Lima  - Chinese President Hu Jintao, addressing business leaders Friday in Lima ahead of the annual APEC Leaders' Meeting, said that the current economic crisis presents the world with a major challenge.

"The situation is very grim," Hu said.

The crisis has spread "from some areas of the world to the entire globe, from developed countries to emerging countries and from the financial sector to the real economy," he said.

Lima  - Chinese leader Hu Jintao, addressing business leaders Friday in Lima ahead of the annual APEC Leaders' Meeting, said that the current economic crisis presents the world with a major challenge.

"The situation is very grim," Hu said.

The crisis has spread "from some areas of the world to the entire globe, from developed countries to emerging countries and from the financial sector to the real economy," he said.

Lima  - Peruvian President Alan Garcia on Friday defined the financial and economic crisis that is currently affecting the world as both a "painful childbirth" and "growing pains," rather than an outright illness affecting global capitalism.

"This is a wealth crisis and a system expansion crisis and it should not be treated with statism or protectionism," Garcia said in Lima, as he opened the CEO summit that precedes this weekend's APEC Leaders' Meeting.

"I claim that the world is not sick but is rather suffering from growing pains," he said.

Garcia, a staunch advocate of free trade, insisted that trade liberalization is the best possible way forward even at a time of crisis.

London, Nov 21 : The Duke of York dished out almost 130,000 pounds during 16 taxpayer-funded trips abroad last year, according to official figures.

Prince Andrew spent the whopping 130,000 pounds on hotels and other expenses while he was acting in his capacity as an ambassador for British trade abroad.

His expenses bill is to be published for the first time under Freedom of Information laws.

He has earned the nickname "airmiles Andy" and the "junket of York" for his lavish use of private planes and helicopters at public expense.

Hong Kong - Wealthy people might be wearing long faces but poor people appear to be happier as the world economy goes into meltdown, a Hong Kong survey found Friday.

In what may be a case of schadenfreude - delighting in the misfortune of others - researchers found that while the middle-classes get maudlin in a downturn, the spirits of the poor prosper.

Using a so-called happiness index, they recorded a 4.8 per cent increase in happiness last month compared to October 2007 among Hong Kong people earning less than 1,100 US dollars a month.

By contrast, people higher up the earnings scale with pay of around 3,000 US dollars a month were 3 per cent less happy than last year, however, the team from Lingnan University in Hong Kong found.

Seoul - Leaders from South Korea, Japan and China will meet next month to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis, Seoul presidential officials announced Friday.

South Korea's President Lee Myung Bak, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will hold talks in the Japanese city of Fukuoka on December 13.

Though the three countries have met previously on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three summit, it will be the first such meeting held separately from a multilateral international forum.