Hong Kong - A pilot and his co-pilot have been suspended after they tried to take off from a taxiway rather than a runway at Hong Kong International Airport, investigators said Saturday.

An air traffic controller raised the alarm when he saw a South Korea-bound Hong Kong Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 122 passengers hurtling down a taxiway running parallel to the airport's north runway.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares shot up by 6.5 per cent Friday morning as a roller-coaster week moved towards an end with a strong overnight rally on Wall Street.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index closed the morning up 1,146.57 points at 18,779.03 points. Turnover was a hefty 62.1 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.97 billion US dollars).

The surge in share prices comes after Wall Street staged one of its biggest one-day rises in months after central banks intervened in global markets to halt their decline.

Hong Kong - A wild boar was shot dead in Hong Kong after going on a five-hour rampage during which it injured three people and kept trapping teams at bay, police said Friday.

The 120 kilogram boar, which was about 1.3 metres long, was fighting with two dogs in rural Yuen Long near Hong Kong's border with China when it burst into a village house Thursday afternoon.

It bit a father and son aged 76 and 54 as they tried to drive it out of the house and also injured a neighbour who tried to help, a police spokesman said.

The boar was eventually locked in a store room and police and countryside warders were called to try to lure it into a cage and trap it.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by more than 7 per cent in the first hour of trading Thursday in one of the city's worst financial weeks on record.

The Hang Seng Index, was down by 1,301.05 points or 7.38 per cent at 16,336.4 points at lunchtime Thursday. Turnover was a robust 48.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The sharp decline followed falls of 5.4 per cent Tuesday and another 3.63 per cent Wednesday. The market was closed for a public holiday Monday.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by more than 5 per cent in the first hour of trading Thursday in one of the city's worst financial weeks on record.

The Hang Seng Index, which had already lost 5.4 per cent of its value Tuesday and another 3.63 per cent Wednesday, was down by 895 points or 5.04 per cent at 11 am Thursday.

The index, shaken by the news coming out of the US since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, has now lost nearly 3,000 points since the beginning of the week. Monday was a public holiday in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell 3.63 per cent Wednesday as the fallout from the turmoil in the US banking sector continued to depress the market.

The Hang Seng Index, which dropped 5.4 per cent Tuesday, fell another 663.42 points to close Wednesday at 17,637.19. Turnover was 76.23 billion Hong Kong dollars 
(9.79 billion US dollars).

The index - which only 11 months ago hit a high of almost 32,000 - rose slightly in early trading as news broke of the US government bailout of the insurance giant American International Group Inc.