Hong Kong  - Hong Kong shares plunged by more than 4 per cent Tuesday in early trading following heavy overnight losses on Wall Street, as the US economy officially sank into recession.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 610.16 points, or 4.32 per cent, in the first 15 minutes of trading, tumbling below the 14,000 mark to 13,498.68.

The fall follows follow five consecutive days of gains on the Hong Kong index, the longest positive run since December 2007. Hong Kong shares have now fallen almost

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks rose 1.59 per cent Monday in their fifth straight day of gains, the longest rally for almost a year.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index climbed by 220.6 points to end the day at 14,108.84 points. Turnover was 43.9 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.66 billion US dollars).

The market was lifted by buoyant property stocks, lifted by reports that a major city property company had sold 300 units in a new development despite a perceived decline in the homes market.

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong government was arranging emergency flights Monday to repatriate hundreds of its citizens stranded in Thailand by protestors who closed Bangkok's two main airports.

A senior government official said three planes would be chartered to a provincial military base near Bangkok because of concerns that the security situation in the Thai capital might deteriorate in the coming days.

Around 800 Hong Kong people have been stranded in Thailand since the airports were occupied by anti-government protesters last week.

Hong Kong's secretary for security Chang King-yiu said the government reversed an earlier decision not to arrange evacuation flights because of fears over possible violence in the coming days.

Hong Kong  - Jobs are being lost at a rate of nearly 1,000 a week in Hong Kong as the global economic slump rocks the wealthy former British colony, a survey claimed Monday.

Nearly 6,000 jobs have been lost in the last six weeks, and another 4,600 job losses have already been announced for the weeks and months ahead, according to the study by the South China Morning Post.

The sector hardest hit by the slump is the financial sector, where 1,780 jobs have been lost already, the newspaper said in a study of job losses across the city of 6.9 million people.

More than 1,300 jobs have been lost in the property and construction sector, while 1,029 jobs have gone in the restaurant industry and 929 in retailing.

Hong Kong - Smuggled goods worth nearly 2 million US dollars were seized in a joint operation mounted by police and marine officers in Hong Kong, police said Saturday.

Mobiles phones and computer parts packed in 11 boxes were being loaded from speedboats when police moved in during a surveillance operation in Sai Kung area in the New Territories.

The smugglers abandoned the goods and sped off in the boats. However, one of the boat owners was later arrested.

Senior Inspector Roger Mak said the syndicate was thought to be well-organized and sophisticated.

Hong Kong -  - A Hong Kong police officer assigned to an elite anti-gangster squad has been found dead after shooting himself with his handgun, news reports said Saturday.

Yau Chak-ping, 39, who worked for the organized crime and triad unit, was found unconscious by his wife Friday. He was lying on the floor of his study with his gun next to him, had a gunshot wound to his chest and was confirmed dead at hospital.

Police said Saturday that investigations into his death were ongoing, but news reports said Yau had shot himself and was the second police officer to kill himself in nine days.