Hong Kong - Hong Kong share prices plunged 6.1 per cent at the opening of trading Tuesday as the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers sent global markets into freefall.

By 10:30 am the Hang Seng Index was down 6.4 per cent at 18,098 - almost 14,000 lower than its peak of just below 32,000 points in late October last year.

Earlier Tuesday, Hong Kong financial secretary John Tsang urged the public not to panic after 158-year-old Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in the United States.

Hong Kong - One in four Hong Kong students are prepared to forge their parents' signatures on report cards and one in six are happy to cheat in exams, a survey found Tuesday.

The survey of more than 3,000 primary and secondary school pupils found that 65 per cent of students would not report cheating in exams to teachers even if they witnessed it.

Hong Kong - Passenger numbers at Hong Kong's international airport fell by more than 5 per cent in August when the city staged the Olympics equestrian events, figures showed Monday.

Statistics from the former British colony's Airport Authority showed passenger volume for the month was down 5.3 per cent compared to August 2007 at 4.2 million people.

The fall came as Hong Kong staged the equestrian games of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which many hoteliers believe kept people away from the city of 6.9 million.

Hong Kong  - Seven people have been treated in hospital for burns suffered during Hong Kong's Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, police said Monday.

A 16-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy were still in hospital while five other patients aged five to 53 were treated and discharged, a police spokesman said.

People across the city of 6.9 million joined in outdoor parties where children burned candles and lanterns and watched the full moon Sunday evening.

Hong Kong - Police in Hong Kong were Sunday seeking a slightly built prostitute in connection with the death of a Hong Kong man weighing over 100 kilograms.

The 54-year-old man was found naked early Saturday on the floor of a "love hotel" in Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui district where rooms are rented by the hour, a police spokesman said.

He had checked in hours earlier with a woman aged around 30 who police believe was a mainland Chinese prostitute. She raised the alarm then fled the hotel before police could interview her.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's government is spending hundreds of thousands of US dollars looking for a new logo to replace its current moniker of "Asia's World City," a news report said Sunday.

The former British colony's government has spent 160,000 US dollars hiring the public relations' firm Fleishmann-Hillard to supervise the task, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

Another 64,000 US dollars is now being spent setting up a website for people to put forward their ideas on a new logo and image for the city of 6.9 million.