Hong Kong  - A Hong Kong magazine editor was given a suspended jail term for publishing a naked photograph of an actress that was taken when she was abducted by gangsters, it was reported Thursday.

At a hearing Wednesday, former chief editor of Eastweek magazine Mong Hong-ming received a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, for publishing obscene material, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

The sentence means Mong will not have to serve six months in prison, unless he re-offends within the next two years.

The picture of Carina Lau, published in Eastweek magazine in 2002, was taken in 1990 when the actress was kidnapped by gangsters, stripped and forced to pose for photographs.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares rose by more than 2 per cent Wednesday following the cut in interest rates in the US and the rise in prices on Wall Street overnight.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index gained 330.31 points, or 2.18 per cent, to close at 15,460.52 points. Turnover was 56.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.27 billion US dollars).

The surge in share prices came even though Hong Kong's HSBC and Standard Chartered Banks announced they would not follow the lead of the US and cut interest rates further.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang arrived in Beijing Wednesday for talks with China's leaders over the effects of the global economic slump on the former British colony.

Tsang is to meet President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other top officials during his annual reporting trip to the Chinese capital, which was expected to be dominated by the impact of the recession.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's struggling Disneyland theme park, the smallest Disney park in the world, is to be expanded in an effort to lure more visitors, a news report said Wednesday.

Disney plans to fund the expansion of the loss-making 120-hectare theme park after persistent criticism that it is short on attractions and does not have enough rides to occupy a full day.

Hong Kong  - Corruption cases in Hong Kong fell by 5 per cent in the first 11 months of 2008 despite the city's ailing economy, anti-graft investigators said Tuesday.

However, the former British colony's Independent Commission Against Corruption said it was bracing itself for a new wave of sophisticated financial crime as the global economic crisis deepens.

The commission logged 3,121 reports of corruption in the city of 6.9 million between January and the end of November, compared with 3,278 cases in the same period last year.