Hong Kong - For more than a week now a deadly tide has been washing out of China into the sea surrounding Hong Kong, bringing with it growing fears that China is in the grip of a covered-up bird-flu outbreak.

With each day that passes, more dead birds, ducks and chickens washed up on the beaches of Hong Kong, suggesting that H5N1-infected birds may have been dumped into the China's polluted Pearl River and carried by the tide to Hong Kong waters.

China has insisted there are no bird-flu outbreaks in China, despite eight human cases in January alone this year.

But experts fear the tide of death washing out of southern China shows that China is once again covering up another major public health catastrophe.

Hong Kong  - A model-aircraft fan in Hong Kong was facing a lawsuit Friday after crippling a fellow enthusiast by hitting him with a remote-controlled helicopter.

Lo Kwok-wah, 46, was in a coma for months and is now confined to a wheelchair after being hit on the head by the spinning rotor of a 1.5-metre-long model helicopter when it crashed into him in January last year.

The accident left a 20-centimetre gash in Lo's head and caused brain damage that left him unable to move his left arm and leg, a court was told Thursday.

Hong Kong  - The number of billionaires in Hong Kong has plunged by more than 50 per cent in the past year as the superwealthy are hammered by the global economic downturn, a survey found Thursday.

There were 19 US-dollar billionaires at the beginning of 2009 compared with 40 at the same time last year, the annual "rich list" compiled by Forbes Asia magazine found.

Hong Kong  - A wild boar was shot dead by police in Hong Kong Wednesday to stop it from attacking residents in one of the city's high-rise apartment estates.

Marksmen were called when officers failed to disable the animal with tranquilizer darts, after it was seen lurking in thick bushes near the housing block in the built-up Tuen Mun district.

A police spokesman said the boar was killed because of concerns for safety of the residents.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong stocks ended a two-day losing run Wednesday to climb by more than 2 per cent, ending the day back above the 13,000-point mark.

After losses of nearly 3 per cent on Monday and 0.7 per cent Tuesday, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 287 points to end the day at 13,063.89.

The closing figure was 2.25 per cent higher than Tuesday's close. Turnover was a relatively low 36.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (4.69 billion US dollars).

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's struggling Disneyland theme park confirmed Wednesday that it is pushing up its weekday admission prices by almost 20 per cent despite the economic slowdown.

Weekday admission to the park is to rise beginning Monday from 295 to 350 Hong Kong dollars (38 to 45 US dollars) for adults and from 210 to 250 Hong Kong dollars for children.

The higher prices previously only applied to visitors who went to the 3-and-a-half-year-old, 3.5-billion-US-dollar theme park on weekends and public holidays.