London, Jan 19 : Wealthy professionals in the UK are turning to psychics seeking their advice and guidance on how to survive the credit crunch.

Many workers have even started taking in contracts and job offers to be analysed.

The British Astrological and Psychic Society (BAPS) have seen an increase in the demand for readings in the last year and in particular in the last three months.

UK psychic websites that offer psychic readings have reported a significant increase in enquiries recently.

Tokyo - Japanese government on Monday revised the nation's industrial output for November downward to an 8.5-per-cent fall from an earlier reading.

Industrial output dropped 8.5 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in November, compared to the previous month.

The revised figure was the sharpest decline since 1953, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday.

The index of output in mines and factories stood at 93.6 against 100 for the base year of 2005, the ministry said in a revised report.

Hong Kong  - More than 60,000 new jobs will be created by the Hong Kong government in 2009 to offset the effects of the global financial crisis, the territory's leader announced Monday.

Speaking at the opening of a financial forum in the city of 6.9 million, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said the government had speeded up infrastructure projects to provide the new jobs.

Singapore  - Singapore is considering the use of its national reserves this year to provide a muscular response to the deepening economic recession, especially to help cut business costs and save jobs, according to news reports on Monday.

The city state's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said this would be the first time ever that the government would dip into the national reserves, considered sacred cows.

It would be to fund the aggressive pain-relief measures in this downturn, Goh said.

Berlin  - German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck on Sunday ruled out the creation of a "bad bank" to take toxic assets from the nation's major financial institutions.

Such a bank would need to be funded by at least 150-200 billion euros (198-260 billion dollars) of taxpayers' money, the minister told the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"How could I take such a proposal to the federal parliament," he asked. "The nation would think we've gone crazy."

Amsterdam  - Despite an economic slowdown and a credit crisis, Dutch sex shops and businesses offering erotic services appear to be doing just fine.

A phone inquiry by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa among several leading sex shops and erotic business owners in Amsterdam indicates the erotic sector is relatively stable.

"Sales are going well," says Madeleine Vreekamp of Mail&Female, located in Amsterdam.