Hong Kong - Around 150 tours to Bangkok from Hong Kong involving 3,000 holidaymakers have been cancelled because of the unrest in the Thai capital, tour operators said Wednesday. Travel companies in the wealthy city of 7 million have scrapped all tours to Bangkok until April 22 because of what they described as the "unclear" situation following violent demonstrations.

The decision came after the Hong Kong government issued an unusually stern travel advisory Tuesday, telling its residents to avoid Bangkok.

Hong Kong - Asia's richest woman signed a will giving away her entire 13-billion-US-dollar fortune believing that the document was only for use in a feng shui ceremony, a court heard Tuesday. Nina Wang, who died of cancer aged 69, was told by feng shui master Tony Chan to sign the 2006 will which he said would be burned later to give her a longer life, Hong Kong's High Court was told.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares soared to their highest levels in four months Tuesday as confidence surged through the market on the city's first day of trading after the Easter holiday. The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 678.75 points, or 4.55 per cent, in brisk trading to close at 15,580.16, the highest level since early December.

Turnover was 75.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.72 billion US dollars), sharply higher than in recent weeks as traders raced to catch up with gains in the US and China markets following the four-day Easter break in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong people sent 14 times as much mobile data in January than they did in the same month two years ago, according to figures released Tuesday. The rise in the sending of mobile data from phones and hand-held computers also represented a four-fold increase on the figure from January 2008, the territory's telecommunications authority said.

People in the hi-tech city of 7 million are among the world's keenest users of mobile technology to transmit files, images and SMS messages.

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong government Monday issued a travel warning for its residents to stay away from Bangkok as anti-government protests escalated in the Thai capital. Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee said the government of Hong Kong was the first to issue such a severe warning.

Lee called on tour operators and individuals to scrap their plans to Thailand due to the political unrest and said several tour operators had already cancelled packages.

Hong Kong - In a sign of the worsening impact of the global slump on Asia's aviation industry, pilots with a Hong Kong airline said Monday they had been fired for not accepting drastic pay cuts. The pilots - four first officers and five captains - say they were sacked by Hong Kong Airlines after declining new contracts that cut their basic salaries to as little as 2,250 US dollars a month.