the Wall Street.

Sydney - Construction worker Aaron Neiswander, who lives at his parents' Adelaide home, is out of work and on welfare.

He's been idle since January despite an unemployment rate at a 30-year low and companies so desperate for staff that even some McDonald's restaurants are staffed with guest workers from abroad.

Neiswander, 26, blames picky employers. "I'm just out of the age group," he said. "People are looking for juniors - they want cheap labour."

As Australia moves from boom to doom, Neiswander's chances of leaving the dole queue grow bleaker by the day. Economists say the unemployment rate is already surging and that the run of 
16 straight years of heady growth that made Neiswander so choosey is over.

Zaheer Kahn has been fined 80% of his match fee due to his unsporting conduct, against  following the dismissal of  Australian opener Matthew Hayden.  Zaheer pleaded guilty to a charge of conduct opposing to the spirit of the game.

Zaheer was fielding when Hayden was given out LBW to spinner Harbhajan Singh. Chris Broad, the referee of the match, revealed "Zaheer circled the batsman and shouted at him in an aggressive manner." As Hayden walked out of the ground, he complained about Zaheer's indecent behavior to the square-leg umpire Rudi Koertzen.