Hong Kong - Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang Monday issued a bullish assessment of the city's prospects for recovering from the global economic downturn in the Year of the Ox.

In his Chinese New Year address to the city of 6.9 million, Beijing-appointed Tsang said: "Hong Kongers are no strangers to adversity. We are used to thriving on challenges.

"I believe that if we pull together as a community, no challenge will be too big for Hong Kong."

Hong Kong  - A taxi driver and five men travelling home to their families in Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year holiday died Friday when their vehicle was crushed by a lorry.

The 41-year-old lorry driver, who was reportedly on the wrong side of the road, failed an alcohol breath test after the accident near Hong Kong's Lok Ma Chau border crossing with China at around 7:30 am.

Hong Kong - An animal protection group on Friday appealed to China to ban the use of oxen to pull carts to ease the strain on the country's beasts of burden during the Year of the Ox.

The director of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wrote to the Beijing government saying the use of ox carts should be consigned to the "history books."

In his letter faxed Friday to Transport Minister Li Shenglin, Jason Baker wrote: "Oxen are still used for heavy, difficult work in all weather extremes in many parts of China.

Hong Kong - The Year of the Rat was not a good one for the world of finance and banking. Stock markets plummeted, property prices dived and businesses all over the world crumbled in the fall-out from the credit crunch.

This was to be expected, according to Chinese astrologer Raymond Lo, who points to the fact that the influencing element of the rat is water. And as every good Chinese astrologer knows water brings worries and provokes fears.

Hong Kong  - Police in Hong Kong on Thursday were investigating an apparent suicide pact in which a husband and wife leaped to their deaths together from their
36th-floor apartment.

The man, 53, and the woman, 46, were found dead Wednesday evening at the foot of the apartment block in the city's urban Kwai Chung district.

One neighbour told police he saw the couple standing together on the window ledge of the high-rise block and shouted at them to stop shortly before they jumped.