Chief Executive John Lee has expressed concern about a wave of Cathay Pacific flight cancellations. About 20 passenger flights to and from the SAR were axed on Tuesday. The CE said the government would hold talks with the flag carrier and other airlines to ensure the SAR could quickly build up its aviation capacity. For its part, the Civil Aviation Department requested Cathay to submit a report by the end of the month to explain its manpower deployment and approach in handling flight arrangements. Frank Yung reports:

The Chief Executive also gave his blessing to a series of events planned by the new cohort of district councillors in the coming months to lure more visitors to the SAR's 18 districts. These activities include lightsaber duels and cosplay events which John Lee said would "show the day and night vibes of Hong Kong". Altis Wong reports:

A Chinese University economist says the government can only make up for a fraction of Hong Kong's ballooning deficit by increasing public fees. He was commenting after Financial Secretary Paul Chan said it may be time to review such fees, which have long been frozen, to boost government revenue. Kelly Yu reports:

An alliance of lawmakers from the functional and election committee constituencies says the government could consider raising the tax on certain luxury items but that society's less well-off should be spared from a higher tax burden. The G19 says it is against an across-the-board increase in government fees and charges, as Elvis Yu reports:

A member of the G19 coalition, Duncan Chiu, says Hong Kong's low tax regime is a 'most important attraction' for the city but if there were to be any new taxes, he would suggest a goods and services tax. Chui, who represents the Technology and Innovation sector in Legco, also suggested the government invest in new tech sectors and big tourist attractions. He spoke to Samantha Butler:

Chief Executive John Lee says there is a need to review accident and emergency services to ensure they are not being abused. He was asked about the possibility of higher charges for A&E services, in order to help reduce the budget deficit. The CE said some people had gone to the A&E unnecessarily and it was important to ensure that care was available to those most in need. But patients' rights advocate Tim Pang, from the Society for Community Organisation, told Frank Yung that higher costs could deter low-income families from seeking hospital treatment:

The Chinese University says its vice-chancellor Rocky Tuan has handed in his resignation. He has been in the job since 2018. As Wendy Wong reports, he said it had been an honour and privilege to serve the university and he would step down in January 2025:

Hong Kong has a new university. The Caritas Institute of Higher Education in Tseung Kwan O has been granted university status and will be known as Saint Francis University. Elvis Yu reports:

The head of Hong Kong's newest university says self-financing tertiary institutions are still striving to win public recognition here. Kim Mak, head of Saint Francis University, says the school has seen increasing enrolments every year as its programmes are geared towards serving the community and nurturing badly-needed skills, such as nursing, physiotherapy, and health sciences. He told Ben Tse that the university cared about the character and development of its students:

A new study has found that Hong Kong remains an important middleman for companies in the Greater Bay Area when they try to break into the Southeast Asian market. The Trade Development Council and the United Overseas Bank based the comments on a survey of more than 600 companies in Hong Kong and other GBA cities about trade with the Asean bloc. Louis Chan, the council's deputy director of research, told Violet Wong that firms in the GBA now see Asean as a market to sell their products or services rather than just a place to outsource production:

President Xi Jinping has vowed to step up a crackdown on corruption in key sectors, including finance, energy and infrastructure. Vanessa Cheng reports:

India’s top court has restored life prison sentences for 11 Hindu men who raped a Muslim woman during religious rioting two decades ago and asked the convicts to surrender to authorities within two weeks. The Hindu men were convicted in 2008 of rape and murder. They were released in 2022 after serving 14 years in prison. The victim, who is now in her 40s, was pregnant when she was brutally gang-raped in 2002 in western Gujarat state. It happened during some of India’s worst religious violence, with over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, killed. RTHK's South Asia correspondent, Murali Krishnan, told Vanessa Cheng about the landmark judgement: