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Bangkok – Thai shares tumbled 2.25 per cent in value late Thursday in response to a Standard & Poor’s downgrade of Britain’s credit outlook, analysts said.

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s travel industry has been badly hit by swine flu, with people reluctant to fly overseas because of the risk of infection, the territory’s health secretary said Thursday.

Beijing – China on Wednesday released 23 foreign tourists quarantined at a hotel on the border with Nepal after tests on an Italian woman proved negative for the new strain of H1N1 influenza.

Beijing – The first Airbus A320 plane assembled outside Europe made a successful four-hour test flight from the north-eastern Chinese city of Tianjin on Monday, Airbus said.

Paris – Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Paris Friday for informal talks with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy.
According to Sarkozy’s office, the two leaders were to discuss the political situation in Pakistan and in the region. Zardari is expected to provide details about his strategy to fight the Taliban insurgency.

Kuala Lumpur – An undocumented immigrant from Myanmar who was held in a Malaysian detention camp died from leptospirosis, a rare disease caused by a bacteria found in animal urine, health officials said Friday.

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s economy shrank by nearly 8 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, its sharpest contraction since the 1998 Asian economic crisis, the city’s government said Friday.

Brussels – The European Union on Thursday gave Pakistan 5.5 million euros (7.5 million dollars) in aid to help civilians driven from their homes by the country’s assault on the Taliban.

Manila – A South Korean businessman and two female employees were killed Thursday in an attack inside a computer repair shop in the Philippines, police said.
Two employees of the computer repair shop in Makati City in metropolitan Manila were also wounded in the attack and in critical condition in a nearby hospital.

Bangkok – Thai shares fell 4.7 per cent on more bad news from the United States, and downgrades of some Thai stocks by global financial services Morgan Stanley.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index ended at 526.55, down 26.16 points or 4.7 per cent.