Cathay Airbus flies more than 10 hours with cracked window
A Cathay Pacific Airbus 340 bound for Hong Kong from Vancouver travelled for more than 10 hours with a crack in a cockpit window. An airline spokeswoman said the pilots thought it was safe to continue the flight after discovering the crack two hours after the plane took off from Vancouver on Wednesday afternoon. It had to make a refuelling stop in Seoul after using more fuel than planned due to flying at a lower altitude, and 287 passengers were transferred to a Boeing 777 flight to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong poll shows 82 per cent oppose Tibetan independence
A record 82 per cent of Hong Kong people said they opposed Tibetan independence, a survey by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme found. This was 11 percentage points up from March, and 18 points up from a year ago. Of the 1,012 people polled, 81 per cent opposed Taiwan independence, while 60 per cent said the 'one country, two systems' formula could be applied to Taiwan. But 37 per cent supported the island joining the United Nations - 12 percentage points up from March.
Lawmakers eye political appointees' pay scales
Legislators suggested that their pay should be comparable to that of political appointees. The Liberal Party's Howard Young told a Legco subcommittee that higher pay for lawmakers might encourage appointees to stand in elections. Subcommittee members urged the committee reviewing lawmakers' pay to use appointees' salaries as a reference for the next Legco term. Each lawmaker is paid a basic honorarium of less than HK$60,000 per month, while political assistants get between HK$134,150 and HK$163,960 a month.
