Hong Kong  - Hong Kong saw a 1.1-per-cent fall in visitor arrivals in November as the global economic slump took its toll on the holiday industry, officials said Thursday.

The former British colony saw 2.42 million tourists arrive in the month, 1.1 per cent less than November 2007, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said.

Total visitor arrivals in Hong Kong for the first 11 months of the year were 26.7 million, 5.3 per cent more than over the same period last year.

However, the city of 6.9 million now looks certain to fall short of its beginning-of-year target of a record 30 million visitor arrivals in 2008.

Hong Kong  - Police in Hong Kong appealed for help Thursday in the search for a Canadian tourist who has not been seen since the day after she arrived in the city in November.

Ani Ashekian, 30, from Toronto, arrived in Hong Kong on November 9 and stayed in the city's Tsim Sha Tsui district, withdrawing money and sending her sister in Canada a text message the following day.

She planned to travel to India before returning to Toronto on December 15 but has not been heard from since November 10 and has not left Hong Kong, according to immigration records.

Police Thursday issued an appeal for anyone who has seen Ashekian, described as 163 centimetres tall, 55 kilogrammes and of south Asian appearance, to contact them.

Hong Kong  - A suspected arsonist accused of killing 17 people in a fire in a Hong Kong karaoke bar has been charged with murder after 11 years on the run, police said Sunday.

Choi Kam-fai will appear in a Hong Kong court on Monday to face charges of murder and arson in relation to the fatal attack in which karaoke customers were burnt to death.

Choi was arrested by police in the Chinese border city of Shenzhen in late November and returned to Hong Kong on Friday, a police spokesman said.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong's main airline Cathay Pacific said Sunday it had been swamped with more than 1,600 requests for unpaid leave next year from cabin crew and pilots.

The airline said it had received requests for more than 55,000 days off after making the controversial offer at the end of November of unsalaried time off to combat the economic downturn.

Cabin crew have applied for a total of more than 50,000 days of unpaid leave in 2009 - almost a full week for every flight attendant - while pilots had applied for more than

Hong Kong - Police in Hong Kong were Saturday investigating the death of a 14-year-old boy who collapsed after apparently drinking methadone by accident on a visit to his aunt's flat.

The schoolboy fell into a coma and died after consuming the liquid heroin substitute on Friday while staying at the home of his
37-year-old aunt in the city's Kwai Chung district.

The aunt called police when the boy collapsed. An ambulance rushed him to hospital where he was declared dead an hour later, according to a police spokesman.

Methadone is used to treat heroin addicts in strictly controlled conditions at government-run health clinics in Hong Kong and should not be stored at addicts' homes.