Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares rose by more than 3 per cent Wednesday as news of Barack Obama's historic US presidential election win sent a feel-good thrill through regional markets.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index climbed by 455.82 points, or 3.17 per cent, to end the day at 14,840.16. Turnover was 63.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.16 billion US dollars).

Hong Kong - Around the world, families are looking with apprehension at the upcoming Christmas festivities, prepared to tighten their belts as the global financial turmoil takes its toll. In wealthy Hong Kong, however, people are still ready and willing to splurge, spending 17,600 US dollars a head on lavish Christmas extravaganzas.

One of the city's upmarket restaurants, Aqua, is advertising what it calls the ultimate Christmas feast - a flamboyant, no-expense spared seven-course dinner at 1,290 US dollars per person.

Hong Kong - Checks were being carried out on lifts in apartment blocks across Hong Kong Wednesday after a lift plunged 14 floors, seconds after the only person inside stepped out.

The woman exited the lift on the 14th floor after hearing "a strange noise" just before seven of its eight steel cables snapped in a public housing block in the city's Tai Po district.

Hong Kong - A Hong Kong student has been convicted of fraud after hacking into a McDonald's website to claim all the prizes in on online competition, a news report said Wednesday.

Computer engineering undergraduate Lee Tsz-ho, 22, changed the e-mail addresses of the winners so he could claim all five prizes in the competition, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

He was caught when the genuine winners checked with McDonald's to ask why they had not been sent their winners' e-mails, the newspaper said. The prizes were five mobile phones.

Hong Kong - A 16-year-old Hong Kong schoolgirl unhappy about her appearance forged documents to get a bank loan to pay for plastic surgery, a news report said Tuesday.

Chan Yee-yee paid an older friend to supply her with payrolls advice slips so she could apply for the 20,000-Hong-Kong-dollar loan (2,580 US dollars) and pay for the surgery, a court heard Monday.