AFP - Hong Kong legislators are poised to pass a law this week granting authorities broad surveillance powers which human rights campaigners fear will erode civic freedoms in the southern Chinese city.

AP - Banking group HSBC Holdings PLC reported a nearly 15 percent rise in its profit for the first half on Monday, citing its expansion into emerging markets.

China urged Britain to refrain from making "random comments" about Hong Kong. The comment is in reaction to a report from London saying that little democratic progress was being made in the former British colony.

AFP - China has urged Britain to refrain from making "random comments" on Hong Kong, reacting to a report from London saying little democratic progress was being made in the former British colony.

AFP - Hong Kong's last British colonial governor Chris Patten was sent off nine years ago by a city excitedly anticipating a new political dawn under reunification with the Chinese motherland.

AFP - Hong Kong motorists may face fines for leaving their engines idling under legislation being considered to help reduce the city's worsening pollution problem, the government said.

AP - Former Beijing Mayor Chen Xitong, the highest-ranking Communist Party figure to be jailed for corruption, has been released on medical parole after serving eight years of his sentence, a Hong Kong newspaper reported Monday.

AFP - A war of words has broken out between Hong Kong's finance chief and its last British governor over economic management of the territory, a media report says, bringing into the open long-standing resentments over the city's colonial past.

AFP - The recent emergence of popular former deputy leader Anson Chan as a champion of democracy in Hong Kong has rejuvenated a reform campaign that was beginning to lose its spark.

AFP - Hong Kong's supreme court has struck down a ruling that allowed police to carry out controversial government wiretaps, a move activists hailed as a victory for freedoms in the Chinese city.

AFP - Hong Kong's China-backed leader Donald Tsang has come under fire from opposition lawmakers for refusing to comment on a weekend pro-democracy rally that drew tens of thousands of protesters.

AP - The chairman of PCCW Ltd. said the Hong Kong company's board Monday had a "harmonious" discussion about the sale of its telecom and media assets, and he hopes the deal will be done this month.

AP - Thousands chanted slogans and marched through Hong Kong's streets in a pro-democracy protest Saturday, while a pro-Beijing parade also drew a big crowd to mark the ninth anniversary of the former British colony's return to Chinese rule.

AFP - Thousands of Hong Kong residents are expected to take to the streets to demand full democracy for the former British colony, on the anniversary of its handover to China.

AFP - Indian police who arrested an outsourcing employee of global banking giant HSBC in connection with fraud said he could be a "pawn&q­uot; of a British-based syndicate.

Reuters - Britain discussed raising the threat of U.S. nuclear retaliation to dissuade China from attacking its Hong Kong colony at the height of the Cold War, previously secret papers revealed on Friday.

AP - Shares of Hong Kong phone operator PCCW Ltd. declined as they resumed trade Friday amid uncertainties and heavy press speculation surrounding rival bids for the company's core assets.

Reuters - Watching the World Cup on television may not only kill you, but could give you facial paralysis first, Chinese state media warned on Thursday.

AP - Australian bank Macquarie's bid for the telecommunications and media assets of Hong Kong phone operator PCCW Ltd. was complicated Wednesday by a reported rival bid from U.S. investment firm Newbridge Capital and objections from PCCW's 20-percent shareholder, China Netcom Group.

Reuters - Over-excitement during World Cup games has been blamed for the deaths of at least three fans in China and one man broke several bones when he fell from a Hong Kong balcony, the Shanghai Daily reported on Wednesday.