In Brief
Prices rise for the first time in five months
Consumer prices rose 0.5 per cent year on year last month - the first rise in five months - as the effects of the government's electricity subsidy and one-off handout measures wore off. Economists were expecting inflation of 0.3 per cent after prices dipped 1.6 per cent in August. A government spokesman said that without the effects of the measures, the underlying rate remained unchanged from August at minus 0.3 per cent. Local cost pressures were contained, imported inflation was virtually absent and pressure for consumer price rises should remain weak in coming months, he said. Prices rose year on year for electricity, gas and water, up 23.4 per cent, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, which rose 23 per cent, clothing and footwear (4.5 per cent) and housing (0.7 per cent). Prices for durable goods fell 3 per cent.
Scandal-plagued Kam joins list of popular lawmakers in HKU poll
Democratic Party lawmaker Kam Nai-wai, embroiled in a scandal over the dismissal of a female assistant, has appeared for the first time in the latest University of Hong Kong public opinion programme's poll, ranking him the ninth most popular member of the legislature. In the poll that ranks lawmakers based on the number of unprompted mentions in 1,010 interviews, conducted in the middle of this month, Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee maintained her top ranking, although her score of 62.4 out of 100 was down from the 63 she received in the July poll. Eu was followed by Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, Alan Leong Kah-kit, Lee Cheuk-yan, Tsang Yok-sing, Albert Ho Chun-yan, Emily Lau Wai-hing, Wong Yuk-man, Kam and Leung Kwok-hung in the top 10.
HK man jailed for murder
A Hong Kong man has been jailed for life by the Huizhou Intermediate People's Court for murder, the Southern Metropolis News reported. He lost his job in 2005 and decided in April to kill himself and his 19-month-old daughter by burning charcoal after his wife left them. The girl died but he survived. An autopsy showed the girl was not his biological daughter, but he was unaware of that.
