Hong Kong - A 16-year-old Hong Kong schoolgirl unhappy about her appearance forged documents to get a bank loan to pay for plastic surgery, a news report said Tuesday.

Chan Yee-yee paid an older friend to supply her with payrolls advice slips so she could apply for the 20,000-Hong-Kong-dollar loan (2,580 US dollars) and pay for the surgery, a court heard Monday.

Hong Kong - Like most things from the cradle to the grave in Hong Kong, it used to be simply a question of money. If you had it, then a bed in a maternity ward at a private hospital was yours. Hong Kong's birth rate was falling, and maternity care was very much a buyer's market.

But things have changed dramatically in the past five years. Now women opting to give birth in one of Hong Kong's private hospitals have to book their beds as soon as they discover they are pregnant, with some of the hospital's maternity units already fully booked until May.

Hong Kong - Wealthy Hong Kong may be teetering on the brink of a global recession but a prestige car number plate can still fetch more than 46,000 US dollars, auctioneers said Monday.

The car registration number 1234 fetched 360,000 Hong Kong dollars (46,445 US dollars) at Sunday's government auction where a total of 280 unusual plates raised just short of 345,000 US dollars.

Hong Kong - Hong

Hong Kong - Pilots on Hong Kong's second biggest airline have been stripped of their captain's hats in a move some cockpit crew Saturday warned might strip them of their professional prestige.

Other pilots at Dragonair, however, said they were delighted at not having the wear the peaked hats which they complained made them "look like South American generals."