Exam officials say less than half of students who sat local university entrance exams got the grades needed for a tertiary spot. They described the figure of 42 percent as steady this year, despite disruption to studies due to the Covid pandemic. The 48,000 candidates who sat for the Diploma of Secondary Education receive their results on Wednesday, as Damon Pang reports:

An educator has blamed the three-year Covid pandemic for the record low number of top scorers in this year's university entrance exams. Compared to 11 last year, only four students achieved a perfect score, the lowest since the exam started in 2012. But Mervyn Cheung, chairman of the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organisation, also told Ben Tse that competition for local universities was not as fierce this year and mainland universities were becoming an increasingly popular choice:

For the first time, an elite group of talented students received direct university offers under a scheme that was introduced in the 2022/23 academic year. The School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme aims to recognise the talent of students that could not be fully assessed by the DSE exam. It is a “programme-student matching exercise”. Kimmy Lau caught up with two successful recipients:

The Consumer Council says contaminants, such as insects and hair, were found in almost all the preserved vegetables it tested. The watchdog called on manufacturers to step up quality control. It tested 30 samples of preserved vegetables - such as kimchi, sauerkraut and gherkins - and found all but one contained something they should not, including mites, bits of metal and pieces of plastic. The Consumer Council also says the samples contained high levels of sodium. Nora Tam, who chairs the watchdog's research and testing committee, told Ada Au that pickle lovers should be cautious:

The Consumer Council is urging people to use gauze or cotton with water, instead of wet wipes, to clean sensitive skin. The watchdog made the remark after testing 20 samples of personal care wet wipes and finding that one pack had excessive bacteria levels while some others contained allergenic chemicals and preservatives usually found in cosmetics. Nora Tam, who chairs the watchdog's research and testing committee, told Ada Au that the overall situation was not too bad:

DAB lawmaker Holden Chow says Hong Kong can consider joint ventures with Fujian biomedical firms to help provide financial solutions. Chow was among a delegation of lawmakers who have just wrapped up a five-day visit to Fujian province to learn about financial and technological developments on the mainland. He told Samantha Butler that the group was "very impressed" by what they saw:

The Urban Renewal Authority says it posted a HK$3.5 billion loss over the last financial year - the first time the statutory body has been in the red in almost a decade. Elvis Yu reports:

Customs officers say there has been a surge in drug seizures at the airport. As Violet Wong reports, they say cannabis smuggling is of particular concern:

Premier Li Qiang has told visiting US climate envoy, John Kerry, that climate change poses a "daunting challenge". It comes after Kerry called for "urgent action" by both countries to tackle the issue, as Aaron Tam reports:

The mainland’s top economic planner says the economy is showing signs of improvement as it emerges from the pandemic but the job market is still under mounting pressure because of domestic and external instabilities. The National Development and Reform Commission stressed the need to rein in youth unemployment, as Kelly Yu reports: