Hong Kong's panda pair of Ying Ying and Le Le have finally produced babies, after they successfully mated in March this year at Ocean Park. The park says the cubs are under 24-hour care and need time to stabilise. They will not be able to meet the public for several months. Aaron Tam reports:

Police have arrested the driver of a tram involved in a fatal crash that killed a three-year-old girl in Western District. As Vanessa Cheng reports, three other people were injured in the incident:

Hong Kong's population fell by 0.1 percent last year. According to provisional figures from the Census and Statistics Department, the SAR's population of 7.5 million slid slightly in the second half of 2023, but it rose again in the first half of this year. Officials said the recent uptick was due to various policies to attract talent and import labour. Paul Yip, a population expert from the University of Hong Kong, told Vanessa Cheng that the authorities now had to find ways to retain talent:

The government's proposal to relax the eligibility criteria for a talent scheme has been welcomed by a lawmaker who says it will attract more professionals to Hong Kong. Anne Chan reports:

A lawmaker is calling for more support for the children of people arriving here through various talent schemes. Shang Hai-long, who founded the Hong Kong Top Talent Services Association, suggested raising the classroom quota to 35 from 30 at the city's top schools. His association, along with the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, last month surveyed just under 600 professionals relocating to the SAR. They found 61 percent had children studying in the SAR, with families on average earning around HK$50,000 a month. 20 were unemployed. Shang told Samantha Butler that the majority of arrivals choose to rent due to the financial burden of buying property here:

The number of visitors to Hong Kong last month was 10 percent higher than in July last year, taking the total in the first seven months to about 25 million. Anne Chan reports:

Schools, hospitals and non-governmental organisations have been advised to make spending on cybersecurity a top priority because they are vulnerable to hack attacks. Wendy Wong reports:

An IT expert has urged NGOs to prioritise cybersecurity spending. Francis Fong, the honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said a key reason NGOs were prone to attacks was because staff had begun working from home since the Covid pandemic. Fong is also a council member of the Oxfam charity, which was recently hit by a cyber attack. He told Elvis Yu that the council had instructed team members to inform all affected individuals:

Lawmakers have renewed calls to slash taxes on strong alcohol to boost trade. Hong Kong has a 100 percent levy on liquor with an alcohol strength of more than 30 percent. DAB lawmaker, Kennedy Wong, says when the SAR scrapped duty on wine in 2008, the SAR became one of the leading auction and trading centres for the beverage. Mr Wong, who represents the import and export trade, said liquor duty brought in a paltry HK$700 million to government coffers. He told Ben Tse that the government stood to lose much business when Hainan Island becomes a tax-free haven by 2025:

The MTR Corporation has reported an almost 45 percent rise in first-half profit compared with the same period last year. The earnings boost was mainly driven by a strong recovery in ridership and earnings from property development. Frank Yung reports:

Hong Kong's largest food festival of the year has kicked off at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, with visitors snapping up bargains just hours after its doors opened. As Natale Ching reports, vendors there said they had high hopes for the expo:

Hong Kong and Shenzhen have signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation in areas such as conservation and pollution control. Damon Pang reports:

Relations between Beijing and Hanoi are set to enjoy a further boost during a state visit to China by Vietnamese President To Lam. Raymond Yeung reports.

Retail sales in China advanced last month, beating market expectations, but industrial output slowed, highlighting uneven growth in the world's second-biggest economy. Jacqueline Guico reports:

The leading party in Thailand's governing coalition has chosen the daughter of the billionaire former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, as its nominee for prime minister. Parliament will vote on Paetongtarn Shinawatra's candidacy on Friday. She was selected a day after the constitutional court ordered the removal of Srettha Thavisin as prime minister. It accused him of a gross violation of ethics for appointing to his cabinet a lawyer who had served time in jail. Aaron Tam asked RTHK's Bangkok correspondent Larry Jagan if he thought the parliament would accept Pheu Thai's candidate for premier:

Palestinian health authorities say 40,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel began its air and ground campaign. They say the number of people injured has exceeded 90,000. The Israeli military, meanwhile, says it has eliminated more than 17,000 of what it calls 'terror operatives' in Gaza. As international pressure builds for a ceasefire, a new round of talks has begun in Qatar. Azam Khan reports:

Holding candles, hundreds of thousands of women have marched through the night in cities across India, to protest the brutal rape and murder of a young female doctor in a hospital. It has fueled anger over a lack of safety for women despite tough new laws. Jacqueline Guico reports:

Thousands of 'Swifties' have descended on Wembley Stadium in London, excited to see Taylor Swift back on stage. It is the first time the US singing sensation has appeared on stage since her shows in Vienna were cancelled due to a possible security threat. Azam Khan reports:

Scientists have discovered a reservoir of liquid water on Mars - deep in the rocky outer crust of the planet. It comes from new analysis of data from Nasa’s Mars Insight Lander, which touched down on the planet in 2018. Annemarie Evans spoke to space consultant David Baker - a former editor of Spaceflight Magazine in the UK - for his reaction to the discovery:

Honey from Yemen is renowned globally for its unique flavour and quality. It has been a source of pride for the country for centuries and a source of livelihood for an estimated 100,000 Yemeni beekeepers. But now they are struggling to maintain production amid civil war and climate change. Jacqueline Guico reports: