Hong Kong people can look forward to cheaper power bills in the new year. Charges will go down by 16 percent on Hong Kong Island and 7.4 percent in the New Territories and Kowloon. Hongkong Electric and CLP say a drop in fuel prices is offsetting the increase in the basic charge for each unit of electricity people use. Frank Yung reports:

Climate professional William Yu says there is no guarantee the downward trend in electricity tariffs will continue. Yu, chief executive of the World Green Organisation, says factors such as war, oil output levels, and a cold winter can lead to a greater demand of fuel and push up prices. He also told Anne Chan that the lower electricity cost may encourage suppliers to improve their service quality:

A 60-year-old man has been jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to raping a girl four decades ago. The police said the man's palm prints were retrieved at the crime scene but officers could not match them to their records until a new computer system was introduced years later. Elvis Yu reports:

Fun fairs and a televised outdoor concert in the evening are some of the events to be held on Saturday next week, to raise people's awareness of the district council polls to be held the following day. Chief Executive John Lee says it is aimed at whipping up a 'happy' atmosphere and encouraging people to vote. Violet Wong reports:

A team from the nation's space programme, including astronauts, has begun a four-day trip to the SAR where they will meet students and give insights on Hong Kong's technology sector. As Vanessa Cheng reports, members of the delegation also said they were looking forward to seeing people from Hong Kong and Macau join the space programme:

The Chinese University, with the help of four NGOs, is offering free health checks to 20,000 middle-aged people, with the aim of preventing chronic disease such as diabetes and hypertension. Professor Samuel Wong, the director of the university's School of Public Health, says many middle-aged may work long hours and not be in the habit of getting regular checks. He told Samantha Butler that of 6,700 people screened so far, 34 percent were considered at risk:

The global economy is likely to avoid a recession next year, despite interest rates expected to stay high for at least another year and a half. That is according to the chief of the Bank for International Settlements, Agustin Carstens. In an exclusive interview with RTHK, he also warned it was premature to assume that the tightened monetary policies would be effective in bringing down inflation, although progress had been made. He spoke with Chloe Feng on the sidelines of the HKMA-BIS High-level Conference in Hong Kong:

Government data has revealed that home prices were at a six-and-a-half year low in October. As Damon Pang reports, the latest figures were also a sixth straight monthly drop: