AFP reports neighbors of alleged US serial killer Anthony Sowell had apparently complained about a foul smell for years, but many believed it was coming from a sausage shop next door. The 50-year-old convicted rapist was arraigned Wednesday on a string...

BBC News reports there are dozens of treatment centres offering to wean youths, mostly boys, from spending hours on the web. Many of them are military-style boot camps that rely on tough programmes of physical exercise and counselling. Two boys were...

The Law Reform Commission is seeking views on its proposal to introduce a mechanism for multi-party litigation in Hong Kong. The commission's Class Actions Sub-committee Chairman Anthony Neoh today said a comprehensive regime for multi-party litigation...

Xinhua reports a man who tried to keep his wife from bad company by robbing her prostitute friend was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Jiangyin's People Court in east China's Jiangsu Province. Having divorced once, university graduate Lv Jianlei,...

The Standard reports the principal of a Sheung Shui Primary school has denied three counts of indecently assaulting the mother of a student three times on the same day. The offenses allegedly took place inside a classroom and in the school playground....

The Standard reports Hong Kong Medical Association president Tse Hung-hing was reinstated as a member of the Medical Council yesterday after the High Court said the regulation that was used to remove him was unconstitutional. However, Tse, who is attending...

SCMP reports labour officers will step up inspections to catch employers who make use of self-employment contracts to evade their responsibilities relating to workers' rights and benefits. A spokesman for the Labour Department said there was no conclusive...

AFP reports Italy violates parents' right to educate their children along secular lines by displaying crucifixes in classrooms, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday. The judgement sparked anger in Catholic Italy, with the country's Education...

The Standard reports smokers are about find out exactly where "indoors" is when they light up in public. The Court of First Instance yesterday cleared the way for the government to ask Hong Kong's highest court to define "indoor"...

The Standard reports a group of Hong Kong investors has been trying to recover investments involving about US$2 million (HK$15.6 million) from Citigroup after a financial adviser left the bank. The investors said that last year, before the global...

SCMP reports Canto-pop idol Theresa Fu Wing is being sued by her management companies for allegedly breaching her contracts. Talent Bang, Gold Label Management and Gold Typhoon Entertainment are seeking a declaration that Fu breached agreements dated June...

China Daily reports anyone charging a fee for H1N1 vaccinations will be punished, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday. This comes two days after Health Minister Chen Zhu warned medical institutions across China carrying out...

SCMP reports Yip Kai-foon, one of the city's most infamous gangsters, sat wheelchair-bound and complained of pain yesterday as he faced trial for assaulting a prison officer with a pen in a maximum-security jail. Yip, 47, a jewellery store robber who...

CNN reports the parents of a baby born with a severe birth defect are battling in a British court over whether to switch off the child's life support. The mother sides with doctors and favors disconnecting the baby's respirator. The father took the case...

The Standard reports the illegal immigrants, all Pakistani nationals and accompanied by two mainland snakeheads, were stranded when their speedboat ran aground while trying to flee during an earlier police operation. All were eventually rescued and no one...

SMH reports a woman called the "godmother" of a mafia-style gang in China's southern city of Chongqing has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for running underground casinos and bribing government officials. The trial of Xie Caiping...

China Daily reports a Supreme People's Court (SPC) official said that the threshold for laying charges of corruption and bribery should be raised to bring it more in line with today's conditions. "The 5,000 yuan (threshold) in 1997 and 2009...

SCMP reports high-profile lawyer and legislator Paul Tse Wai-chun has been granted permission to go ahead with a judicial review of procedures followed by a disciplinary tribunal that banned him from practising law for a year. Leave was granted by Mr...

China Daily reports Google officials yesterday admitted to having scanned more than 20,000 books under Chinese copyright protection. The world's largest Internet search engine has been in negotiations with China's copyright watchdog for scanning works...

The Standard reports police suspect an acid attack in Sai Wan Ho was motivated by revenge or triads, with no links to similar incidents in Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po. The victim of Sunday's attack was a food-stall operator surnamed Lam, who has been...

The Standard reports the deaf-mute deacon of a Christian church stabbed his equally handicapped lover to death because she wanted him to divorce his wife and marry her, a High Court jury was told yesterday. Cleric Yip Kai-ming, 47, admits manslaughter...

SCMP reports debt-ridden former senior fireman Chan Sai-tong was jailed for a year yesterday for threatening two staff of a Hollywood Road antique shop run by the third wife of gambling mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun with a knife and tying them up. The District...

SCMP reports the government wants the city's top court to hear its appeal against a judge's ruling on the definition of an indoor area under the smoking ban legislation, a ruling that has upset progress of prosecutions. Because of the ruling, the prosecution...

Twenty-two traders have been fined up to $10,000 under the Weights & Measures Ordinance after admitting using inaccurate scales to weigh scrap paper from April to September. Customs officers posing as vendors sold scrap to the traders and found they...

Telegraph reports the detainees from the Turkic Uighur minority were arrested in Afghanistan during the opening days of military operations in 2001 and held as suspected militants until last year when a US military tribunal decided they were not 'enemy...

The Standard reports more non-Chinese than Chinese secondary school students in Kwun Tong worry about being discriminated against by school-based drug tests, a poll shows. A total of 3,222 Secondary One to Three students completed questionnaires from...

The Standard reports a winter of discontent is brewing among Hong Kong's army of foreign domestic helpers, who marched yesterday against an Executive Council directive which would see them excluded from the statutory minimum wage. About 800 members...

The Standard reports the Hong Kong Medical Association has urged doctors operating in housing estates not to go ahead with a strike next Thursday over The Link Management's sharp rent increases. The association's designated negotiator in rental negotiations,...

Associated Press reports a 1970s-era Texas law that allows parents to show "harmful material" to their children has come under fire after a prosecutor said he couldn't file charges against a man accused of forcing his 8- and 9-year-old daughters...

SCMP reports as many as 500 extra school places could be made available for mentally disabled pupils in the next two to three years, under an Education Bureau plan that comes amid threats of further legal action by parents. About 200 of the new places...

The Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau will launch the public consultation exercise on the 2012 electoral arrangements for returning the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council this month. In response to legislator Ronnie Tong's remarks in...

SCMP reports the Medical Council is examining whether to launch disciplinary proceedings against a surgeon who performed a colon examination during which the patient's bowel was ruptured. The patient, Rekha Chugh, 61, required emergency surgery as a result...

CNN reports a high-stakes trial has kicked off to determine whether South Africa's former police commissioner is a corrupt cop or a man wrongly accused of being in the pocket of criminals. The trial of former top cop Jackie Selebi, a 59-year-old...

The Standard reports a construction worker who pricked the buttocks of two women in Tuen Mun with a toothpick and a wire has been jailed for three months. Pham Van Diep, 43, had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual...

Police arrested 14 drivers in a citywide anti-drink driving operation from October 23 to 27. More than 80 roadblocks and spot-checks were mounted, seeing 1,512 drivers tested. Since tougher drink driving laws were introduced on February 9, Police have...

SCMP reports a man who has farmed a plot of land since 1963 was shocked to discover nearly 40 years later that because of a decades-old government blunder he did not officially own it. The New Territories plot had been mistakenly assigned to four...

The Independent reports a man who raped a tourist in his home after offering her a place to stay through a travellers' website has been jailed for 10 years, police said today. Abdelali Nachet, 34, subjected his victim to the "appalling"...

BBC News reports Hossein Rassam, 44, was arrested in June at the time of massive street protests over the country's disputed presidential election. The Iranian, who worked as the embassy's chief political analyst, was accused of spying and inciting unrest....

BBC News reports the ministry of public security has set up a website with pictures of some of those kidnapped, in the hope of returning them to their families. The ministry website has pictures of 60 children, ranging from babies to young adults, who...

The Standard reports a security guard has been sentenced to six weeks' jail for stealing his friend's HK$38,880 Mark Six win. Gambling enthusiast Yu Yak-chak was slammed by Tuen Mun deputy magistrate Douglas Kwok Kam-tao for showing no remorse. ...

The Standard reports a model told a court yesterday her manager suggested she undergo a mao shan sex ritual to land more jobs when she was just a struggling teenager in the industry. The woman, identified only as Miss X, testified against bulldozer...

SCMP reports a banker is suing Boase Cohen & Collins law firm in the High Court for damages allegedly arising from the missing title deed of a Deep Water Bay house he sold for HK$50 million less than the peak price. Mark Chiba bought the house...

The Standard reports the number of serious medical incidents leading to injury or death is on the increase in private hospitals. But such incidents are on the decline in the public sector due to suicide-prevention measures, the latest figures have revealed....

The Standard reports the Hospital Authority plans to revamp its longstanding on-call system to avoid paying standby doctors whose services are not used. The initiative comes after the Court of Final Appeal ruled last week that public doctors on call...

SMH reports a Kiwi teacher who posed nude for a pornographic website will become a "test case" for new rules preventing teachers from bringing the profession into disrepute. The Sunday News revealed at the weekend that Rachel Whitwell,...

The Standard reports a young model was duped into believing her career would improve if she repeatedly had sex with a self-proclaimed fung shui master, a district court judge was told. Bulldozer driver Au Yeung Kwok-fu was arrested after the model...

China Daily reports for the first time in China's history, rural people may be about to get as much say in national decision-making as their urban counterparts. The nation's top legislature yesterday started to discuss a draft amendment to a law that...

The Standard reports two men escaped after throwing black ink into the face of a veteran barrister in a lunchtime attack outside the Wanchai Law Courts. Neil Mitchell, 52, is in private practice but has been acting as a prosecutor at a District Court...

SCMP reports a plan to break into safety deposit boxes in the Bank of East Asia came into the head of Colombian Jose Alejandro Bermudez Bolivar when, exchanging money in a bank on his first visit to Hong Kong, he saw that security was lax. He...

SCMP reports an 18-year-old school pupil who took online orders to sell pirated copies of the newly released Windows 7 software was caught in an undercover sting, a senior customs official said. The Form Six youth accepted 25 orders and had made HK$7,500...

Chief Executive Donald Tsang has refuted media reports regarding his family's dealings with lighting supplies and minibonds, saying they are unfounded, malicious and aim to undermine public trust in the Government. Speaking to reporters after meeting the...

The HKSE recently issued a guidance letter confirming that it is considering accepting an application which would allow companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to list in Hong Kong. Barry Mitchell, a partner at international law firm...

The Standard reports a 65-year-old woman has been arrested after her 71-year-old husband was stabbed repeatedly with a fruit knife. The stabbing came to light when the couple's terrified 13-year-old grandson called the police shortly before dawn...

Xinhua reports China's top legislature started its bimonthly session Tuesday morning, with the focus on a draft amendment to the electoral law. The draft amendment to the law will undergo its first reading at the 11th meeting of the Standing Committee...

AFP reports Japanese pop star Noriko Sakai pleaded guilty Monday to illegal drugs charges and prosecutors demanded 18 months' jail in a trial that has sparked intense public interest and frenzied media coverage. More than 6,600 people lined up for just...

The Standard reports a Hong Kong businessman is on the verge of ruin after nearly HK$2.5 million was stolen from his account with a bank in Shenzhen - a crime all the more agonizing because he has been stonewalled by red tape and banking practices....

SCMP reports a 22-year-old man was arrested yesterday and held overnight after his 76-year-old father was found dead on a footpath in Wong Tai Sin with multiple wounds on his head and limbs - after the body had been moved from another location. The body...

The Immigration Department has appointed 62 more civil celebrants of marriages, bringing the total number to 1,565 since the appointment of the first batch on April 21, 2006. In announcing the appointments today, the department said the Civil Celebrants...

The Standard reports veteran democracy campaigner Szeto Wah, Citizens' Radio chief Tsang Kin-shing and six lawmakers have been ordered to stand trial on charges of making an illegal radio broadcast. Szeto, Tsang and the lawmakers - Raymond Wong Yuk-man,...

BBC News  reports the two-day operation, which involved thousands of police officers in 19 US states, is the latest aimed at the cartel known as La Familia. It was part of Project Coronado, which has led to almost 1,200 arrests over four years, officials...

SCMP reports New World China Land chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun and executive director Stewart Leung Chi-kin will lodge an appeal against a High Court ruling that they should testify before a Legislative Council select committee investigating the company's...

Financial Times reports Nokia, the world's biggest mobile-phone maker, yesterday launched a legal challenge against alleged intellectual property abuse by Apple, opening a new front in its battle against a US rival that is transforming the industry. A...

Lai Tung-kwok has been appointed Under Secretary for Security and Adeline Wong Under Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs until June 30, 2012. Announcing the appointments today Chief Executive Donald Tsang said they were chosen through...

Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing has welcomed the Executive Council's decision on the grade structure review concerning the Police and believes colleagues will follow up on issues in a rational manner. Speaking to the media after a meeting today,...

Xinhua reports six people convicted in connection with organized crime gangs were sentenced Tuesday to death at two courts in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. The No. 1 Intermediate People's Court handed down death sentences to Yang Tianqing...

The Mainichi Daily News reports the retrial of Toshikazu Sugaya, who was imprisoned after being falsely convicted over the murder of a 4-year-old girl in 1990, began in the Utsunomiya District Court on Wednesday, with Sugaya denying involvement in the killing....

SCMP reports a man whose new taxi was damaged when he was forced to put it in the Kwun Tong "human roadblock" three months ago has had to pay the HK$110,000 repair bill himself despite police promises of help. Owner-driver Wong Wing-cho...

The Standard reports a junior public doctor has been remanded in custody for two weeks pending sentencing after being found guilty of sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl seeking treatment for an upset stomach. Fan Ling Magistrate Symon Wong Yu-...

The Standard reports evidence from video-sharing website YouTube has helped convict a minibus driver of dangerous driving. The driver, who pleaded guilty, was fined HK$500 and had his license suspended for six months in what is believed to be the first...

BBC News reports Human Rights Watch said the 43 men and teenaged boys were taken in police sweeps of Uighur districts of Urumqi, and had since vanished without a trace. The riots and protests in the city in early July left nearly 200 people dead. China's...

The Chief Executive-in-Council today approved the implementation of the Hong Kong section of the Guangdong-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link project and a special compensation package for residents whose land is to be resumed. Secretary for Transport...

The Standard reports public doctors have lost their legal battle against the Hospital Authority for overtime payments. But a panel of Court of Final Appeal judges agreed that if they are on call during rest days or holidays they should be paid - even...

The outbound travel alert system which aims to help Hong Kong residents better understand the risks to their personal safety in travelling overseas came into effect today. The Security Bureau said the system, using amber, red and black to differentiate...

SCMP reports eighty per cent of disciplined services officers and nearly half of directorate-level civil service officials are set for pay rises - costing the government an extra $807HK million. The increases follow approval by the Chief Executive-in-Council...

AFP reports a fugitive German cardiologist convicted of poisoning his French lover's daughter 27 years ago was kidnapped and dumped, bound and gagged, outside a French courtroom, police said on Tuesday. Dieter Krombach, 74, was convicted of manslaughter...

China Daily reports China will make every effort to rescue the crew and the hijacked bulk carrier, the De Xin Hai, from pirates in the Indian Ocean, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Tuesday. Ma told a regular press conference that the Chinese...

SCMP reports police in Guangzhou said they had smashed a network that produced and distributed fake invoices with a face value of about 100 billion yuan (HK$113.7 billion). A statement released by police in the city's Tianhe district at the weekend said...

CNN reports the Colorado couple accused of carrying out a bizarre hoax involving their son and a huge balloon is "not running from the law" and deserves the presumption of innocence, their attorney said Monday. "The sheriff having a press...

Xinhua reports the name of the Chinese bulk carrier hijacked in the Indian Ocean earlier on Monday has been identified as DE XIN HAI, a spokesperson of the EU naval force said, adding there are 25 Chinese aboard the ship. John Harbour said that the EU...

The Standard reports a lawyer conned a bank out of more than HK$10 million in a mortgage scam, a district court judge was told yesterday. Prosecutors accuse Kevin Kong Hon-yui of conspiring to deal with property known or believed to represent proceeds...

The Standard reports a 52-year-old dentist was arrested in North Point yesterday for allegedly raping a nurse. The arrest came less than two days after the suspect, surnamed Lam, and the 25-year-old nurse had dinner in Stanley on Saturday. Lam...

Details of the school drug testing trial scheme in Tai Po have been refined according to feedback from various sectors, Commissioner for Narcotics Sally Wong says. After a briefing with teachers and school social workers today Ms Wong said not only the...

Xinhua reports Fang Hongjin, a former anchorman for China Central Television (CCTV), had been detained over contract fraud in north China's Hebei Province, local police confirmed Sunday evening. Fang, a famous TV anchor in China, had been released on...

China Daily reports four convicts are on the run after killing a police officer and breaking out of prison in suburban Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The four hijacked a taxi and escaped after kidnapping and killing one officer...

The Standard reports hundreds of Indonesians marched to their consulate in Causeway Bay yesterday to denounce the "irregular and illegal" agency fees being charged to their country's domestic helpers just to get them a job here. Of 1,353 Indonesian...

CNN reports immigrant rights activists are calling on U.S. retailers to stop selling two controversial "Illegal Alien" costumes that have surfaced for Halloween, saying the outfits are a broadside attack on illegal immigrants. The "Illegal...

Eddy Fong has been reappointed Chairman of the Securities & Futures Commission for two years from October 20. Announcing the appointment today, Financial Secretary John Tsang said Mr Fong has led the commission board through the global financial crisis...

The Standard reports the controversial Express Rail Link between Hong Kong and Shenzhen will be tabled at the Executive Council tomorrow, with planners eager for the green light to start on the project almost immediately. But the project faces more...

Priscilla Wong has been appointed chairman of the Appeal Board panel established under the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance, the Commerce & Economic Development Bureau says. Ms Wong has been serving as the panel's deputy chairman. Liu Kin-sing, Dr...

SCMP reports a court has quashed the conviction of a former editor of East Week for publishing a picture of actress Carina Lau Ka-ling half-naked on the cover of the Chinese-language weekly tabloid. Lee Sin-sau had pleaded not guilty to a charge...

China Daily reports a Beijing woman is suing BYD, the car company owned by China's richest man, because the airbags on her car failed to activate during a collision. Huo Yanhong told Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court that she bought a 40,000...

BBC News reports a jury deliberated for 23 days before convicting them on charges including possessing chemicals for explosives and instructions to make bombs. The maximum sentence for the offences is life in prison. Prosecutors said the men...

SCMP reports a series of raids across the city after a year-long undercover operation has crushed a triad faction that trafficks drugs and controls entertainment venues in Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok. Forty-six people, including the leader of the...

The Standard reports one of the city's highest earning "tutor kings," Kelvin Ko Sik-ka, is suing the makers of the movie Trick or Cheat for libel. Ko, 39, is the co-founder of the Ever Learning Education Centre, where he tutors in economics....

Chief Executive Donald Tsang urges people to discuss the arrangements for the 2012 Chief Executive and the Legislative Council elections with tolerance, patience and calmness, and not create new obstacles to getting a social consensus. Attending the LegCo...

China Free Press reports Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) is outraged to learn that Miss Li Jianhong, an ICPC member and Shanghai-based writer, was blocked from entering China Mainland in Shenzhen at around 11am this morning. After being held for about...

SCMP reports Donald Tsang Yam-kuen yesterday unveiled plans to give overdeveloped Central some much-needed breathing space - at a cost of more than HK$26 billion in potential land revenue. They include preserving part of the government's headquarters buildings...

BBC News reports the two men have been charged with illegal detention, criminal association and armed robbery, among other charges. The pair, named as Abdu Willy and Raagegeesey, were arrested by Spain's navy as they left the Alakrana vessel. The pirates...

The Standard reports a senior immigration officer was fined HK$4,000 yesterday for filming up the skirts of four women at Causeway Bay MTR station. Anthony Lo Man-hong, 41, was convicted in Eastern Court on one count of behaving in a disorderly manner...

The Standard reports popular singer-composer Lam Man-chung is being taken to court over the ownership and copyright of recordings made of two concerts he staged in Kowloon last month. The writ was filed at the High Court by Honger Music Venture, which...

China Daily reports twenty-two people, including Xie Caiping, a woman said to be the city's only female gang boss, and two police officers accused of protecting her organization went on trial yesterday in this southwestern city following a crime sweep....

The Government Laboratory will introduce hair drug testing to provide another effective tool in the battle against youth drug abuse, Chief Executive Donald Tsang says. In his Policy Address, Mr Tsang said the community has been mobilised to campaign against...

SCMP reports the latest in a long series of family tragedies unfolded in Tuen Mun yesterday when two children were found dead with their semi-conscious mother in a smoke-filled flat. The fifth such case this year alone in a crowded city where social workers...

China Daily reports public fury over suspected illegal milk collections revealed by an online post on Friday has prompted an immediate governmental investigation and an order to crack down on malpractices. The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday dispatched...

The Standard reports a senior fireman who claimed he lost his wife and son because of his gambling habit yesterday pleaded guilty to holding two workers at an antique store hostage while demanding a meeting with the store's owner, Stanley Ho Hung-sun's...

SCMP reports what the point is of a minimum wage? Unions say it should enable a worker to live with dignity and support at least one family member. Not so, say the government and Liberal Party. It represents a wage floor and is not supposed to combat...

The Standard reports a 49-year-old man was arrested yesterday after his estranged wife complained he had left their two young children home alone. The man, surnamed Kong, was later released on HK$500 bail and told to report to police next month....

Police have shut down a cocaine distribution centre in Wan Chai, arresting a man and seizing more than 900g of the drug worth $1.2 million. Officers intercepted the 41-year-old leaving a flat at 16 Tai Wong East Street at 5.30pm today and found 43g of cocaine...

SCMP reports a lawyer for Cathay Pacific Airlines argued before the Court of Appeal yesterday that three allowances - which the Labour Tribunal has ruled are part of flight attendants' daily wages - should not be included in calculating their holiday...

Associated Press reports a former dissident leader was unlawfully handed over to Chinese police by authorities in Hong Kong, resulting in his arrest and detention for nearly a year on fraud charges, activists and his partner said on Monday. Hong...

China Daily reports six men who were convicted of murder and other crimes in the July 5 riot in Xinjiang were sentenced Monday to death after a first-instance trial, and another man was jailed for life. Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti,...

SCMP reports Americans living in Hong Kong are rushing to ensure their tax affairs are in order ahead of Thursday's deadline for them to voluntarily disclose unreported income in offshore accounts. The US government is casting its shadow across the...

The Standard reports the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will, by the end of the month, launch a consultation on executive pay, its new chief executive said. In his first media briefing yesterday, Norman Chan Tak-lam said the Group of 20 nations has set...

Ian McWalters will succeed Grenville Cross as Director of Public Prosecutions from October 22, the Department of Justice announced today. Mr Cross will go on final leave on the same day after 31 years' Government service. Mr McWalters, currently the...

SCMP reports town planners say there is nothing they can do when New Territories landowners block access roads to villages to build houses. The Lands Department also says it can not get involved in such disputes - including the latest one in which a Sai...

Kwun Tong Magistracy ordered a Luen Kwong Electrical Engineering Company director to perform 160-hours' community service for wage offences today. The Labour Department said it was the fifth time this year a community service order was imposed on a director...

Customs officers have arrested seven men after seizing 30 sets of karaoke players containing infringing songs and movies worth $100,000. Seven men aged 18 to 47, including four proprietors and three sales assistants, were arrested following the players'...

The Standard reports the private Baptist Hospital has been ordered to submit within four weeks a report after a mainland mother died from a rare complication while giving birth after nine hours of labor. The death on Saturday of Shenzhen resident Wang...

The Standard reports t he Liberal Party said yesterday it would oppose any move to set a minimum wage higher than HK$24 per hour - a stance that was promptly criticized by a labor- linked lawmaker. The party came to the conclusion after a survey it...

Associated Press reports President Barack Obama pledged to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday, but acknowledged to a cheering crowd that the policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly...

China Daily reports an official in East China's Jiangsu province, dubbed "super expensive cigarette director" after his luxurious lifestyle was exposed by netizens late last year, was sentenced to 11 years in jail over the weekend for taking bribes....

SCMP reports the global partnership of Ernst & Young is unwilling to help its Hong Kong office fund a legal settlement of about US$200 million agreed with the liquidators of Akai Holdings, the accounting firm's bankrupt former client, according to people...

SCMP reports the Ombudsman has launched an investigation into "deep-rooted problems" in the administration of the government's disability allowance after examining a case of a man who was refused the HK$1,200-a-month payment despite losing a leg....

SCMP reports a daughter is suing her family in a dispute over a US$56 million estate 10 years after the death of her father. In a writ filed on Wednesday, Louise Wee Gek-neo is suing her mother and siblings over control of the estate of her late...

Associated Press reports Taiwan's High Court on Friday upheld its earlier decision to keep former President Chen Shui-bian in detention after the Supreme Court ordered it to hold a hearing on the matter, an official said. The Supreme Court had questioned...

The Standard reports a grandmother was bound over on a HK$2,000 bond for 12 months for leaving her four-year-old granddaughter alone in their first-floor flat in Sheung Wan. The girl climbed out of the Gilman's Bazaar flat on July 4 and was found...

Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung is visiting Ottawa and Toronto in Canada to boost ties and promote Hong Kong as a dispute-resolution centre for the Asia Pacific. He will meet senior legal and judicial figures, and representatives of the legal profession,...

The Standard reports Hong Kong identity cards will carry the holder's medical records under a pilot project to be launched next year for a city-wide electronic health record sharing system, says Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok. The medical...

SCMP reports HSBC will waive or refund fees on some products if customers cancel them within 30 days, a move analysts suggest is aimed at rebuilding trust in banks after the Lehman Brothers minibonds fiasco. The bank introduced its "30-Day...

China Daily reports China has amended its laws concerning press cards, emphasizing the protection of journalists' legal rights, the government's press office has announced. "By analyzing the new situation and problems in press card administration...

The Standard reports the Department of Justice is expected to undergo a major reshuffle following the early retirement of Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross on October 22. According to Sing Tao Daily, The Standard's sister newspaper, his...

The Standard reports would-be flat owners will get a clearer picture of what they are buying after the leading developers' group revised guidelines on information disclosure related to uncompleted apartments. The move by the Real Estate Developers Association...

SCMP reports foreign and local domestic helpers' groups yesterday criticised the exclusion of live-in workers from the proposed minimum-wage law at a marathon eight-hour public hearing. Seventy-five employer and employee groups attended a Legislative...

The Standard reports a part-time beautician was ordered to do 180 hours of community service for using a domestic helper to look after a shelter for 200 homeless animals. Tse Nga-yee hired the Indonesian maid last August under the name of a friend...

The Standard reports the willingness of the sacked assistant of scandal-hit lawmaker Kam Nai-wai to testify will be crucial to the success of an independent inquiry by Human Rights Monitor, its director said. "A proper investigation will not be...

BBC News reports Beijing has demanded the return of the sculptures, and the director of the Taipei National Palace Museum said she could not display looted objects. China says the two Qing dynasty bronzes were seized illegally in 1860 by invading French...

A defeated candidate of the 2007 District Council Election has been jailed nine weeks by Eastern Magistracy for offering free body-check services to electors in return for their votes. Chan Tak-wai, 49, was convicted of offering advantages as inducements...

A 42-year-old woman has been jailed 10 months by Sha Tin Magistracy for hiring a Mainland illegal immigrant as a domestic helper. The sentence was meted out October 2. On April 23 Police found the maid at the defendant's home and arrested the two women....

The Standard reports a mother of seven - described by a judge as "extremely selfish and cruel" - has been jailed for 20 months for failing to seek immediate treatment for her baby girl who suffered a fractured skull. Nightclub worker Cheung...

Taipei Times reports the US Supreme Court has refused to hear a lawsuit brought by Taiwanese activist Roger Lin (林志昇) that argues that the US is the principal occupying power of Taiwan and should still control it. The terse rejection by the highest US...

The Independent Commission Against Corruption has launched best-practice guidelines to help 6,000 local charities enhance internal governance and transparency, and accountability in fundraising activities. ICAC Commissioner Dr Timothy Tong today said...

The Sun reports a newlywed couple have sued their wedding photographer after he returned "appalling" pictures of their big day — including one with their heads chopped off. Devastated Marc and Sylvia Day paid Gareth Bowers, of Fresh...

BBC News reports CBS employee Robert "Joe" Halderman, who was arrested on Thursday, appeared in court in New York. Letterman confessed during a recording of his show, broadcast by CBS, that he had had sex with female colleagues. He said a...

The Standard reports the launch of two months of public consultation on how Radio Television Hong Kong should fulfill its mission as a public service broadcaster met with a barrage of protest from legislators yesterday. Pan-democrats blasted the process...

SCMP reports a man who crashed into and killed a jaywalker when speeding in an illegally modified car was yesterday ordered to perform 120 hours of community service and fined HK$4,000. Chan Ka-chun, 27, was charged with one count of careless driving...

Xinhua reports Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), held talks here on Monday and reached important consensus on China-DPRK relations and the promotion of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula....

SCMP reports the driver of a tour coach that struck and killed a 15-year-old girl after careering out of control down a steep road in Central last year was jailed for almost three years yesterday by a judge who called the scene he left behind "mayhem"....

SCMP reports the evidence surrounding an alleged sex scandal involving Democratic Party legislator Kam Nai-wai did not warrant his immediate resignation, party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan said yesterday. But as new claims emerged over the lawmaker's sacking...

The Standard reports Democratic Party legislator Kam Nai- wai yesterday denied allegations he sexually harassed a female assistant and then fired her after she rebuffed his advances. A former lawmaker, Mandy Tam Heung-man, told The Standard that the female...

SCMP reports lawyers hope to reopen the debate on introducing juries to the District Court as part of an attempt to stimulate greater discussion about the criminal justice system in Hong Kong. There is a growing sentiment among criminal lawyers that the...

The Standard reports Lime Education, which runs an English learning program subsidized by the government's Continuing Education Fund, has been accused of asking students to borrow from a loan company without offering the appropriate education to help them...

The passenger clearance procedure in Macau for Hong Kong permanent residents will be simplified. Immigration Department Deputy Director Chan Kwok-ki said on a radio talk show today Hong Kong permanent identity card holders over the age of 11 will be allowed...

BBC reports about 67% voted "Yes", official results from the latest referendum showed. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen hailed a "clear and resounding" endorsement. Political leaders across the EU have also welcomed the result. ...

SCMP reports illegal bookmaking syndicates have ditched their old methods of phone calls and betting slips and set up gambling websites that are registered outside Hong Kong. The internet transactions are legal overseas, which makes it difficult for the...

SCMP reports the privacy commissioner is still hoping to get real legal teeth for his agency, despite the government having reservations about such a move. Roderick Woo Bun is seeking public backing, saying giving the watchdog greater enforcement powers...

A new round of applications for the Professional Services Development Assistance Scheme opened today, and non-profit-distributing professional, trade or industrial organisations and research institutes are encouraged to apply. Launched in 2002 with $100...

AAP reports NSW Health has given its full backing to its criminal DNA testing, despite it leading to the wrongful conviction of a man for break and enter in 2008. NSW Health commenced an exhaustive review of its DNA "cold links", where DNA evidence...

The Standard reports League of Social Democrat vice chairman Andrew To Kwan-hang was arrested and handcuffed outside the Central Government Liaison Office yesterday. April 5th member Lau Shan-ching and another protester were also arrested. The reasons...

UPI reports a Vancouver billionaire faces numerous charges for allegedly attacking a prostitute and refusing to let her leave his mansion late last December. David Ho, 57, surrendered to police Monday accompanied by his lawyer, The (Vancouver) Province...

China Daily reports president Hu Jintao said in Beijing Thursday morning that all the Chinese people were "full of confidence" in the bright prospects of the great rejuvenation of the nation. The people from all ethnic groups "cannot be...

SCMP reports the Hong Kong and China chairman of Ernst & Young, whose Hong Kong offices were raided on Tuesday by the police in connection with a fraud probe, has stepped down from his post. Ernst & Young told the firm's partners yesterday in...

SCMP reports lawmakers scrutinising a minimum-wage bill were told yesterday they would not be able to amend the hourly wage rate, which would be set by an advisory commission. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said the Legislative...

SMH reports two northern NSW police officers who pulled over an allegedly drunk and unlicensed driver were shocked to find him wearing nothing but his shoes and socks. The 23-year-old Lismore man was arrested in the nude after he allegedly failed to stop...

SCMP reports the city's only forensic psychiatry team is carrying a workload so heavy that assessments and medical care of criminals with mental illnesses are being delayed, the team's leader says. Dr Henry Yuen Cheung-hang, chief of service in forensic...

Justice Susan Kwan has been appointed Court of Appeal Justice while six judicial officers have been named Court of First Instance Judges - Anthony To, Peter Line, Maggie Poon, Derek Pang, Colin Mackintosh and Au Hing-cheung. Judge Bebe Chu has been appointed...

The Standard reports lawmakers will summon two top New World China Land executives to testify on November 3 after a court ruled they have the power to call witnesses. They are probing the controversy surrounding the post-service work of former housing...

SCMP reports a well-known English tutor and shareholder in the Ever Learning tutorial centre died in hospital after his Porsche crashed into a central divider and rolled several times in Happy Valley early yesterday. Because there were no skid...

CNN reports filmmaker Roman Polanski has been arrested on an arrest warrant stemming from a decades-old sex charge, Swiss police said Sunday. The Academy Award-winning director pleaded guilty in 1977 to a single count of having unlawful sexual intercourse...

Reuters reports in August, Mr Chiscolm sued Bank of America, the largest US bank and its board, demanding that "$US1,784 billion, trillion" be deposited into his account the next day. He also demanded an additional $US200,164,000, court papers...

China Daily reports Wen Qiang, former head of the judicial administrative bureau in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, has been arrested over allegedly providing a "protective umbrella" for local gangs, local authorities said Sunday. ...

China Daily reports the Chinese government Sunday published a white paper on its ethnic policy, stressing harmony and equality among all ethnic groups. The paper, released by the State Council Information Office, reviewed the country's basic situation...

The Standard reports Citibank has become the first financial institution to be taken to court by the Consumer Council over the Lehman minibonds saga. And the case of nurse Chan Mei-ying may open the way for an avalanche: the council is readying more than...

The Standard reports broadcasting chief Franklin Wong Wah-kay yesterday vowed to stand up to the new government-appointed board of advisers to ensure RTHK's editorial independence. The 15-member board will advise on editorial policy and program quality,...

The Standard reports in a landmark judicial review judgment, the High Court yesterday upheld the independence of the legislature, saying the courts could not easily interfere in internal workings of the Legislative Council. The ruling by Court of First...

The Standard reports the Baptist Hospital has described a broken leg suffered by a newborn during a cesarean section as an "unavoidable complication." However it has apologized to the mainland parents of the girl, who was due to be born on Thursday...

The Standard reports the annual jewelry fair lived up to its reputation of being a thug magnet on its very first day at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. A suspected thief was arrested at the expo - even as the owner of a priceless 70-carat...

SCMP reports accounting giant Ernst & Young has settled out of court a negligence case over the collapse of a former auditing client, electronics firm Akai Holdings, following allegations its staff tampered with or faked hundreds of documents. But...

SCMP reports The board appointed by the chief executive to advise RTHK on its editorial policy would not include members with political affiliations, a government minister said yesterday. Speaking on an RTHK phone-in, Secretary for Commerce and Economic...

The former chairman of a tobacco manufacturer and two people from another company who were earlier jailed for bribery and fraud over cigarette smuggling activities, were today ordered to pay more than $13 million in restitution to the tobacco company. ...

SCMP reports a cabbie who was involved in a five-taxi crash in June in Harcourt Road, Central apparently died of multiple injuries, one of which may have been caused by his seat belt, a court heard yesterday. Ian Polson - defence counsel for Australian-American...

The Standard reports the Court of First Instance took just 10 minutes to absolve legislator Wong Sing-chi of blame for forgetting to re- register as a social worker while campaigning for last year's Legislative Council election. Wong did not appear before...

The Standard reports a member of an advisory body for the catering industry has been jailed for three years for sexually molesting a mentally-retarded woman. Siu Che-shing, 59, had earlier been acquitted of rape, but was found guilty by a High Court...

Xinhua reports China lodged an appeal on Tuesday over a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruling which said its regulations on the import and distribution of books and audio-visual products are not in compliance with world trade rules. The WTO's seven-member...

The Standard reports the courts should pay more attention to the views of children caught up in their divorcing parents' custody battles, according to a leading overseas child rights advocate. Speaking to The Standard during a visit to Hong Kong, Norway's...

The Standard reports fung shui practitioner Tony Chan Chun-chuen told so many lies in trying to prove his claim to Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum's estate that listing them took "pages and pages" of Chinachem Charitable Foundation's closing submissions...

The Standard reports public broadcaster RTHK will continue to function as a department of the government. Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam- kuen described yesterday's decision by the Executive Council as a "three-win" situation - for the public,...

The Chief Executive-in-Council has accepted the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Judicial Salaries & Conditions of Service to freeze the pay of judges and judicial officers for 2009-10. This is the first time a judicial service pay adjustment...

The Lawyer reports annual fee rates survey shows work-hungry top guns drop fees to £450 as they raid mid-market for business. Magic circle partner rates have fallen to levels not seen in more than a decade as top firms muscle in on mid-market territory....

The Standard reports Macau has been forced to delay announcing the results of its legislative assembly elections amid fears that more than 6,000 spoiled ballots papers could affect the outcome. After the polls had closed at 9.30pm on Sunday it was announced...

China Daily reports that seductive girl in a bar ended up costing two foreign men far more than they expected. Instead of a drink back in his hotel room, the men found themselves drugged and robbed, victims of a scheme targeting male foreigners in high-end...

The Standard reports four stock punters who fraudulently submitted multiple applications to boost their odds of subscribing to shares in initial public offerings have each been jailed for nine months. The accused, Weyman Au Wai-ming, 35, his girlfriend...

SCMP reports the driver of a tour bus that careered down Garden Road in Central last year, killing a teenage girl and injuring 50 people, has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death. Andy Chan Ying-keung, 35, will be sentenced on October 5....

SCMP reports the judge hearing the probate case over the fortune of late tycoon Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum has questioned why she would have given fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen more than HK$2 billion in cash if she meant to leave him the whole estate....

SCMP reports with the future of the director of public prosecutions in question, and Friday's retirement of one of the deputy directors, two of the remaining three deputies are obvious contenders to take over the top position. Of those two, Arthur Luk...

SCMP reports a reshuffle among Hong Kong's top prosecutors has raised the possibility of the first change in the director of public prosecutions for 12 years. Grenville Cross SC, a veteran government lawyer who has held the politically sensitive...

SCMP reports unionists have demanded a crackdown on bosses who dupe workers into signing "self-employment" contracts that in effect strip them of benefits and protections promised under labour laws. They have also accused the Labour Department...

SCMP reports tourists had a tough time finding taxis yesterday in Macau, but you could enjoy a free ride to dozens of spots, if you knew the trick. Free rides and free meals were just two of the gimmicks supporters adopted in their effort to get people...

Former managing director of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd (Morgan Stanley), Mr Du Jun, was today jailed for seven years and fined $23,324,117 (Note 1) by the District Court for insider dealing in shares of CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd (CITIC Resources). His Honour...

Police are investigating a traffic accident on the Tsing Kwai Highway on 20 September afternoon in which a 76-year-old taxi driver was killed. A truck driven by a 34-year-old man was travelling along the highway towards Tsing Yi and stopped...

China Daily reports a 33-year-old man from Hengyang, Hunan province, who was wrongly jailed for five years in a 2002 robbery case, was compensated with 180,000 yuan ($26,363) recently. Kuang Zengwu was sentenced to six years in jail in March 2002....

SMH reports six men have been arrested over a cocaine importation syndicate allegedly involving workers at Sydney Airport's international terminal. It will be alleged the six men were involved in an operation that imported almost $2 million worth of cocaine...

AFP reports Japanese pop star Noriko Sakai was freed on bail Thursday ahead of her drugs trial next month in a scandal that has drawn massive media attention and destroyed the clean-cut image of the singer-actor. Sakai, 38, who has spent more than a month...

Xinhua reports four people were given hefty sentences ranging from 8 to 15 years in prison Thursday for stabbing a pedestrian with a syringe in Urumqi, which triggered public scare and caused protests in this capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region....

Xinhua reports a man armed with a knife had stabbed two people to death in Dashilan, a major commercial center in downtown Beijing, the Publicity Department with the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee confirmed Thursday night. The...

CNN reports a Yale University lab technician was arrested Thursday and charged with murder in the slaying of a graduate student whose body was found in the basement wall of an off-campus medical research building, police said. Raymond Clark was...

Times Online reports police in Indonesia said yesterday that they had killed southeast Asia’s most wanted man, Noordin Mohamed Top, in a bloody raid on a suspected terrorist hide out on the island of Java. Explosions and gunshots were heard overnight...

The Standard reports Immigration Department officials are trying to trace 500 couples whose suspected bogus marriages were arranged by a syndicate helping mainlanders to settle illegally in Hong Kong. A spokesman said some may already have used their...

SCMP reports a constable who opened fire on a Nepali on a Ho Man Tin hillside in March felt his life was being threatened when he shot at the homeless man, he told the Coroner's Court yesterday. Constable Hui Ka-ki also revealed he had vomited at...

The Standard reports the government could be set for another U-turn over the controversial drug-test plan for schools as pressure mounts from parents seeking a bigger role for the police. Police involvement was envisaged in the first draft of the voluntary...

Associated Press reports France's lower house of parliament approved a pioneering bill Tuesday allowing authorities to cut off Internet access to people who download illegally, a measure that entertainment companies hope will be a powerful weapon against...

The Standard reports a HK$100 million offer to raise the fees of lawyers handling criminal legal aid cases has failed to appease 13 veteran lawyers who will go ahead with a boycott from October 1. The Legal Aid Department is prepared to arrange for...

The Standard reports offers of free slimming courses may turn out expensive for well-rounded women who are lured by promises. One of the come-ons that the Consumer Council warned against yesterday is operators of slimming outfits offering free courses...

SCMP reports a trade union is hoping to unite about 3,000 workers employed by government contract companies to fight for fair wages and treatment. The move came as 60 workers hired by Joyway Management, which provides clerical services for the...

SCMP reports the Lands Department last night issued a written warning to the developer of a private cemetery on an island off Tai Po, demanding that it demolish unauthorised structures built on the site by late this month. But the department was still...

The Standard reports a Secondary Five student at the elite La Salle College has been slapped with 12 months probation and a curfew for drug possession. Cheung Kai-sum, 16, had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous drug and a Part I poison...

SCMP reports the Hospital Authority is asking staff to consent to a one-off pay cut of 5.38 per cent by October 27, saying Legco may pass a civil service pay cut by the end of next month. But lawmakers were surprised by the timetable because they will...

SCMP reports a crackdown on drink-driving introduced last month has seen the death toll from accidents involving such drivers drop by a third, the Public Security Ministry said yesterday. Although specific figures on drink-driving deaths in the first...

Associated Press reports Mubaruz Khan didn't bother to vote when Afghans went to the polls in the country's second-ever democratic election last month. He was too busy eking out a living selling cigarettes and soda for $3 a day, and didn't think voting...

The Standard reports A former school principal convicted of molestation will appear in court today on charges he fraudulently awarded HK$250,000 worth of school job orders to companies linked to his younger brother. So Yau-hang, 55, has been charged...

The Standard reports a mother-of-seven only realised her baby daughter had a broken skull a month after she accidentally dropped her on a shopping mall escalator, a district court judge heard yesterday. The mom, nightclub worker Cheung Ka-lai, 29,...

China Daily reports seven syringe needle attack groups have been captured as of Tuesday by the police force of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Some 75 suspected syringe needle attackers have been apprehended, and more than 36 related cases have...

AFP reports Tokyo police this week launched a crackdown on gropers who have long molested women on the city's busy subway network during rush hour, an official said on Tuesday. Tokyo Metropolitan Police has deployed teams of uniformed officers to platforms...

A six-member panel will investigate the fatal industrial accident at the International Commerce Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung says. Mr Cheung today said the group, comprising occupational safety officers and...

Associated Press reports a judge has ordered a Muslim man to be caned and jailed for drinking alcohol, two months after triggering a national debate for sentencing a woman to be whipped for a similar offence. Islamic High Court judge Abdul Rahman...

The Standard reports a man described by a judge as a "pawn" was yesterday jailed for three years after pleading guilty in District Court to his involvement in a credit card scam. Police earlier told the court they cracked a syndicate in...

SCMP reports an inquest into the death of a Nepali man involved in a shooting incident ended its first week yesterday, with only two witnesses called so far because of issues raised by the lawyer representing the widow, closed-door discussions and pressing...

The Standard reports each family of the six casual workers who were killed in Sunday's accident in the International Commerce Centre received HK$1.2 million from Sun Hung Kai Properties yesterday. The developer, and subsidiary Sanfield Building Contractors...

SCMP reports comments by one of the city's top barristers in the preface of a widely used law book - comparing criminal conviction rates in Hong Kong with those of North Korea - have angered the Chief Justice, who yesterday described the remarks as an "ill-considered...

The New York Times reports it was supposed to have been Annie Le’s wedding night. But hours after the missing Yale graduate student was to have been married, investigators found a body stuffed inside a wall of the lab building where she was last seen...

The Standard reports at least 700 journalists, lawmakers and ordinary citizens marched yesterday to the Central Liaison Office in Sheung Wan and circled the block in protest over police brutality against three Hong Kong journalists covering the unrest in...

The Standard reports a woman whose weeks-old baby died while she was in jail says her daughter might be alive today had the prison authorities acted more quickly and showed more care when the tot became sick. The heartbroken mother, who is now out...

Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee left for Delhi to sign an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with India on Monday, on behalf of the Hong Kong Government. During his stay in Delhi, Mr Lee will also meet his counterparts from India's...

SCMP reports police are not taking action against speeding motorists on large sections of the city's roads because of confusion over the law. The confusion means thousands of drivers booked for speeding over the past several years could potentially challenge...

The Standard reports the Securities and Futures Commission is planning a three-stage public consultation to raise investor protection and confidence hit by the minibond saga. These consultations, expected to last till next year, will focus on strengthening...

Six cleaning workers died today when they fell 20 storeys after a platform gave way in the International Commerce Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. The six were working inside a lift shaft when they fell from the 30th floor to the 10th.   Chief...

BBC News reports Mr Chen was charged with embezzlement, taking bribes and money laundering, involving a total of $15m (£9m) while in office from 2000-2008. Mr Chen had denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated. His wife, Wu Shu-chen,...

The Tsuen Wan Magistracy has jailed a 34-year-old man for 10 months for making and passing counterfeit banknotes. The defendant made fake Hong Kong banknotes with face values of $10, $20 and $50 using a computer, a scanner and a printer at his home in...

BBC News reports the men were protesting against the building of a Hindu temple near their neighbourhood. Some of the demonstrators stamped and spat on the cow's head. The case has stoked tensions between Malaysia's Muslim majority and the Indian, mainly...

The Standard reports former Morgan Stanley managing director Du Jun, branded a liar in court, has been convicted of insider dealing involving CITIC Resources (1205) shares worth HK$87 million - the biggest case of its kind since 2003. The case was the...

The Standard reports a magistrate has questioned Hong Kong's education system and called on parents to sit up and take note as he sentenced six girls to probation terms of 18 to 24 months for bullying a schoolmate. Tsuen Wan magistrate Anthony Yuen...

The Standard reports a mother-to-be was sliced open by a jealous woman driven by an "evil thought" who wanted to see an unborn baby outside the womb. Leung Sin-ting lured her victim - who was eight months' pregnant - to her Sheung Shui...

The proprietors of 21 guesthouses will be prosecuted after their premises were found to be operating illegally. Officers of the Home Affairs, Police, Fire Services, Buildings and Electrical & Mechanical Services Departments inspected 262 premises in...

The Eastern Magistracy has fined a 32-year-old smoker $2,000 for assaulting a tobacco control inspector. He must also pay $133 in compensation to the officer. The inspector found the defendant smoking in an amusement game centre in Wan Chai on July 5....

SCMP reports members of the Provisional Minimum Wage Commission will study two minimum-wage models in Europe this month. They will meet government, business-sector and union representatives during their visit to London and Paris to gain a better understanding...

BBC News reports the move means Uruguay becomes the first Latin American country to allow gay couples the chance to adopt. Some 17 of 23 senators voted in favour of the new legislation, AFP reports. The change - opposed by the Catholic Church - is...

AFP reports the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday urged Jordan to reform its penal code, which it says condones the murder of women as "honour crimes." "The current law is nothing less than an endorsement for murdering women...

SCMP reports a third of Medical Council members have called for a review of a landmark conviction of a doctor for overcharging, saying the ruling failed to define "excessive" medical charges. About 10 members of the 28-strong watchdog presented...

The Standard reports in the frenzy of initial public offerings over recent years, a couple and their relatives have admitted they repeatedly used false personal information in 2006 to subscribe to seven new mainland stocks in an attempt to gain more than...

Chief Executive Donald Tsang says he has relayed the media's response to the Xinjiang authorities' statement on the treatment of Hong Kong journalists by police in Urumqi to Mainland authorities. Speaking after attending the 9.9.9 Life With No Drugs Event...

The Standard reports three Hong Kong journalists beaten and detained by military police in Urumqi last Friday were accused of stirring up the crowd, a Xinjiang official said yesterday. Hou Hanmin, an Information Office spokeswoman, said the journalists...

Times Online reports one is an international conglomerate, the other a small neighbourhood business — and since 2001 they have been locked in battle over two letters of the English language. Yesterday McDonald’s Corporation, the American hamburger...

The Standard reports a 'selfish and immature' 16- year-old father-to-be has been sent to a detention center for selling ketamine to school students. Sentencing Chan Kwok- kwong yesterday, Tuen Mun magistrate Kwok Wai-kin said the teenager thought only...

CNN reports Iraq's deputy minister of transport has been arrested after investigators taped him taking a $100,000 bribe, the Iraqi Integrity Commission said Monday. It's the latest sting aimed at what many Iraqis say is rampant corruption in the country....

SCMP reports the family of a crooked police sergeant who amassed a fortune through bribery in the 1960s has been given approval to sell three of his properties after a judge cleared a title problem yesterday. The deal involves three flats on the first...

The number of early teens using drugs is on the rise with 256 of them reported in the first half of the year, a 25% year-on-year increase. Action Committee Against Narcotics Chairman Professor Daniel Shek said today there were 8,916 drug users reported...

SCMP reports a teenage kitchen worker has been jailed for four years for raping a 16-year-old girl in the office of a fast-food restaurant in front of two colleagues. A mobile phone was used to film the incident and the video was later distributed...

The Standard reports the cyberspace aftermath of the Yoshinoya rape has prompted police to warn web users on postings. According to recent media reports, different girls were identified by netizens as being Miss X before the trial began, in some cases...

BBC News reports Lubna Ahmed Hussein did not want to "give the verdict any legitimacy" by paying the fine of about $200 (£122), her lawyer, Nabil Adib, told the BBC. Ms Hussein, a journalist in her 30s, could have been given up to 40 lashes....

BBC News reports a Woolwich Crown Court jury convicted Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, of conspiring to activate bombs disguised as drinks. Four other men were found not guilty of involvement in the suicide bomb plot....

SCMP reports the Hospital Authority wants a legislative amendment so that it no longer needs individual employees' consent to cut their salaries. The move follows a heated row with doctors about pay. The government can cut the pay of its 160,000 civil...

The Standard reports a jury of four women and a man has been selected for the inquest into the death of homeless Nepalese man Dil Bahadur Limbu who was shot by a police officer earlier this year. Coroner William Ng Sing-wai also ordered that a live...

Xinhua reports syringe attackers that triggered the latest Urumqi unrest will be given harsh punishment in accordance with the law, said a notice jointly released by the city's court, prosecutor's office and police department late Sunday. Those who...

The Standard reports the reputation and standing of the next chief justice will be seriously undermined if the Legislative Council is allowed to scrutinize the appointment, leaders of the legal profession warn. Concern was raised by Bar Association...

The Standard reports an acid attack in a Mong Kok night market has left a couple with horrific burns and injured nine other people. Last night's attack is said to be the work of a man who had gone to the couple's stall in Tung Choi Street - better known...

AFP reports Google will make concessions to European publishers and authors in an attempt to stem rising anger over its move to digitise and sell millions of books online, a report said on Monday. The company has agreed to have two non-US representatives...

SCMP reports Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has two opportunities left to deliver a road map towards genuine universal suffrage - in 2017 and 2020 - or risk all 23 pan-democrats stepping down from the legislature on July 1, 2011. That was the message...

China Daily reports at the invitation of the speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo arrived here on Sunday to begin his official visit to the United States on the final leg of his three-nation America...

The Standard reports five Hong Kong journalists were detained for 30 minutes yesterday by Urumqi police - two days after three of their counterparts say they were beaten by officers. The five are Commercial Radio reporter Yeung Tung-tat; RTHK Beijing...

Four people have been jailed for up to 18 months by the District Court for bribery and fraud over the supply of frozen salmon and eel to Japanese restaurants and sushi stalls in supermarkets. Kana Transa Group shareholder and director Chan Kin-chung,...

CNN reports DeNegri was grilling in his backyard tiki bar in Ormond Beach, Florida, when he popped open a can of Diet Pepsi, took a big gulp and started gagging, his wife, Amy, said. He emptied out the can down a sink but something heavy remained inside....

The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau is seeking feedback on proposed amendments to safety standards stipulated in the Toys & Children's Products Safety Ordinance. Apart from updating the standards, the Government proposes other...

The Standard reports top doctor Lam Shiu-kum completed his fall from grace as he was jailed for pocketing HK$3.8 million in donations meant for medical research. The former dean of medicine at the University of Hong Kong was led away from theDistrict...

The Standard reports an associate professor at Hong Kong University has been jailed for nine weeks and fined HK$5,000 for indecently assaulting two female students on campus. Magistrate William Lam Kui-po told Terence Joseph Shortall, 54, that he had...

SCMP reports a university student diagnosed as exhibiting pathological behaviour was fined HK$3,500 yesterday for seven counts of shoplifting. Tsoi Tsz-sheung, 21, a student of politics and history at the University of Hong Kong, committed the thefts...

SCMP reports the government yesterday launched its first open recruitment for a full-time chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, despite speculation that an academic has already been tapped for the post. An associate professor of social studies...

China Daily reports crowds gathered at a number of sites in downtown Urumqi Thursday to protest against hypodermic syringe attacks in the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and demanded security guarantees from the authorities. The protest,...

SCMP reports police will play no part in the voluntary drug-testing plan in Tai Po schools in an about-face by officials after heated public debate. In other significant changes to the original scheme confirmed yesterday, consent will be sought from...

SCMP reports an ICAC worker was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service for stealing money, a USB flash drive and a staff pass holder from a supervisor who had called her "damn stupid". Magistrate Gary Lam Kar-yan sentenced Lo Pik,...

Anti-smoking officers will issue fixed penalty tickets to people lighting up in non-smoking areas, Director of Food & Environmental Hygiene Cheuk Wing-hing says. He today refuted suggestions officers are reluctant to issue tickets, saying they are focusing...

The Standard reports Hong Kong's top judge denies political pressure is behind his decision to quit - three years before he is due to retire. Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang, who stunned the Court of Final Appeal with his decision yesterday, also...

SCMP reports a family in Sichuan has been promised 200,000 yuan (HK$227,000) by a local court as "financial aid" after agreeing to withdraw a compensation lawsuit against China Central Television, which is said to have wrongly accused one...

AFP reports Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes court announced yesterday that it would investigate more suspects from the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, blamed for the deaths of up to two million people. "The international prosecutor is authorised...

SCMP reports a man who impersonated a flat owner and scammed two prospective buyers out of HK$1.38 million in advance deposits was sentenced to jail yesterday. In the District Court, Cheung Ching-fai, 36, was jailed for four years after pleading...

The Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, has accepted the early retirement of Chief Justice Andrew Li. He will start his pre-retirement leave on September 1, 2010. Chief Justice Li became the first Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region...

SMH reports Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth after its dogged refusal to abide by demands that it restore democracy and hold elections by next year. In a statement released in London overnight, the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh...

The Standard reports the family of a Nepalese man shot dead by a police officer have demanded that the inquest into his death be held in English rather than Cantonese. The family of Dil Bahadur Limbu - none of whom speak Cantonese - made the call outside...

The Standard reports a personal physician to former SAR leader Tung Chee-hwa pocketed millions of dollars meant for medical research. Lam Shiu-kum, a former dean of medicine at Hong Kong University, pleaded guilty at the District Court yesterday...

The Standard reports racehorse trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing walked free yesterday after he was acquitted of indecently assaulting a married woman he picked up in a Sha Tin bar. But Sha Tin magistrate Pang Chung-ping had strong words for the 49-year-old...

The Department of Justice has released new guidelines on how victims and witnesses should be treated throughout the course of criminal proceedings and the standards of service they can expect to receive. Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross...

AFP reports a Taiwan court on Tuesday sentenced the wife of ex-president Chen Shui-bian to a year in jail for perjury, as it passed the first convictions in an unprecedented case against the former first family. The Taipei district court also sentenced...

The Intellectual Property Department today said the Government will provide a new set of concise and user-friendly rules to modernise the tribunal's practice and procedure. The move will not only maintain the fairness of the proceedings but also make...

Chief Justice Andrew Li says he is deeply saddened by the death of Principal Magistrate Timothy Jenkins. "Mr Jenkins was a very competent magistrate and a fine man. On behalf of all judges and staff of the Judiciary, I shall be conveying our deepest...

SCMP reports more than 8,000 inmates are affected by a prison disciplinary system that a judge's ruling says is a breach of human rights. The disciplinary procedures applied to prisoners lacked independence or impartiality for a fair hearing under Article...

AFP reports British prison inmates are better fed than hospital patients, researchers say. A team from Bournemouth University in southern England have found that although prisons spend less per person on food, inmates are more likely to get a nourishing...

SCMP reports a teenager in the District Court yesterday admitted having sex with a 12-year-old girl, who later gave birth to a boy. Ku Tsz-hong, who is now 16, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age...

The Standard reports horse trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing says a married woman he met in a Sha Tin bar had led him to believe she was open to sexual intimacy, only to change her mind at the last moment. Shum, 49, who denied one count of indecent assault,...

SCMP reports the Urban Renewal Authority is preparing to throw down the gauntlet to the Town Planning Board over a controversial Central project - a move that could present the rare spectacle of one statutory body taking another to court.  A majority...

The Standard reports the controversial drug-testing scheme in Tai Po schools has suffered a severe setback with the departure of 11 police officers who used to liaise with schools in the district. Though the Law Society said last week there should be...

SCMP reports the Hospital Authority has promised that public hospital doctors who have refused to sign a pay cut agreement will not be sacked, a doctor's union leader said yesterday. Authority chief executive Shane Solomon had apologised for earlier...

The Standard reports thousands of past and present cleaners may be losing up to HK$10 million in retirement benefits because many employers chose to stay with the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance when the Mandatory Provident Fund system was introduced...

SCMP reports a new offence targeting the unauthorised obtaining, disclosure and sale of personal data has been proposed in a consultation paper aimed at plugging loopholes in the existing regulation and protecting personal data. It would be a breakthrough...

The Mainichi Daily News reports the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) scored a landslide victory in Sunday's general election, capturing more than 300 of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives. The DPJ is set to take over the reins...

Associated Press reports special forces have recovered a stolen Picasso and arrested a man planning to sell the painting during a raid of his house in southern Iraq, Iraqi police say. The painting, The Naked Woman, apparently had been among the artwork...

Associated Press reports a filmmaking couple devised an intricate system of bribes to Thai officials in order to land lucrative projects such as the Bangkok International Film Festival, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday during opening statements...

The Standard reports a mother's painful wish was granted yesterday when she asked a magistrate to lock up her 15-year-old daughter for her part in a high-profile taxi robbery. The mother - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - also admitted...

BBC News reports many perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity between 1975 and 1999 have still not been brought to trial, the human rights group says. Amnesty says East Timor is haunted by a "culture of impunity" - a decade...

The Standard reports Fortis Insurance Co (Asia) is demanding that former regional director Inneo Lam Hau-wah, who was at the center of the recent PCCW (0008) privatization controversy, immediately pay back HK$34.92 million he borrowed from the company to...

SCMP reports the Court of First Instance yesterday dismissed a judicial review application by a mainland woman against the public hospital policy of charging mainlanders a higher fee than Hongkongers for delivering babies. Mr Justice Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor...

SCMP reports two brothers yesterday filed a complaint with police after they accused 10 narcotics officers of breaking down the front door of their home and beating one of them in a case of mistaken identity. One brother said his eardrum had been ruptured...

The fixed penalty system for smoking offences will take effect September 1. The smoking ban will also extend to 48 public transport facilities that day. Under the Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Ordinance, enforcement officers will issue a $1,500 fixed...

The Standard reports Richard Li Tzar-kai's application for leave to appeal against a ruling blocking a HK$16.38 billion privatization bid by his PCCW (0008) was rejected because of the government's "imminent" review of corporate buyout rules,...

The Standard reports an employee assigned to a "genderless" toilet since coming out with plans for a sex change is fighting for the right to use a washroom reserved for the gender of his choice. According to reports, the 55-year-old senior...

Associated Press reports a lead prosecutor on Wednesday accused a television crime show host of attempting to have a federal judge assassinated, adding to allegations that he set up killings to boost his TV ratings. Crime-show host Wallace Souza...

SCMP reports the Democratic Party is pushing for a revised strategy on constitutional reform which it hopes would lead the chief executive to dissolve the Legislative Council and hold a fresh election, which would gauge people's preferences on universal...

SCMP reports a mainlander who inflated the share price of his investments two years ago in his bid to be allowed to migrate to Hong Kong received a two-month sentence suspended for 12 months yesterday. It was the first time the securities regulator...

The Standard reports a grandmother accused of killing two women in their 80s has admitted she only told the police the truth after she was caught telling lies. Li Sui-heung, 51, who denies murder, decided to testify after judge Michael McMahon...

SCMP reports minibus operators can start installing speed controllers on Friday, when the Transport Department releases the names of suppliers and models. Some operators are still sceptical about the devices, and one has threatened to take legal action...

The Standard reports horse trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing forced himself on a married woman for nearly 30 minutes inside a car parked at a Sha Tin hotel, the alleged victim told a magistrate yesterday. The 32-year-old woman denied the defense's contention...

CNN reports Iran resumed Tuesday its mass trial of political reformists it has accused of trying to overthrow the government in the wake of the disputed presidential election in June, according to state-run media reports. The nearly 100 people on trial...

BBC News reports the government is proposing a tougher stance which would include cutting off repeat offenders from the net. UK ISP Talk Talk said the recommendations were likely to "breach fundamental rights" and would not work. Virgin...

The Standard reports a four-year-old girl had her ears violently twisted and her backside beaten so severely she needed a skin graft, a court was told. Kowloon City deputy magistrate Raymond Wong Kwok-fai yesterday sent the girl's parents to jail,...

The Standard reports five newborn babies have been injected with an anti-tuberculosis vaccine that was dangerously past its use-by time at Queen Elizabeth Hospital - the second blunder in the hospital's postnatal ward in just over two weeks. A nurse...

CNN reports hundreds of gay men have been tortured and killed in Iraq in recent months, some by the nation's security forces, Human Rights Watch said Monday. Interviews with doctors indicate hundreds of men had been killed, but the exact number was unclear...

SCMP reports the operator of the controversial drug rehabilitation school on Lantau Island has pledged to split its finances from those of the school to make the operations more transparent and allow donors to say where they want their money spent. ...

Associated Press reports the Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide and a combination of drugs was the cause, a law enforcement official told the media, a finding that makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed...

The Standard reports parents of mentally handicapped youngsters were in a fighting mood last night just hours after a High Court judge said their kids do not have the right to stay at school once they reach the age of 18. The parents say they will continue...

The Standard reports an accounting clerk has been jailed for four years and two months for embezzling HK$5.4 million from a corporation of flat owners over a four-year period. Liu Chun-ho, 51, a former accounting clerk of Hung Yu Mansion at 162-188...

SCMP reports two pieces of proposed legislation promise to rein in government power, the abuse of which has fuelled protests in recent years. At this week's National People's Congress Standing Committee meeting, the People's Armed Police Law will go...

A policeman opened fire on two assailants who attacked him in Tai Po. The off-duty station sergeant, 54, was walking past an open-space car park on Tat Wan Road at about 2am when he noticed a man acting suspiciously. He identified himself as a police...

The Standard reports the Law Society says it can't win the battle to keep drug dealers out of schools on its own and has called on other professional organizations to provide volunteers. Under a program called Path Builders, volunteer lawyers have been...

The Standard reports the Consumer Council is confident it will get HK$20 million from the government to beef up its litigation fund as it prepares to take its first Lehman Brothers minibond case to court. The extra cash will increase its litigation...

Daily Mail reports scientists have shown it is possible to fake DNA evidence, potentially undermining the credibility of the key forensic technique. Using equipment found in labs up and down the country, they obliterated all traces of DNA from a blood...

The Standard reports the minimum-wage bill will not protect the physically handicapped, self-employed workers or foreign domestic helpers, a forum hosted by 20 pan-democrat lawmakers heard yesterday. Lawmaker Frederick Fung Kin-kee said a clause on...

Associated Press reports an activist Chinese lawyer who was detained in a possible crackdown on dissent ahead of October's 60th anniversary of Communist rule was released Sunday, but he said authorities were investigating possible tax charges against him....

SCMP reports for more than 20 years, residents of two Ngau Tau Kok housing estates used a path formed by their own feet as a short cut to a nearby shopping centre. According to one resident, several hundred used it every day. So four months ago the residents...

SCMP reports several activists from the fringe of Hong Kong's pan-democratic camp are planning to set up a friendship group to promote "Tibetan culture" following their meeting with the Dalai Lama. The move has alarmed Beijing, which has called...

Police have arrested a 42-year-old van driver for dangerous driving after his vehicle knocked down a woman in Yau Ma Tei. The 58-year-old was struck while crossing the junction of Dundas and Shanghai Streets at 11am today. She was sent to Kwong Wah Hospital...

SCMP reports the police chief yesterday made a personal apology to the victims after a detective constable - described by a judge as a sexual predator - admitted raping a young woman and indecently assaulting her and three others in a police station last...

China Daily reports the number of children suspected of having lead poisoning in Hunan province has skyrocketed to 1,300, up from an initial estimate of 100 the day before. The poisonings were caused by emissions from a smelter in Wugang, media reported....

The Standard reports three security staff have been arrested on suspicion of theft and 10 suspended from duty following police allegations that illegal bookmaking syndicates have penetrated into the security arm of Chek Lap Kok airport. Police stumbled...

AFP reports Western powers have hailed landmark elections in Afghanistan as a victory for democracy despite reports of a low turnout amid fears of Taliban retribution. "We had what appears to be a successful election in Afghanistan despite the Taliban's...

BBC News reports legal officials from Beijing will now visit people with complaints in the provinces in order to hear their cases. Petitions can also be filed online and a response or solution is to be given within 60 days. Officials have previously...

The Standard reports Chef Wong Chak-chuen dutifully filled out an MPF form when he was employed by a Chinese restaurant in September 2003. But it was only months later, after the restaurant went bankrupt and his former boss died, that the dim sum chef...

SCMP reports the secretary for justice has expressed his full support for lawmakers in a judicial review challenging the extent of their investigative powers, saying it was in the best interests of Hong Kong to have an effective legislature to act as a...

The chairman of a bodybuilding association was charged by the ICAC for his alleged roles in a bribery scam to assist a suspended athlete in competing in the 2006 Doha Asian Games as well as a government subvention fraud. Chan Siu-man, 39, chairman...

SCMP reports a University of Hong Kong associate professor grabbed a female student's hand and forced her to touch him when she went to his office asking for help, a court heard yesterday. Terence Shortall, 53, from the faculty of education, touched...

The Standard reports about 300 customers of the Bank of East Asia (0023) have so far accepted the offer to repurchase their Lehman-related minibonds, sources said yesterday. And separate sources said positive responses to Bank of China (Hong Kong) (2388),...

The Standard reports the Law Society has agreed in principle to back voluntary drug tests in schools, provided students give their written consent and the police are not involved. Strict limitations on who can gain access to the results and the length...

Customs officers have arrested a 37-year-old Bolivian man at Hong Kong International Airport for trafficking 6kg of cocaine worth $4.8 million. He was stopped on arrival from Bolivia via Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Johannesburg, South Africa. Five packs...

Associated Press reports Apple Inc is investigating media reports that one or more of the company's iPhones have exploded in Europe, a European Commission spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The spokeswoman for the EU executive, which oversees the safety of...

SCMP reports the head of the Productivity Council was cleared yesterday of threatening to fire a union chairman if a sacked union member staged a protest against his dismissal. Kowloon City Court found Wilson Fung Wing-yip, 45, the council's executive...

The Standard reports curtailing the Legislative Council's power to summon witnesses would effectively muzzle it as a public watchdog and threaten Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" policy, a landmark judicial review hearing was told yesterday....

Multi-jurisdictional law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman is pleased to announce that the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands have been added to the OECD White List of jurisdictions that have substantially implemented the OECD’s internationally...

Associated Press reports a Chinese legal activist whose rights group has tackled some of the country's most politically sensitive cases has been formally arrested on suspicion of evading taxes, though he has not yet been charged, his lawyer said Tuesday....

Associated Press reports a Hong Kong tycoon suffered another setback Tuesday in his effort to buy out the city's major telecom firm after a local court blocked him from appealing. A group led by the company's chairman Richard Li attempted to take...

Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung says the Government will carefully consider the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data's recommendations on the voluntary drug test trial scheme, adding the Government will take public and stakeholders' views constructively...

The Standard reports police said yesterday they had smashed a high-level drug selling organization and made the largest cocaine seizure in five years. Police seized 32 kilograms of cocaine - including two kilograms of crack cocaine - as well as various...

BBC News reports Sharon Keller is charged with professional misconduct. The prisoner, Michael Wayne Richard, was put to death hours after she allegedly shut the court, despite being told an appeal was imminent. Half of all executions in the US last...

AFP reports a 28-year-old man was charged on Monday with the largest credit card theft ever in the United States, in which more than 130 million card numbers were stolen, the Justice Department said. Albert Gonzalez, of Miami, Florida, and two co-conspirators...

SCMP reports the limit to the Legislative Council's power to issue summonses to witnesses and order documents to be produced before select committees was a deliberate policy choice made during the drafting of the Basic Law and reflected in the mini-constitution,...

The Standard reports Hong Kong Productivity Council executive director Wilson Fung Wing-yip threatened to dismiss its union chairman if a sacked union member "played games" with him, the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court heard yesterday. The testimony...

The Standard reports a police sting operation in a Sha Tin shopping mall foiled cocaine traders using public lockers for their drug stash. Detectives arrested three people and seized two kilograms of the drug with a street value of HK$1.6 million....

The Standard reports a truck driver who knocked down four pedestrians - one of whom later died - has been jailed for 3 years. District Judge Mary Yuen Lai-wah also banned Lei Tin-seng, 50, from driving for three years after he was convicted of one...

The Standard reports officials want to zero-in on young drug offenders in the judicial system by focusing testing and counseling resources on offenders passing through Magistrates' Courts. A two-year pilot scheme to begin in October will see anyone...

BBC News reports Lee Kun-hee was given a suspended prison sentence by the High Court. The case centred on charges that Lee issued bonds at below the market price, which led to problems at a Samsung owned company. Lee stepped down as chairman of Samsung...

Associated Press reports a four-star hotel near Venice mistakenly offered the ultimate low-cost vacation - a romantic weekend in the Italian lagoon city for 1 euro cent. Not surprisingly, the Crowne Plaza in Quarto D'Altino, 25 kilometres from...

SCMP reports there has been a massive increase in the number of lawyers and law students learning the ropes of mediation as people become aware of its benefits as an alternative to costly and time-consuming legal action. Many attribute the surge of interest...

SCMP reports seventy-eight drink-drivers in Guangdong were detained on Saturday night as part of a nationwide crackdown on driving under the influence of alcohol ordered by the Ministry of Public Security on Friday. The provincial Public Security Department...

The Standard reports a post-mortem is to be conducted as early as today to determine the cause of death of a 33-year-old man from Taiwan who had been kept in solitary confinement at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Center. The man, surnamed Chen, was...

The Standard reports Hong Kong people are evenly split over whether euthanasia should be legal - if a poll on a landmark TV series about the right to die is to be believed. As the man dubbed Australia's "Dr Death" and a British woman who won...

SCMP reports two newborn babies at Queen Elizabeth Hospital were mistakenly swapped by medical staff for more than 30 hours until one of the Hong Kong mothers spotted the blunder, the Hospital Authority confirmed last night. The parents, who had already...

Patrick Ma has been appointed a Legal Aid Services Council member for one year from September 1, the Home Affairs Bureau says. The council oversees the Legal Aid Department's provision of legal aid services and advises the Government on related policy....

CNN reports individual computer users in China may choose whether to install a controversial content filtering system, but the system will be installed on computers in any public place, China's minister of Industry and Information Technology said Thursday....

The Standard reports a magistrate said she could not sleep for four days agonizing over a shoplifting case involving a 15-year-old girl who is a top student known for good behavior. Eastern magistrate Adriana Tse - the daughter of the late Court...

CNN reports a senior official with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard is calling for the prosecution of two key opposition leaders and a former president, accusing them of fanning the protests that have gripped the nation since its disputed presidential...

The Standard reports Hong Kong will follow up with mainland authorities the detention of two NOW TV journalists in a Chengdu hotel on trumped-up drug accusations. Both journalists were released after seven hours after no drugs were found. Acting Chief...

The Standard reports a jury found a 17-year-old fast food worker guilty of raping a 16-year-old co-worker but acquitted two of his colleagues who filmed the victim's ordeal. The seven-member jury arrived at the five-to-two verdict yesterday after...

Daily Mail reports a woman of 29 was raped by a man who offered her free accommodation through a website aimed at helping travellers, a court has heard. She arranged to stay with Abdelali Nachet through CouchSurfing.com after using the site to...

SCMP reports rights activist Tan Zuoren, whose investigation of shoddy school construction in Sichuan and remarks on the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown angered mainland authorities, went on trial yesterday for "inciting subversion of state power". ...

The Standard reports a Chinese University professor has been accused of sexually molesting a woman passenger on a bus on five different occasions over a three-month period. Kwok Tim-tak, 52, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at Chinese University,...

CNN reports London police have arrested a man in connection with a brazen daylight robbery of a jewelry store last week, they announced Wednesday. The 50-year-old man was arrested on Monday, police revealed. Some $65 million in merchandise was stolen...

China Daily reports the top health authority is launching an overhaul of illegal organ transplants at mainland hospitals, after reports surfaced that some hospitals are illegally doing organ surgeries for foreigners. The Ministry of Health said that any...

AFP reports Chinese authorities have detained two Hong Kong reporters covering the trial of a rights activist who investigated the collapse of schools in the Sichuan earthquake, a media group says. Hong Kong broadcaster NOW TV said police searched the...

SCMP reports the judge hearing the court battle for the estate of billionaire Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum has received a letter containing a threat to his personal safety signed by a person calling himself "Chan Chun Chuen". The letter - addressed...

The Standard reports a sex monster with 30 crime-riddled years behind him is facing the rest of his life behind bars. Chan Li-fat, who has a long history of sex and drug-related offenses and burglary, was described by a judge yesterday as being "dangerous...

The Standard reports the government will press on with a program of drug tests for students despite signs of growing opposition and worries about privacy laws being breached. The scheme is set to be launched as a pilot program at 23 secondary schools...

BBC News reports the UN called for her immediate release after she was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest - where she has spent 14 of the past 20 years. The US, the European Union, Britain and France were among those who condemned the...

BBC News reports the accused are Australian national Stern Hu and three Chinese employees of the Anglo-Australian company. They are charged with using "improper means" to obtain "commercial secrets" about China's steel and iron industry,...

SCMP reports a makeshift laboratory that was used to make the illegal drug Ice was discovered by police in a raid on a Mong Kok flat yesterday. Officers arrested two men and seized 440 grams of Ice, or methamphetamine, and over 300 grams of chemicals...

The Standard reports members of a family who squatted on a small plot of land reckoned to be worth tens of millions of dollars in the heart of Causeway Bay are arguing in court that five decades of living there makes them the owners. Barrister Kenneth...

Bloomberg reports Singapore, which allowed six foreign law firms to practice local corporate law in December, will award more licenses as soon as next year if that would help the economy, Law Minister K. Shanmugam said. “The direction has been...

The Standard reports Hong Kong's privacy watchdog has waded into the controversy over drug testing in schools, warning the government that its plan could amount to an invasion of students' privacy under current laws. Privacy Commissioner for Personal...

China Daily reports bogus evidence and the pressure to solve criminal cases quickly to meet tight deadlines are among the main causes of recent wrongful convictions in China, legal experts said. The conclusion was drawn after experts across China analyzed...

SCMP reports a woman was sentenced to jail for four months yesterday after she burned her domestic helper's arm with a hot iron to punish her for ironing clothes at too high a temperature. Sentencing Chan Mei-ying, 51, on one count of inflicting...

SCMP reports a youth rights concern group and some secondary school students are planning to launch a campaign against the voluntary drug-testing scheme for schools. The controversial scheme, which will be launched in Tai Po next month, has also...

China Daily reports a senior judicial figure in Chongqing is being investigated over allegations he colluded with organized criminal gangs. Police are looking into the dealings of Wen Qiang, 55, director of the municipality's judicial bureau since...

RTHK reports a union has criticised McDonald's for using delivery workers who are not protected by labour laws. The Catering and Hotels Industries Employees General Union says the problem arises from the fast food chain's outsourcing of delivery services....

The Standard reports a campaign has been launched to try to make the government refund the 50-cent levy on plastic bags to consumers. Seven members of Momentum 107, a pressure group formed to act as a watchdog on government spending, opened the...

The Mainichi Daily News reports actress Noriko Sakai turned herself in to Tokyo police and was arrested on drug charges Saturday evening, according to local broadcaster NHK. The 38-year-old actress had been missing since her husband was arrested earlier...

The voluntary drug-test trial scheme at Tai Po secondary schools has been designed to help students, Chief Executive Donald Tsang says. Attending the Beat Drugs Workshop for Parents in Kowloon Tong today, Mr Tsang noted some school operators doubt the effectiveness...

BBC News reports fifteen-year-old Deng Senshan died on Sunday less than 24 hours after arrival at the Qihang Salvation Training Camp. Four members of staff at the facility in Nanning have been arrested over the death, according to local reports. China...

Associated Press reports like most restaurants, the Burger King in this St. Louis suburb has a no shoes, no shirt, no service policy. And baby, do they enforce it. Too much so, the company admitted, after apologizing for restaurant workers who asked a...

The Standard reports the High Court has allowed League of Social Democrats lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung and Legislative Council secretary general Pauline Ng Man-wah to submit affirmations for a legal challenge to Legco's power to summon. A judicial review...

SCMP reports Wong Kwong-yu - once the mainland's richest man - and his wife have had HK$1.66 billion in assets frozen by a Hong Kong court following an application by the Securities and Futures Commission. Mainland authorities are investigating Mr Wong,...

BBC News reports Biggs, 79, is severely ill in hospital with pneumonia and doctors have said there is "not much hope" for him. Mr Straw said the decision had been based on medical evidence that Biggs's condition had deteriorated and he was not...

The Standard reports students can refuse to be tested for drugs if they are among youngsters picked out at random when a program begins at nearly two dozen Tai Po secondary schools in December. They can say no even if parents have provided written consent...

The Standard reports a High Court judge has reserved judgment in a judicial review case in which a disabled student has alleged Education Bureau policy effectively kicked students with learning difficulties out of school at 18. Tong Wai-ting, 18...

The Mainichi Daily News reports a government panel on security and defense capabilities has submitted to Prime Minister Taro Aso a report urging the government to change its interpretation of the war-renouncing Constitution to allow Japan to exercise...

CNN reports the news editor of the Zambian newspaper The Post has gone on trial for allegedly circulating obscene material to politicians, the newspaper states on its website. In early June, Chansa Kabwela wrote to the country's vice president, health...

The Standard reports a firefighter who lost his life in a raging blaze said he was running out of oxygen twice before falling unconscious, a Coroner's Court has heard. On the second day of the hearing into the death of Wong Ka-hei, 27, senior fireman...

CNN reports Laura Ling on Wednesday expressed the shock she and Euna Lee felt when former President Clinton showed up in Pyongyang, North Korea, to help secure the two journalists' release. "We feared at any moment that we could be sent to a hard...

BBC News reports the US-based group Human Rights Watch says India's policing system facilitates and even encourages abuses. It says there has been little change in attitudes, training or equipment since the police was formed in colonial times with the...

The Standard reports an 18-year-old mentally challenged student has asked the High Court to quash an Education Bureau decision to exclude him from enrolling for the next school year because of an age limit he considers discriminatory. Tong Wai-ting,...

The Standard reports a Coroner's Court investigating the death of a 27-year-old fireman was told yesterday of flashovers, a faulty sprinkler system and a subsidiary stop valve for the sprinkler system that could have helped extinguish the fire, but...

