Hong Kong - One form of fatal strokes is more likely to affect people in winter than the summer, a team of Hong Kong medical experts said Friday.

Neurologists found a far higher incidence of strokes caused by aneurismal subarachnoid haemorrhage, a rupture that leads to blood filling the space surrounding the brain, in winter when temperatures are lower and atmospheric pressure higher.

Hong Kong  - A Hong Kong primary school teacher has been sacked for putting secret spy cameras in a room where girls changed for dance classes, a news report said Friday.

Choi Hing-yiu, 32, used the pinhole cameras to film nine girls at the school in Hong Kong's Mongkok district last September, the South China Morning Post reported.

A 10-minute videotape showing the girls changing their clothes in the classroom was handed to police after a dance teacher and students found the cameras. Choi was arrested.

Hong Kong - Financial corruption in Hong Kong has rocketed in the first three months of 2009 as the city's economy has deteriorated, officials said Friday.

Corruption cases in the financial and insurance sectors surged 46 per cent in the first quarter, contributing to a
23-per-cent overall rise in corruption.

There were 811 cases reported to the city's Independent Commission Against Corruption between January and March, compared to 659 cases in the same period in 2008.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong pop singer Kelvin Kwan plans to leave the entertainment industry for "a considerable period of time," he said Thursday, nearly six weeks after being arrested in Japan for alleged possession of marijuana.

Kwan, 25, who was later released without charge, said he felt shame and regret as a result of the incident.

He also apologized for what he had done although he did not elaborate.

Hong Kong  - Corruption complaints made to Hong Kong's anti-graft watchdog surged 23 per cent in the first quarter, the head of the organization said Thursday.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption said it received 811 corruption reports from January to March compared with 659 in the same period last year.

The sharpest rise was in the finance and insurance sector and the building management sector, in which the number of graft complaints rose 46 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, Commissioner Timothy Tong said.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks surged 7.41 per cent after encouraging US home sales and factory data buoyed investor confidence Thursday.

The benchmark Hang Seng index closed at its highest level for four months, finishing up 1,002.42 points at 14,521.97.

Turnover was 75.2 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.64 billion dollars).