Hong Kong  - The fur industry Monday attacked a planned trip to Canada by Hong Kong singer-actress Karen Mok to campaign against seal culls, saying she was being "manipulated" by animal rights groups.

Mok, 38, who has appeared in hit movies Shaolin Soccer and Around the World in 80 Days, is to fly to Canada Friday to shoot a mini-documentary about seal culls.

Her visit comes just weeks ahead of an annual hunt when more than 300,000 seals will be killed for their skins and is part of a global campaign to stop the trade in seal fur.

Hong Kong  - Global warming and urbanization were named Monday as factors for high-rise Hong Kong recording its warmest-ever February.

The sub-tropical city of 7 million recorded a median temperature 20.5 degrees Celsius in February, 4.2 degrees higher than the average for the month over the last 30 years.

It was the highest average temperature recorded since records began 125 years ago and one degree higher than the previous record set only in 2007. Hong Kong last year recorded its warmest autumn.

Hong Kong  - Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was Sunday reportedly considering whether to deliver a controversial Hong Kong speech via video link.

Thaksin on Saturday cancelled an appearance scheduled for Monday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong amid threats by Thailand to seek his extradition.

Hong Kong - An Hong Kong actress pictured in racy photographs circulated on the internet has broken her silence to lambast Edison Chen, the star at the centre of the scandal, news reports said Saturday.

Cecilia Cheung appeared in a television interview broadcast Friday by Hong Kong-based private television channel iCable, criticising Chen whom she accused of lying and saying one thing to gain public sympathy while doing another.

Hong Kong  - A talk by fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Hong Kong next week was still scheduled to go ahead Friday despite calls for his extradition to Thailand.

The controversial former premier is due to give a talk at Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) on Monday at a luncheon attended by more than 100 people who have paid around 20 US dollars for their tickets.

The plans reportedly annoyed his successor Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who threatened to lobby mainland China for Thaksin's extradition. The business-tycoon-turned-politician was handed a jail sentence last year for breaching corruption rules while in office.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong appeared to buck tourism trends worldwide by recording an 11 per cent increase in visitor numbers in January, official figures released Thursday showed.

Almost 2.8 million people visited the former British colony in January compared to 2.5 million in January 2008, according the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB).

However, more than two thirds of these came from mainland China and more than 40 per cent did not stay overnight.