Hong Kong - A woman police detective was under investigation Thursday after leaving bullets for her service revolver on the back seat of a taxi in Hong Kong.

Twelve rounds of ammunition and a speed-loader used to carry extra rounds of bullets were handed in at the city's Mongkok police station by a taxi driver who found them in the back of his cab.

The detective was unwell at the time she caught the taxi and was still sick before she got out, leaving the ammunition and speed-loader behind, the government-run RTHK radio station said.

A police spokesman said disciplinary action would be taken against the detective if she was found to have breached guidelines relating to the issuing of firearms.

Hong Kong - An animal-obsessed Hong Kong teenager was Thursday beginning a life jail sentence for murdering a female kennel worker he believed was mistreating dogs.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong's troubled Disneyland theme park fell about 1.7 million visitors short of its third-year target despite gradually improving attendances, a news report said Thursday.

The park attracted about 4.5 million visitors from October 2007 to September 2008, against a pre-opening target of 6.22 million visitors in its third year, the South China Morning Post reported.

Visitor numbers were nevertheless up about 8 per cent on the previous year when it attracted 4.17 million visitors against a pre- opening target of 5.47 million.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares surged by more than 5 per cent Wednesday as confidence in stimulus and bailout packages announced in China and the US pushed prices up.

Hong Kong - The spectre of workers in protective suits slaughtering chickens by the tens of thousands returned to haunt Hong Kong Wednesday as a worrying new outbreak of bird flu was confronted.

More than 60,000 birds were culled at the farm where the city's first outbreak in six years was detected and thousands more were killed at a nearby farm and a wholesale market.

Hong Kong  - The popularity of Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang has slumped to an all-time low as the economic crisis takes its toll on the wealthy former British colony, a survey found Wednesday.

The popularity rating of Beijing-appointed Tsang fell from 54.5 points out of 100 in November to 50.2 points in December, his lowest score since taking office in 2005.