Lawmaker and former MTR engineer, Gary Zhang, has raised concerns over the railway giant's plan to import non-local workers, saying the language barrier could be a major problem. As Vanessa Cheng reports, Zhang said outside workers should be kept away from key, frontline roles:

A research fellow at a leading Beijing think tank says the Belt and Road initiative represents a fundamental change in global development over the past decade. But Zoon Ahmed Khan from the Centre for China and Globalisation conceded that the effects of the Covid pandemic have dealt a setback to the trillion-dollar infrastructure development initiative - as countries struggle to make optimal use of the investments made, affecting their ability to repay loans. That said, Ms Khan told Kelly Yu there's an ongoing process of reflection and dialogue to try to maximise the impact of Belt-and-Road projects, including the adoption of new green technology:

Chief Executive John Lee says the government will "definitely" enact Article 23 national security legislation this year or next year at the latest. He says there is a need to guard against risks, as Priscilla Ng reports:

A public health researcher says a high-fat diet, diabetes, and an ageing population are among the reasons for the high incidence of small intestinal cancer in Hong Kong. The number of people here being diagnosed with this rare form of cancer has doubled in the past decade from 88 cases in 2011 to 164 in 2020. The Chinese University of Hong Kong says the SAR now has the world's highest incidence of this cancer. Dr Jason Huang from the University told Ben Tse that about the importance of early detection:

Crowds have braved the heat across Hong Kong to celebrate Thursday's Tuen Ng Festival, and the return of the Stanley International championships for the first time since the Covid pandemic ended. Over 170 teams took part at locations, including Aberdeen, Stanley, Sha Tin, Sai Kung, Tuen Mun, and Tai Po, as Hailey Yip reports:

Nine people have been detained by Ningxia authorities after a gas explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the region killed at least 31 people and injured another seven on Wednesday night. Frank Yung reports:

The US Coast Guard says it has found debris of the submersible that went missing thousands of metres down in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday. They concluded that it had imploded close to the wreckage site of the Titanic, killing all five people on board. The chief executive of the company behind the trip, Stockton Rush, is among the dead. Three British nationals and a French former navy diver were also on board. RTHK's UK correspondent, Peter Anderson, told Samantha Butler about the difficulty of retrieving the remains of the submersible and those on board: