Hong Kong  - Luxury hotels in Hong Kong are seeing occupancy rates fall steeply as travellers seek cheaper accommodation because of the global economic slump, according to government figures released Monday.

Top-tier hotels in the city of 7 million, which charge an average of about 270 US dollars a night, saw occupancy down 6 percentage points to 68 per cent in February compared with February 2008, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said.

Hong Kong  - A Hong Kong magazine columnist was defiant Monday after around 2,000 Filipinos marched to protest a column in which he referred to them as a "nation of slaves."

Chip Tsao, who stirred up a storm of protest among Hong Kong's Filipino workers with his column in HK Magazine, said: "I have already done what should be done. I have no further comment. I am not a racist."

Hong Kong  - It's one of the sunniest cities in the world, but more than six out of 10 people in sub-tropical Hong Kong get too little sunshine, according to a survey published Sunday.

More than 62 per cent of people examined for a University of Hong Kong study were found to be suffering from vitamin D deficiency even though about two-thirds of the days in the year are sunny and hot.

Lifestyle is believed to be a major factor, as most people in the high-rise city shun the sun and exercise, while working long hours in offices.

Hong Kong - Police in Hong Kong said Saturday they were investigating directors of a high-profile company for alleged fraud after a raid by commercial crime squad officers.

The offices of Citic Pacific, the Hong Kong-listed arm of China's biggest conglomerate, was raided Friday evening and searched for evidence of alleged fraud and false financial statements.

The company is accused of failing to disclose massive losses sustained through bets against foreign currency fluctuations in 2008.

Hong Kong - A jilted Chinese mistress was beginning an eight-year jail term Saturday for setting fire to her ex-lover's apartment after sealing its doors.

Waitress Wan Xiuyang, 35, used metal sealant to jam the hinges and gate of her former boyfriend's apartment before pouring petrol on the floor to set it alight at 4 am in January 2008.

Her ex-boyfriend, cross-border lorry driver Cheung Kit-shun, was no longer living in the flat but his mother and brother had to be rescued by firefighters, a court heard Friday.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong's former head of civil engineering has been arrested over an alleged multi-million US dollar corruption case involving government highway contracts, a news report said Saturday.

Twenty people have been arrested for alleged corruption in the tendering of highway contracts in the former British colony, according to the city's Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Among those arrested, according to Saturday's South China Morning Post, is retired director of civil engineering Tsao Tak-kiang.