Hong Kong  - The benchmark Hang Seng index surged 8.66 per cent Monday to its highest level in seven weeks amid investor confidence of stimulus moves by China and the United States.

Turnover topped 63.87 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.19 billion dollars), following Friday's turnover of 37.3 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Hong Kong  - A court ruling Monday set the stage for prison inmates to be able to vote in territory elections for the first time in Hong Kong's history.

Justice Andrew Cheung ruled that inmates have the constitutional right to register as voters and cast their ballots while serving sentences.

The case was brought by two men, Chan Kin-sum and Choi Chuen-sun, who are currently in jail, and legislator Leung Kwok-hung, who had previously served time for offences against public order.

Hong Kong  - Rents for luxury homes are set to slump as jobs are cut in the face of the global economic downturn, a media report said Monday.

Property consultants expected rents for high-end homes, which were at record levels earlier this year, to drop by 15 per cent in the fourth quarter, with a further fall of 25 per cent anticipated next year, the South China Morning Post said.

Hong Kong  - Law enforcement agencies will be put on "high alert" during the financial crisis to ensure that Hong Kong remains a safe city, government chief executive Donald Tsang said Saturday.

Tsang told a crime-prevention conference that the global economic slowdown had adversely affected the local economy and jobs, but that public safety would be a high priority.

Hong Kong - A serial robber has been jailed for seven and a half years for 16 robberies committed to fuel his heroin addiction, a media report said Saturday.

Hong Kong - Three Chinese astronauts who took part in the country's first spacewalk arrived in Hong Kong Friday for a four-day visit that will include talks to schoolchildren and a variety show.

The space men - known as taikonauts in China - are in a 40-strong delegation from the Shenzhou-7 manned space mission that also includes the deputy commander-in-chief of China's manned space engineering programme and designers who worked on the mission's systems.

Zhai Zhigang, who performed the 20-minute space walk on September 27, and crew members Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng were met along with other delegation members at Hong Kong airport by Hong Kong and Chinese officials.