Hong Kong - Life would be meaningless and not worth living without the internet, nearly one in seven Hong Kong youngsters said in a survey released Friday.

Just under 14 per cent of 1,800 respondents aged 12 to 25 insisted they could not live without the internet while 80 per cent described it as essential.

One-quarter of respondents in the high-rise, high-tech city of 7 million, where 77 per cent of households have broadband access, said they used the internet for more than four hours a day.

New Delhi  - Bank manager Sudhir has never heard of credit derivates and has no clue about investment funds. He is just about capable of doing basic arithmetic and calculating interest rates.

But while his counterparts in posh Western office towers worry about gaping holes in their balance sheets, the 13-year-old's business is going strong.

Still, the bank's staff and customers are far from free of fear of losing their livelihoods. They are street children in India's capital, New Delhi.

Mogila, Bulgaria  - When a Roma from a southern Bulgarian clan is looking for a bride, he goes to the traditional gathering which his folk stage in Stara Zagora each year in late winter or early spring - though as of recently some brides want to dance more than to marry.

Gypsy families from the clan have for centuries presented their daughters for marriage at the so-called bride market in Mogila, a village 220 kilometres south-east of Sofia, on the first Saturday after Easter fasting begins.

New York  - The world's fresh water is a finite commodity, but growing demands for it are tearing the world apart between those who call for a human right for water and others who uphold water privatization in order to better serve communities around the world.

Next week in Istanbul, the Turkish government will host a World Water Forum to discuss the increasing problems of fresh water in a world where the population is growing and consumers in developing countries are driving more demands on water.

Activists called for enabling water access as a human right, claiming that the forum is geared to strengthen water privatization at the expense of those deprived of access to daily fresh water.

Recent study revealed that strained marriage affects health of women more adversely as compared to men. Research team led by Nancy Henry of the University of Utah analyzed data collected from 276 couples who had been married for an average of 20 years in which men and women aged between 40 and 70 years.

Study subjects filled questionnaires having various question related to their martial life and relationship. Researchers also carried out medical screening that included blood tests and measurements of blood pressure and waist circumference.

London, Mar 5: Reading a book is what appeals to UK teens more than speaking to their friends on social networks or other online sites, according to a new survey.

The survey has revealed that almost 50 percent of UK''s under-16s would rather read books than log on to websites to chat with their friends.

On the eve of World Book Day, the survey revealed an increased appetite for literature across all ages.