The Standard reports customs officers are calling for equal pay with the police - the latest among the disciplined services to press demands for better wages. Four Customs and Excise Department staff unions yesterday lamented they have long been deprived...

China Daily reports the Chinese Foreign Ministry has warned its citizens in Turkey to be careful and avoid going outside, as tensions continue to rise between China and Turkey. The ministry advised all Chinese residents and organizations in the country...

SCMP reports police are hunting at least five men after a 41-year-old senior triad member was knocked down by a car and hacked to death on the doorstep of a five-star hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. Lee Tai-lung was hit by the car at about 4am yesterday as he...

The Mainichi Daily News reports the first trial under the new lay judge system got underway at the Tokyo District Court on Monday, with the announcement of six lay judges and three backups followed by the opening of the first hearing in the afternoon. ...

SMH reports just four years ago Monika Samaan was a bright seven-year-old who wanted to become a doctor to help people. Today she is confined to a wheelchair. The only people providing any help are her parents and the carers employed to assist with...

SCMP reports residents of Hunan villages beset by metal poisoning that has killed at least five people have vowed to take to the streets again despite threats of a crackdown. Officials were sent to three villages under the jurisdiction of Liuyang city...

SCMP reports three men were jailed yesterday for setting up a Chinese University student with a girl online, then holding him against his will for four days in a $100HK,000 gambling scam. Cheung Yik-man, 20, got to know the girl, named Yumi, when chatting...

The Standard reports police yesterday foiled an attempt to rob a businessman of HK$1.3 million and arrested five men aged 30 to 55. They also seized an 800,000-volt stun gun, tape and plastic cable ties as well as a commandeered taxi. Police had been...

Associated Press reports police in western China have detained another 319 people suspected of being involved in deadly ethnic unrest between Muslim minority Uighurs and the dominant Han Chinese community last month, a state news agency said. Police in...

The Standard reports activists and pan-democratic lawmakers are taking Hong Kong's human rights legislation to the United Nations because of loopholes which they claim make it worthless. A total of 14 groups, including the Civic and Democratic parties,...

BBC News reports Trina Thompson, 27, filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College in Bronx Supreme Court. She is seeking to recover US$70,000 she spent on tuition to get her information technology degree. Monroe College spokesman Gary Axelbank...

The Standard reports immigration officers have not ruled out industrial action in their fight for equal treatment with other disciplined services. The warning yesterday follows a threatened mass rally by police in June - scaled down after top cop Tang...

The Standard reports leaders of the legal profession are urging authorities on both sides of the border to simplify procedures regarding property inheritance. Currently, wills drawn up in Hong Kong handing down property to spouses or children may not...

The Standard reports no travel alerts will be issued just yet by Hong Kong's Security Bureau after a pro-Uygur group called for attacks on Chinese all over the world. Abdul Haq al-Turkistani, described by an al- Qaeda-linked website as the leader of the...

BBC News reports police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters as they blocked several main roads for hours. More than 200 arrests were made during the unauthorised march, attended by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Prime Minister...

AFP reports thousands of mourners paid their last respects to former Philippine President Corazon Aquino on Sunday, lining up to file past her coffin in silent tribute to the "People Power" democracy leader. Aquino, who died at the age of...

The Standard reports a 43-year-old transsexual Thai singer has accused the Immigration Department of stamping 'closely monitor' on her passport. Sujinrat Prachathai told Thailand's Daily Express she came to Hong Kong on July 9 with her husband for...

The Standard reports police yesterday said they have smashed a loan- sharking syndicate which charged more than 150 victims interest of up to 540 percent per annum - eight times the maximum permitted by law. The syndicate was suspected of offering loans...

SMH reports FINA may have made a decision, but the swimsuit debacle looks set to continue well into next year, as manufacturers insist and plead they need more time to supply suits that will conform with the new rules. As a result, at next year's Australian...

SCMP reports more than 1,000 villagers laid siege to a government office and police station in Hunan yesterday in protest against the arrest of six people demonstrating against alleged pollution from a chemical factory. Villagers in Zhentou township,...

SCMP reports clients of two slimming centre salons who say they were duped by unscrupulous practices are campaigning to fight for compensation. Almost 30 people helped by legislator Starry Lee Wai-king seek amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars...

SCMP reports the city's telecoms and broadcasting watchdogs are investigating complaints against CSL New World Mobility over claims about its new mobile broadband service. Rival operator SmarTone-Vodafone says New World is misrepresenting the capabilities...

The Standard reports a school student appeared in court yesterday accused of peddling drugs on a Fan Ling housing estate. Secondary Four student Hui Wai-kuen, 18, was granted HK$10,000 bail by Fan Ling Magistrates' Court and ordered not to leave...

The Standard reports the legal sector is bracing for a flood of litigation as a growing number of investors take their bankers to court in efforts to recover huge losses resulting from high-risk financial products. On Tuesday, 77-year-old Chan Wai-yee...

The Standard reports a woman accused of helping launder more than HK$100 million her husband allegedly obtained through bribery and market manipulation was yesterday put on HK$1 million bail pending the transfer of her case to the District Court. ...

BBC News reports Zhang Jun, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), said the court would in future impose more suspended death sentences. Two years ago China gave the SPC power to review death sentences handed down by lower courts. That has...

SCMP reports police are warning teenagers involved in compensated dating that they could be arrested for soliciting and face a jail sentence. John Lee Ka-chiu, police director of crime and security, gave this warning yesterday during a briefing on crime...

BBC News reports one killed two women; another used the internet to find victims considering suicide; the third was from China and killed three Chinese people. The executions are the first under a new system that combines citizens and professional judges...

Hong Kong and Shenzhen law-enforcement agencies will bolster collaboration in combating cross-boundary drug activities, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee says. After meeting Shenzhen Vice-Mayor and Municipal Public Security Bureau Director Li Ming in...

The Standard reports an elderly woman who claims to have lost nearly HK$260 million on high-risk financial products is taking a Swiss- based investment bank to court. Chan Wai-yee, 77, says UBS advisers talked her into buying an equity accumulator package...

CNN reports the Iranian government has released 140 people arrested in the aftermath of the Islamic republic's disputed presidential election, a semi-official news agency reported Tuesday. Kazem Jalali, spokesman for the parliament's national security...

The Standard reports a 24-year-old serial killer who strangled three prostitutes in three days has been jailed for life. Nadeem Razaq, 24, a Hong Kong resident of Pakistani origin, appeared calm yesterday when a High Court jury of seven men unanimously...

BBC News reports this makes it more expensive for the General Teaching Council (GTCW) to discipline a teacher in Wales than in any other part of the UK. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said the figure was "extortionate". But the GTCW...

The Standard reports the lawyer for an Australian university student accused of murdering a taxi driver following a multi- vehicle crash crash last month has challenged the charge against his client. Kelsey Mudd, 22, a student at California State University...

CNN reports final arguments in the subversion trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi unfolded Monday. Lawyers for the American man who allegedly swam to Suu Kyi's house are expected to present closing arguments, as is the defense team representing...

SCMP reports new minibuses hitting the streets from the end of this year will have to be fitted with governing devices that prevent the vehicles from exceeding a set speed. Officials will also approach the manufacturers soon to ask them to install "black...

The Standard reports a man who strangled and butchered a 16-year-old girl after they had sex was jailed for life yesterday. "The fact we had to sit and listen to what you did was the worst experience ever imaginable," Judge Alan Wright...

The Standard reports local banks should come up with a uniform classification of risk for financial products following the Lehman minibonds saga. "It would not be a benchmark set by the government, or the Securities and Futures Commission, but by...

Associated Press reports about 30,000 Chinese steelworkers clashed with police and beat a general manager to death in a protest over plans to merge their mill, a human rights monitor said. Several hundred people were injured in the clash on Friday...

BBC News reports the move will make it easier for him to pass policies through parliament and to have more say in relations with China. China considers Taiwan as one of its provinces, not a country, and does not recognise Mr Ma as Taiwan president....

The Standard reports sole candidate Fernando Chui Sai-on, 52, is to be Macau's next chief executive. He won the job with 282 votes from the 300-strong election committee after a two-hour voting exercise yesterday. But that tally meant four people who...

SCMP reports the biggest public doctors' union is pushing the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University to each come up with HK$10 million in back pay for about 200 doctors, to comply with a landmark ruling three years ago that doctors should be paid...

SCMP reports market regulators have adopted a zero-tolerance policy on insider dealing which has seen a spate of criminal convictions and jail terms in recent months, with further cases pending. A determination by the Securities and Futures Commission...

The Mainichi Daily News reports Hitachi Ltd. has announced that it has developed a new payment system based on finger vein authentication technology. Finger vein authentication systems identify individuals based on the unique blood flow patterns in...

The Standard reports the city's 500 pharmacies and dispensaries may be required to have full-time pharmacists - instead of them being present for just a third of their business hours - under a looming overhaul of the industry. Under current laws, a...

The Standard reports a man previously convicted of ill- treating his five-year-old son was yesterday sentenced to two years in jail for kicking and stomping on his three-year- old son, rupturing his intestines and liver. Lo Siu-ting, 24, pleaded...

The Standard reports Hong Kong should copy Shenzhen and reward people who inform on friends and acquaintances involved in drug crime, according to Action Committee Against Narcotics chairman Daniel Shek Tan-le. The Shenzhen authorities said on Wednesday...

Associated Press reports the trial of the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks will continue despite his surprise admission of guilt, a judge ruled Thursday, ensuring that the young Pakistani will be prosecuted for all 86 charges including murder...

SCMP reports new guidelines have been issued to all traffic officers on operations to stop illegal road racing, encouraging an "evidence collection" approach rather than the use of roadblocks, a senior officer who has seen the guidelines said....

CNN reports detectives searched the Houston, Texas, medical office of one of Michael Jackson's doctors on Wednesday for "evidence of the offense of manslaughter," the doctor's lawyer said. The search warrant at Dr. Conrad Murray's office "services...

Telegraph reports Sun Danyong, 25, worked in product communications at Foxconn Technology, a giant Taiwanese firm that manufactures several Apple products, as well as Nintendo's Wii and the Sony Playstation. Mr Sun was allegedly responsible for sending...

SCMP reports about 5,000 fake copies of a newspaper have been distributed to officials in a Guangdong city, with a prominent article claiming collusion between the party, government and courts in a contract dispute involving a private mining company. ...

SCMP reports eight minor culprits behind a plot to murder former Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming and publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying yesterday pleaded guilty to attempts to cause injury. But two alleged masterminds denied charges of...

The Standard reports banks have agreed to splash out more than HK$6 billion to buy back all outstanding Lehman Brothers minibonds. By doing so, they seek an end to a saga that has run for more than 10 months, sparking deep anger and distress among investors....

SCMP reports haunted by memories of a friend who died from liver cancer, a 37-year-old man became the first person in Hong Kong to donate part of his liver to a total stranger. The selfless act by Kenny Chan Kai-yiu saved the life of 19-year-old Tiffany...

The Standard reports investors in Lehman minibonds will soon know how much they can get back, as banks will reveal the final compensation proposal within a few days, sources said, after a fight which has dragged on since last September. The Securities...

BBC News reports prosecutors released the footage as part of the trial of Mr Gerrard, 29, who is accused of affray after a fight at the Lounge Inn in Southport. It shows the England footballer, who denies the charge, being held back by friends at the venue....

Associated Press reports the top legislator from China's riot-hit Xinjiang said authorities will speed up local legislation against separatism in the western region that has a long-running independence movement by minority Uighurs, state media reported...

The Standard reports an 18-year-old student was duped into having sex with a truck driver who claimed he could exorcise the evil spirits within her, a Kowloon City magistrate heard yesterday. The sex act was allegedly filmed and the girl blackmailed into...

The Standard reports a young transport worker strangled a teenage schoolgirl after having sex with her, dismembered her body, flushed her remains down a toilet and then dumped her head in the sea, the High Court heard. Ting Kai-tai, 24, denies...

SMH reports the suicide bomber at the Ritz-Carlton gave a non-existent room number as he entered its restaurant. He deflected queries from staff and calmly ordered a cup of coffee before detonating two explosive devices. Well dressed in a business...

The Standard reports "we are not murderers or arsonists yet we were deprived of our human rights." Those were the sentiments of 30-year-old Chao as she and about 100 other Hong Kong residents were released after being detained in Shenzhen for...

The Standard reports a fund manager and an investment banker were jailed for insider dealing yesterday, the third such case resulting in imprisonment in the past 12 months. Ryan Fong Yen-hwung, a former portfolio fund manager at HSZ (Hong Kong),...

SMH reports the grisly deaths of five family members in northern Sydney over the weekend were targeted and "extremely personal" murders, police say. Police say the family - Chinese-born Min Lin, 45, his wife Yun Li Lin, 43, sons, Henry, 12,...

Associated Press reports Iraqi officials outraged by the abuse of prisoners at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison are trying to contain a scandal of their own as allegations continue to surface of mistreatment inside Iraqi jails. Accounts of Iraqis being...

The Standard reports home-return permits for teenagers aged 16 and below should include a clause requiring parental consent for cross-border visits. Action Committee Against Narcotics chairman Daniel Shek Tan- lei said this will help trace young people...

Associated Press reports a Florida dentist is being sued for allegedly dropping tools down the throat of an elderly patient — twice. Relatives of 90-year-old Charles Gaal Jr. recently filed the suit in circuit court accusing Dr. Wesley Meyers...

SCMP reports the Basic Law requires legislators to debate issues of public interest but does not specifically require them to vote on them - and in the latest session, four functional constituency members took less than half the opportunities to record...

The Standard reports a three-year-old boy has died three months after he drinking potassium cyanide from a bottle he found in his mother's purse. The boy was found collapsed by his father in a Tai Po village house at 7.30am yesterday. He was taken...

