What the local media says
What was reportedly the city's last wild agilawood tree, which was about a century old and located in Ta Kwu Ling, northeast of Sheung Shui, was felled and stolen last week. The problem of the trees being felled by mainlanders is worsening, with prices for their resin soaring tenfold in the past decade. One type of resin from the tree is now worth over HK$8,000 a gram - more than the price of gold. Most of the culprits are believed to be from Dianbai county in Guangdong, where reporters were offered a small bag of agilawood chips from Hong Kong for 68,000 yuan (HK$83,885).
Construction waste is being dumped on deserted farmland near a water catchment in the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir, near Chuen Lung village in Tai Mo Shan. And recently asbestos, which is carcinogenic, was found among the tonnes of waste on the site. Government departments said they had received complaints about the dumping but could not prosecute or do anything about it.
A 22-year-old Filipino woman stripped to her underwear and walked through the airport's restricted area on Sunday, before she was due to take a flight to the Philippines. Police told her to put her clothes back on, which she did, before taking them off again. This happened twice more before she was taken to hospital. She was said to have been tricked into coming to the city to work as an exotic dancer.
Photos of an investigator with the Independent Commission Against Corruption, her young daughter and other staff at the ICAC's headquarters in North Point have raised security concerns. Some 20 photos of the young girl and staff were posted on social networking website Facebook. The girl is seen playing in different parts of the office, where investigations into corruption cases are conducted.
The average household size in the city is now 2.9 people, according to the latest official data - and the government expects that number to slide to 2.7 in years to come. But Andrew Lam Siu-lo, of the Long-Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee, warned that the government should not rush into building more smaller flats.
Big businesses will pay average year-end bonuses of 1.48 months' salary, a survey by HR Business Solutions Asia found. Retail and hospitality staff could do particularly well, thanks to brisk trade from the mainland's solo traveller scheme. Jeweller Chow Tai Fook will pay five to six months' salary, and Island Shangri-La will pay 4.5 months.
Compiled by Nelson Cheng and Wayne Chung
