Hong Kong - The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped below 14,000 to close 3.55 per cent down at 13,760.49 Thursday after a roller-coaster trading session which saw the index fall more than 6 per cent in morning trade.

The index recovered to punch above 14,000 in early afternoon trade before the gains were lost and the index ended the day 506 points down.

Turnover was 56.46 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.23 billion US dollars).

Analysts said Hong Kong stocks were adversely affected by weak corporate earnings, with Chinese companies especially affected.

A new technique for cervical cancer has developed which can locate the cancer at early stage. Nandita de Souza and her team has developed this technique at the Institute of Cancer Research and London’s Royal Marsden Hospital. The new technique called as 'Diffusion weighted imaging'.

This technique allows the doctors to carry out precise surgery to remove the tumours. The team observed 59 women with cervical cancer aged between 24 and 83 over a period of 22 months and they found that 88% of cancer cases were detected by using the new technique as compare to 77% who were detected by using external scans.

Banglore: A good news for the teaching staff, working with the higher education sector. The Department of Collegiate Education held an ‘Education Adalat’ to solve the problems of faculty regarding their promotions, placements, incentives and settlement of pensions etc.  

Arvind Limbavali, Higher Education Minister, inaugurated the Adalat in Banglore and he addressed the teaching staff “Now that a system has been put in place to solve your problems, I expect you to focus completely on improving your colleges, especially the standard of education.”

Tokyo - Asia-Pacific stocks took dives Thursday amid bearish sentiment triggered by Wall Street's sharp overnight losses as well as a dismal global and regional economic outlook.

The market in the region's largest economy, Japan, also dipped as a stronger yen dimmed sales prospects among the country's export-oriented manufacturers.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 2.46 per cent to close at 8,460.98. The benchmark index recovered significant ground after losing more than 7 per cent in morning trading and hitting a five-year low.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also fell 1.97 per cent to 871.7.

London, Oct 23: North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il is still in control of the country despite rumours about his health. In recent times Kim Jong-il has missed significant public events including the 60th anniversary of the founding of North Korea.

“There has been a lot of speculation with no clear indication about Kim Jong-il’s whereabouts, but I do not believe there are any changes in North Korea because of Kim’s health,” said South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in a newspaper interview following reports that Kim had suffered a stroke and had brain surgery in August.

Vienna - Two days before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was set to meet in Vienna to discuss production cuts, the cartel's basket price fell by 3.53 dollars Wednesday.

Pulled down by falling stock markets and reports of growing stocks and slowing demand in the United States, one barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude stood at 60.82 dollars at mid-week, compared with 64.35 dollars on the previous day.