The Canadian Press reports the writing is on the wall for Facebook, the popular social networking site: do more to protect the privacy of Canadian users or face the threat of court action. Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart posted that message for...

CNN reports A former engineer for Rockwell International and Boeing was convicted Thursday of economic espionage and acting as an agent of China, authorities said. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 73, was accused of stealing restricted technology and...

The Standard reports a wealthy businessman accused of punching his former beauty queen girlfriend walked free yesterday, after prosecutors offered no evidence against him. But Liu Guiqiao, 42, who was initially charged with assault occasioning...

SCMP reports teenagers could be barred from cybercafes late at night under an anti-drug proposal raised by members of a government advisory body with the chief executive yesterday. Members of the Action Committee Against Narcotics also suggested sending...

The Standard reports a former private banker, who a judge said tarnished Hong Kong's reputation as a financial center, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for stealing a total of HK$98.67 million from clients' accounts. Cheuk...

The Standard reports Accountant Paul Chan Mo-po has become the latest legislator to receive a death threat. Chan, who represents the accountancy sector, said the letter accused him of being "the sinner of the nation" for which he would be...

The Standard reports one of Hong Kong's highest-earning English tutors has been taught an expensive lesson and ordered to pay his former employer HK$8.87 million in compensation for breach of contract. High-profile Karson Oten Fan Karno - better known...

The Standard reports the Consumer Council has accused four travel agencies of forcing their customers to buy insurance from designated agents. The watchdog said the practice limited consumer choice and prevented them from obtaining a policy that suits...

Dowjones reports the lawsuit is the latest move by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee, to recover funds invested with Madoff and distribute them to victims of his massive Ponzi scheme. Madoff was given a 150-year prison sentence. Mr Picard has...

The Standard reports prosecutors have dropped their case against an Indonesian maid accused of using her menstrual blood in cooking dishes for her employer. Indra Ningsih, 26, admitted to police mixing the blood in a pot of vegetables she was cooking,...

AAP reports a Spanish woman who deceived a US fertility clinic about her age and become the oldest woman to give birth has died at 69, leaving behind two-year-old twins. Maria del Carmen Bousada gave birth in December 2006 after telling a clinic...

The District Court has handed down jail sentences to a 48-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman from a travel agency for conspiracy to defraud. The man, the agency's director, was sentenced to 34 months in jail, whle the woman received a 14-month term....

The Standard reports a former assistant police commissioner has challenged the policy of suspending the pensions of senior civil servants who take up posts in government or subvented organizations after retirement. Bonnie Yee-lo Smith yesterday filed...

BBC News reports the vote on the 69-year-old Polish conservative was the first job of the newly-elected parliament in Strasbourg. Mr Buzek is the first politician from the former communist bloc to chair the parliament. He received 555 votes in a first...

The Standard reports two senior executives at New World Group may yet avoid appearing at a Legislative Council probe. A High Court judge yesterday granted them leave to challenge a summons that they testify over the company's decision to employ former...

The Standard reports Shenzhen plans to let Hong Kong-listed mainland companies trade on its bourse, while Shenzhen-listed B shares may float in the SAR, Caijing magazine reported yesterday, citing a Shenzhen official. While it is believed this would...

SCMP reports the police practice of stopping taxis to form "human roadblocks" against illegal racers was a long-standing one and should be stopped, a taxi group said yesterday. Taxi and Public Light Bus Concern Group chairman Lai Ming-hung...

Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing says there was an error of judgment in the operation against illegal road racing in Kwun Tong early yesterday morning. He has apologised to drivers and car owners affected by Police actions. Speaking to reporters...

The Standard reports legal advice will be sought by the government to determine whether proposed restrictions on post-retirement work for top civil servants contravene the Basic Law and the Bill of Rights, Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue Chung-yee...

The Standard reports police have been accused of endangering motorists whose vehicles were used as a roadblock to stop illegal road racers on the Kwun Tong Bypass. The accusation was made by a legislator and three taxi drivers whose vehicles were used...

The Standard reports a former public doctor took the personal data of 2,000 patients before he left the Hospital Authority to enter private practice, magistrate David Thomas was told yesterday. Paddy Chan Tak-ming, 46, denied at Kowloon City Magistrates'...

SMH reports almost half the homicides between 2000 and 2006 involved the consumption of alcohol, according to figures in a report. A paper released by the Australian Institute of Criminology showed that of the 1565 murders recorded in that period, 746...

SCMP reports the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has ordered banks to step up internet-banking security after thieves took money from people's accounts by using a virus to steal their login details. The authority is aware of three such cases, involving...

The Standard reports there is overwhelming public support for tighter monitoring of the internet, lawmakers reviewing the control of obscene articles have been told. A Hong Kong University public opinion poll found three-quarters of 1,500 respondents...

The Standard reports a primary school and two companies have been ordered to stop using fingerprints to check on attendance. Privacy Commissioner Roderick Woo Bun said yesterday the collection of biometric data in the three cases is not necessary...

Guardian reports the Press Complaints Commission is to investigate allegations of phone hacking by News of the World journalists in the light of new evidence uncovered by the Guardian about the extent of the practice "without delay". In a...

The Standard reports a mainlander accused of murdering his cousin, his wife, and their two daughters has accused the police of hitting and choking him, and trying to suffocate him with a plastic bag. But his plea to be held in prison rather than...

SCMP reports a row is brewing over the confidentiality of planned drug tests in schools, with schools, parents and social workers at odds over who should see the results. The social workers say they should have a chance to counsel students found...

The Standard reports a solicitor and a claim recovery agent were yesterday sentenced to jail terms in Hong Kong's first conviction under the old law of maintenance and champerty, more commonly known as "no win, no fee." Solicitor Winnie...

SCMP reports the owners body and building security services company of Cornwall Court - where a blaze killed two firemen last August - face fines of up to HK$100,000 after being convicted of locking an escape door to the building's rooftop, a court heard...

SCMP reports a new licensing scheme is planned to regulate money changers and remittance agents under proposals to tighten anti-money-laundering measures and bring them into line with international standards. Those who have criminal records or...

SCMP reports three teenagers who stole more than HK$500,000 in savings and lai see packets, after breaking into the home of a former classmate, were sentenced yesterday. Two boys, aged 13 and 15, and Ho King-sun, 17, who have all left school, were earlier...

AFP reports Berlin Zoo has agreed to pay 430,000 euros (600,000 dollars) to keep Knut, the polar bear who as a cub became a worldwide media sensation in 2007, press reports said on Wednesday. The cuddly cub shot to fame after being rejected by his mother,...

Bloomberg reports Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the investment bank liquidating in bankruptcy, paid its advisers $262.6 million for nine months of work, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The best-paid firm through...

SCMP reports shoeshiners in Central and Western District will soon be issued hawker licences, allowing them to practise their trade legally for the first time. The move follows wide community support for the shoeshiners after they were threatened with...

BBC News reports the party chief of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, vowed that all those found guilty of murder during the riots would be put to death. The unrest between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese began on Sunday and has left at least 156...

The Standard reports the lax control of expenditure and lack of corporate governance at the Equal Opportunities Commission was yesterday slammed as "inexcusable." But lawmakers stopped short of condemning commission chairman Raymond Tang Yee-bong....

SCMP reports the government has received "highly diverse" views during its first review in almost a decade of the city's obscenity laws, with no consensus within reach other than enhancing public education. Several government proposals, including...

SCMP reports a younger brother of fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen said he only discovered in court yesterday that he once had been the "ultimate beneficiary" to more than $688HK million that Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum paid into a company...

The Department of Justice will prosecute Otis Elevator Company (HK) and a registered lift engineer over an incident at Heng On Estate, Ma On Shan, January 11. The Judiciary today served summonses on the contractor and the engineer for failing to maintain...

BBC News reports Sir Hugh Orde, speaking in his new role as president of Acpo, said such a system could be targeted by protest voters from special interest groups. "Every professional bone in my body tells me this is not a great idea." The...

The Mainichi Daily News  reports a high court has scrapped a decision by a lower court to send a boy accused of committing robbery when he was 13 to a juvenile reformatory, even though the minimum age at which children can be legally detained...

SCMP reports fresh protests rocked Urumqi, the capital of restive Xinjiang yesterday, after ethnic violence on Sunday night which left at least 156 people dead - the worst rioting the city has seen in decades. Thousands of Han Chinese protesters armed...

SCMP reports a man accused of murdering three prostitutes said an armed group who forced him to carry out the killings had wanted him to slay eight women, but he sneaked away from them after the third one. Nadeem Razaq, on trial for the murders,...

The Standard reports police yesterday unearthed the corpses of a family of four, less than 24 hours after they had been reported missing from their Ta Kwu Ling home. The bodies were found near their home in a two-meter by two-meter pit that had been covered...

Chief Executive Donald Tsang says the Government will escalate its anti-drug campaign, adding he will supervise the work. Speaking at his Legislative Council question-and-answer session this afternoon Mr Tsang said the Government will provide the resources...

The Standard reports a pilots' union has lost a legal challenge against a Civil Aviation Department decision to let Cathay Pacific operate a flight with two instead of three pilots on board. The director-reneral of civil aviation has the authority...

The Standard reports a 50-year-old man involved in the plot to teach Democratic Party founder Martin Lee Chu-ming a lesson was yesterday jailed for three years. Ho Wai-kan had pleaded guilty in April to one count of possession of a gun and ammunition....

The Standard reports police were today searching for a family of four missing from their Ta Kwu Lang home where traces of blood were found on a wall. A 43-year-old man has been arrested in connection with what has been classified as "missing persons...

AFP reports China said on Monday that at least 140 people were killed when Muslim Uighurs rioted in its restive Xinjiang region in some of the deadliest ethnic unrest to have hit the country for decades. The violence in the regional capital Urumqi on...

SCMP reports a taxi driver was arrested for dangerous driving causing death after an accident in Kowloon City yesterday in which one passenger died and two were injured. Police were investigating whether the taxi, driven by the 35-year-old man, surnamed...

The Standard reports an investigation has been launched into whether a Tsim Sha Tsui flat razed by a fire in which a man died was an illegal guesthouse. Nine others were injured in the blaze. The fire broke out at 6.19am yesterday in a cubicle at...

AFP reports the Australian navy is investigating allegations that male sailors ran a betting ring offering rewards for having sex with female colleagues, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. Gillard confirmed reports that a navy inquiry was underway...

The Standard reports the Hong Kong Journalists Association yesterday voiced fears for the media, saying at least 800 jobs have been shed in the past year. Presenting the association's annual report, HKJA chairwoman Mak Ying- ting also said many local...

The Standard reports a 47-year-woman arrested after leaving her toddler granddaughter home alone has been released on cash bail of HK$600. The woman, surnamed Phannarong, left the three-year-old girl at their home on the first floor of Gilman's Bazaar...

BBC News reports Xinhua news agency said police restored order after demonstrators attacked passers-by and set fire to vehicles. Xinhua did not say how many people were involved or what their motive was. But activists and eyewitnesses said that...

AFP reports Taiwan's detained ex-president Chen Shui-bian will this week appear in court alongside his son for the first time in a continuing graft case implicating him and his family, it was reported Sunday. Chen and his son Chen Chih-chung are due to...

The Standard reports dozens of angry Lehman Brothers minibond investors staged a noisy protest outside Government House yesterday, calling on Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to accept responsibility for their losses and step down. Holding banners...

CNN reports United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon was denied permission to see Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, reporters traveling with the secretary-general said Saturday. Ban told reporters about the denial after he met with Than Shwe, leader...

The Security Bureau is seeking public views on the proposed medical priority dispatch system which categorises and prioritises the response to emergency ambulance calls in accordance with the degree of urgency. According to the consultation document,...

The Standard reports Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum did not believe she was going to die in the final months before cancer claimed her life in April 2007, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday. Singapore oncologist Dr Tay Eng Hseon said Wang was willing...

<<明報>>報導，國泰空中服務員工會在過去兩星期收到多宗會員求助個案，指被公司以違反匯報病假程序為由，需要「停飛候查」（RSU），當中約有10人已被解僱。工會主席關笑華指出，部分被裁員工年資超過10年，就算沿用一貫匯報病假程序亦被炒，但公司沒有正式澄清何謂恰當程序，有秋後算帳及違反殘疾歧視條例之嫌。 國泰航空 發言人強調，公司有清晰病假政策，若員工違反匯報病假機制，公司會向他們發出警告，並有機會解釋，若情况嚴重，公司有可能解僱有關員工。發言人強調，匯報病假的機制有助航班管理，以便減少對航班及其他同事的影響。...

The Standard reports the Legislative Council may launch a historic lawsuit against New World China Land chairman Henry Cheng Kar- shun if he refuses to appear next Wednesday at a subcommittee inquiry into former housing chief Leung Chin- man's post-retirement...

SCMP reports the president of the Medical Association was expelled from the Medical Council yesterday over a false declaration he made when running for the post of chairman of the council's ethics committee. The decision, made at a council meeting yesterday,...

The Standard reports a Filipino maid was grabbed by the hair, had her head pushed to the floor and was ordered to kowtow 100 times for serving up a partly cooked meal, the Tsuen Wan Magistrates Court was told yesterday. Her employer Henry Kwok Wai-...

The Standard reports a former Hang Seng Bank manager has admitted she stole HK$98.67 million from the accounts of 13 clients. Cheuk Sau-yee, 31, said she was under pressure to meet the bank's annual sales target of US$50 million (HK$390 million)....

The Standard reports sixteen banks which sold Lehman Brothers minibonds will pay most investors 60 percent of the principal as settlement - and no more. Investors aged 65 and above will receive about 70 percent of their investment. In a formal proposal...

Fifteen seafood and six fruit retailers were fined up to $6,500 after pleading guilty to selling short-weight produce in the first half of the year, according to the Customs & Excise Department. Customs officers found two fruit retailers used defective...